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Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
To panic, said T.J., was to make an enemy of the forest. To stay calm was to be its friend.
I had high hopes for this book. I saw it being recommended all over the place this summer by people whose book recommendations I typically enjoy. Plus I liked Moore’s first book, Long Bright River, so I figured I would enjoy this one too. BONUS: Reading it the week of Halloween? A slam dunk, surely.
NOPE.
To be fair, I think a lot of this was due to the fact I listened to this book instead of physically reading it. As a voracious audiobook listener, there aren’t many audiobook experiences where I will gladly admit the physical form of the book is better. This is one of those times.
Please, just pick it up. Sure, there’s a map at the beginning, but more importantly, as the book goes on, at the beginning of each chapter, it outlines where at in the story you are. There are so many timelines to keep track of and honestly, it became a little overwhelming and confusing. I relistened to so much of this book to try and figure out where I was and I finally just gave up and hoped for the best. This truly impacted my enjoyment of the book and I think I would have liked this book so much more if I actually read it.
On a separate note, for a book that was sold to me as a mystery worth reading, I found the ending of both mysteries (two siblings disappearing many years apart) to be so much of a let down. I don’t want to say too much more than that for fear of spoiling the book, but dang. Not at all what I was looking for when I signed up to read this one.
One character I really liked was Judyta (Judy). What a strong female character and a strong woman in a time when women weren’t respected for doing their jobs correctly and doing their jobs well. She also was so incredibly brave when it came to standing up for herself and her independence with her parents. I loved every single chapter I got to read where we followed Judy’s journey as an investigator looking into Barbara’s disappearance. There’s just something about strong female characters, especially set in a historical time where they aren’t seen as equal, that makes me love a book.
Fingers crossed you’ll like this book more if you physically read it. 🤞🏼
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
I will say that I somehow loved the ending, and found it so beautiful, with such a light touch — odd after this book that felt so heavy-handed to me. It was absolutely not worth it for me but I somehow was still quite enchanted by it even as I was so ready to be done. So the writing is definitely remarkable in some way, even though for me this is not going to be a writer I return to again.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Pregnancy, Classism
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use
Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Infidelity, Blood