Catship reviewed Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
A lot of abuse
I mean, it is about abuse. And I do like it. Still, I just didn't like it enough to make reading about all that worth it.
Hardcover
Published Sept. 19, 2018 by Granta Books.
Ghost Wall
by Sarah Moss
4 stars
(14 reviews)
In the north of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age.
For two weeks, the length of her father’s vacation, they join an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. They are surrounded by forests of birch and rowan; they make stew from foraged roots and hunted rabbit. The students are fulfilling their coursework; Silvie’s father is fulfilling his lifelong obsession. He has raised her on stories of early man, taken her to witness rare artifacts, recounted time and again their rituals and beliefs―particularly their sacrifices to the bog. Mixing with the students, Silvie begins to see, hear, and imagine another kind of life, one that might include going to university, traveling beyond England, choosing her own clothes and food, speaking …
In the north of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age.
For two weeks, the length of her father’s vacation, they join an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. They are surrounded by forests of birch and rowan; they make stew from foraged roots and hunted rabbit. The students are fulfilling their coursework; Silvie’s father is fulfilling his lifelong obsession. He has raised her on stories of early man, taken her to witness rare artifacts, recounted time and again their rituals and beliefs―particularly their sacrifices to the bog. Mixing with the students, Silvie begins to see, hear, and imagine another kind of life, one that might include going to university, traveling beyond England, choosing her own clothes and food, speaking her mind.
The ancient Britons built ghost walls to ward off enemy invaders, rude barricades of stakes topped with ancestral skulls. When the group builds one of their own, they find a spiritual connection to the past. What comes next but human sacrifice?
A story at once mythic and strikingly timely, Sarah Moss’s Ghost Wall urges us to wonder how far we have come from the “primitive minds” of our ancestors.
Erin reviewed Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Review of 'Ghost Wall' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This was a bit more descriptive of setting than I like, but it had a good slow burn. Lots of tension and moments where I was bracing myself.
I think it does a good job exploring the mind of someone in an abusive situation. The choices you make for survival. There can be frustration with someone who resists help in that situation, but the story here really shows you how complicated it is for the abused person, especially a child who can’t just leave even if they want to.
I also thought the plot of an Iron Age experiment worked well to bring out some people’s worst. Honestly, it could have gone even further, but it held back overall.
Elspeth reviewed Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Review of 'Ghost Wall' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A smart, queer teenage girl under the thumb of an abusively chauvinistic and xenophobic father meets a confidently feminist young woman who teaches her that there are possibilities beyond the tiny world her father has prescribed for her. I see this novella as primarily a love story in peculiarly interesting circumstances. Loved it.
Favourite quote:
"No poetry in your soul," said Dan, "that's the problem with girls, they're always thinking about where to pee" [...] It was one of my father's themes, the way women allow their inferior plumbing to shape their relationship with the Great Outdoors.
“Actually", said Molly, "it’s no harder for girls to pee than boys, the problem isn’t biology, it’s men’s fear of women’s bodies. If we were allowed to pull our knickers down and squat by a wall the way you’re allowed to get your dick out and piss up the wall there wouldn’t be …
A smart, queer teenage girl under the thumb of an abusively chauvinistic and xenophobic father meets a confidently feminist young woman who teaches her that there are possibilities beyond the tiny world her father has prescribed for her. I see this novella as primarily a love story in peculiarly interesting circumstances. Loved it.
Favourite quote:
"No poetry in your soul," said Dan, "that's the problem with girls, they're always thinking about where to pee" [...] It was one of my father's themes, the way women allow their inferior plumbing to shape their relationship with the Great Outdoors.
“Actually", said Molly, "it’s no harder for girls to pee than boys, the problem isn’t biology, it’s men’s fear of women’s bodies. If we were allowed to pull our knickers down and squat by a wall the way you’re allowed to get your dick out and piss up the wall there wouldn’t be a problem, it’s just the way you all act as if a vagina will come and eat you if it’s out without a muzzle.”
"Hey, joke," Dan said. "I was joking, don't get upset."
"That's the problem with boys", said Molly, "they're always telling people not to get upset."
patchworkbunny reviewed Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Review of 'Ghost Wall' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Sylvie's dad is obsessed with the past. She's been forced to spend her summer in a recreation of an Iron Age settlement, wearing scratchy tunics, peeing in the woods and eating meagre rations found in the hedgerows.
Ghost Wall has a slow build tension, as it becomes clear that Sylvie's dad is abusive, controlling every aspect of his wife and child's lives. The camp is being run by a professor, with students who don't take things too seriously, a sore point with her dad. It doesn't take much to set him off and it isn't the students who are the focus of his wrath. I feel like Sarah Moss set out to write a father that was the opposite of Adam in The Tidal Zone.
It's told from the perspective of Sylvie, who makes excuses for her dad. I think deep down she knows what he does is wrong, but …
Sylvie's dad is obsessed with the past. She's been forced to spend her summer in a recreation of an Iron Age settlement, wearing scratchy tunics, peeing in the woods and eating meagre rations found in the hedgerows.
Ghost Wall has a slow build tension, as it becomes clear that Sylvie's dad is abusive, controlling every aspect of his wife and child's lives. The camp is being run by a professor, with students who don't take things too seriously, a sore point with her dad. It doesn't take much to set him off and it isn't the students who are the focus of his wrath. I feel like Sarah Moss set out to write a father that was the opposite of Adam in The Tidal Zone.
It's told from the perspective of Sylvie, who makes excuses for her dad. I think deep down she knows what he does is wrong, but she doesn't know any other world. She takes a shine to Molly, one of the students who is confident and carefree. Molly can see through Sylvie's excuses, but what can you do when help is refused?
This all takes place against a backdrop of faux survivalism. As the group try and live the life of ancient Britons, you see how useless modern day humans would be if they really needed to live like that. Has modern farming made things harder?
I enjoyed the parts about what we think life would have been like back then. The professor is academic enough to make it clear we don't know things for certain. Sylvie's dad is quite interested in the bog people, those sacrificed to the peat. The book opens with a scene of from the distant past of a girl being sacrificed, perhaps the one who now resides in a Manchester museum.
It also touches on class and what it means to be British. Sylvie's dad is not too keen on thinking about his ancestors coming from all over the place, but Britons didn't just appear on this island. The students are from the south and Sylvie's family from the north. At times she feels like the students are mocking them, she wants to defend her family even if they are far from perfect.
I did see the end coming, it seemed a logical conclusion, even if I do wonder why certain people went along with it. My heart was in my mouth, although it did end a bit too suddenly. I think open endings are very much a thing Sarah Moss does.
