The Empusium - BookWyrm

nerd teacher [books] reviewed The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk

Not bad, though very slow.

3 stars

This book is very much a slow burn, and it kind of needs to be in order for the "twist" to make sense. In order to prompt the reader to ask the questions they need to be asking, they really have to follow Mieczysław's thoughts, experiences, and memories.

There is a horror story somewhere, but it's not... very horrific? It kind of feels tacked on in places. It is choreographed, but I think its existence within the story doesn't do much of anything. If anything, it's a very quick catalyst that prompts Mieczysław to live in the way they want. But anything could've been that catalyst, not the horror story that sometimes feels like it's... not even there.

I think if the horror story was utilised better or wasn't there at all, I would've liked this more.

Chris reviewed Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk

None

4 stars

It's a difficult book to review because, while it's a horror novel in a kind of Germanic folk-horror mode, it is very slow and atmospheric and spends much time dwelling on a handful of misfit characters. Main character is a young man who is sent to a sanitarium with the suspicion that he has TB. He encounters several other characters, mostly male (which is relevant). We still <spoiler>never really find out what the creatures in the woods are, apart from taking a sacrifice every November and it having to do with male heterosexuality</spoiler>. I finished it with a feeling of "What?" which is probably the point. You know how the best Westerns are all about the end of the Old West and it takes place when there are entirely too many trains and telegraphs and lawmen for some people's liking? This had that feeling of 'it's all happened.' Also, it's …

It's a difficult book to review because, while it's a horror novel in a kind of Germanic folk-horror mode, it is very slow and atmospheric and spends much time dwelling on a handful of misfit characters. Main character is a young man who is sent to a sanitarium with the suspicion that he has TB. He encounters several other characters, mostly male (which is relevant). We still <spoiler>never really find out what the creatures in the woods are, apart from taking a sacrifice every November and it having to do with male heterosexuality</spoiler>. I finished it with a feeling of "What?" which is probably the point. You know how the best Westerns are all about the end of the Old West and it takes place when there are entirely too many trains and telegraphs and lawmen for some people's liking? This had that feeling of 'it's all happened.' Also, it's about to all kick off because as far as I can tell we are just pre-WW1. The young protagonist may have survived the sanitarium but will he survive the war? "The war satisfied our cravings" says the author darkly, right at the end.

nosach

rated it

February 8

oatmilk_alex

rated it

October 9