214 pages
English language
Published Feb. 7, 2017 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Farrar Straus and Giroux.
"The second novel from the author of Wolf in White Van, inspired by his years living in a small town in Iowa"--
I wasn’t really sure what to rate this! I really liked the writing and the tone. Part Two, though it feels random at first, was a great read. But I was definitely hoping for more actual horror. Based on other reviews, that’s a common feeling. I also feel like I got to the end and didn’t understand everything I was supposed to understand. It’s just a little too obtuse for me.
This is basically a shaggy dog story. Marketed as some sort of mystery/horror situation, it's not that at all. Riding the coattails of 90s nostalgia/Synthwave/Stranger Things us a good marketing move, but not at all what this book is about. It stuck with me, but only as the impression of being bait-and-switched.
it's a strange, complicated tale, made more so by the nonlinear fashion in which it is told. it's about family, mothers in particular, but it's also about cars and changing media formats and the subtle horror that lurks beneath the surface of "ordinary" US life. Check out the audiobook if you can and want; John Darnielle is a good reader.
Man oh man, do I have a lot to process after reading this book.
Whether it's music or fiction, I've always loved the way Darnielle writes. I often find myself coming back to his songs when I want to feel things less deeply and awfully, and also feel less alone in the process. I think he's one of the most gifted writers of our age and he's a huge source of inspiration for me, both in a creative and personal sense.
This book took me completely by surprise. I read multiple reviews noting his disjointed writing style, lack of a consistent narrator, and overall jumpy plot with no real resolution. After finishing this book, I can definitely agree that there wasn't a very linear structure to the plot, and perspective shifted multiple times (mostly within a single chapter), and it was hard to keep track of whose story you were …
Man oh man, do I have a lot to process after reading this book.
Whether it's music or fiction, I've always loved the way Darnielle writes. I often find myself coming back to his songs when I want to feel things less deeply and awfully, and also feel less alone in the process. I think he's one of the most gifted writers of our age and he's a huge source of inspiration for me, both in a creative and personal sense.
This book took me completely by surprise. I read multiple reviews noting his disjointed writing style, lack of a consistent narrator, and overall jumpy plot with no real resolution. After finishing this book, I can definitely agree that there wasn't a very linear structure to the plot, and perspective shifted multiple times (mostly within a single chapter), and it was hard to keep track of whose story you were reading. While that's made me put down other books, I kept on reading this one until the last page, and wasn't all dissatisfied with the lack of closure. After all, it's human to not find all the answers you're looking for.
I have such a deep love for John Darnielle, one of my generation's most truly gifted artists, that it's tough for me to be objective about his second novel. It has all the mystery, humanity, and open-heartedness of the best Mountain Goats songs, and its well-crafted suspense and realistic characters show that Darnielle is beginning to master long-form novel writing. Without revealing too much about the surprises in the plot, I'll just say that what starts out ostensibly as a horror tale or murder mystery beautifully reveals itself to be a story about the greatest horror of all: The way that the passage of time, in its ruthless indifference, erases all of us.
