The Cabin at the End of the World

Bruh, this book stressed me the fuck out. This wasn't a good fit for my right-before-bed reading slot but the holidays afforded me some good mid-day time to finish it.

Remember that mid-2000's film The Strangers that's just a basic home-invasion movie with a simple premise that's unreasonably effective at being unsettling? (At least it was to me.) That's what this book reminded me of, except more relatable because the protagonists were a gay couple that (before shit went sideways) bantered exactly like me and my husband do. Set it at a beautiful rental cabin way out in the woods for a weekend getaway like I've often fantasized about doing myself and it was a little too easy to imagine myself here.

I'll admit, the beginning didn't really grab me because I 1) am never really a big fan of children in fiction (the opening chapters are told from the daughter's perspective) and 2) this book was front-loaded with a noticeable amount of overdescribing of physical settings. I understood the interior of the cabin with probably more detail than was needed, but maybe that was intentional because 90% of the story takes place in one room. Luckily the overdescribing didn't carry on through the rest of the book.

Also this isn't a subgenre of horror that I typically engage with; I'm more about the blatantly supernatural shenanigans rather than the "plausible and probably happened to someone at some point" kind of stories. But later you realize there's kind of maybe something going on in the background? But it's never directly addressed, and I kind of preferred it that way.

This is a violent, uncomfortable and stressful book, but I've also read more challenging material before so I could roll with the punches once things got moving. If you don't like ambiguity - especially with respect to endings - stay the hell away from this one. But personally I think this book was better served by having a bunch of questions left unanswered. Evidently there was a movie adaptation of this book with a radically different ending, and after reading the spoilers for that I'm much happier with the one this book went with instead. I was also very interested and thankful for the author's chapter-by-chapter notes at the end; I wish more books did that.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It started really strong, and it reminded me a little of older Stephen King short stories in terms of wordiness and character design. One of the antagonists had that creepy otherworldy vibe to him where he appeared human but seemed almost monster like in his actions and phrases. I kept expecting him to morph into something slithery. The first half of the novel kept me engaged and wanting to read more. But after the halfway point, the story seemed to get a bit rambly and long paragraphed and nothing really happened plot-wise. Don't get me wrong, nothing needed to happen, really. It just seemed very drawn out for what it was and like the author didn't know where he wanted it to go with it for a while. There were a whole of questions I had about things that never got answered and usually I would be ok with that if there was some greater meaning to think about but I don't really feel like there was. This book isn't making me ponder or think about things hours later. It just left me with a feeling of "oh, that is it then? huh."