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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Great prose but didn’t believe the whodunnit and the book just didn’t stick the landing.
Mainly giving this three stars because it took me so long to read, but really I'd call it 3.5 stars. I started the novel almost when it was released, and both my mom and sister finished it months before me. The pace was so different from her other books, and I think I just didn't understand Toby well enough to feel invested in the drawn out plot structure. It was an interesting and compelling read, don't get me wrong. It just didn't have that same "Tana French" quality I've grown used to.
What an unsettling book. The narrative voice and uncertainty (resulting from a plot point I won't spoil) keeps one on edge throughout the text. I'm still not quite sold on the ending, but overall, a gripping read.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Much better than the last 2 Tana French books
3.5 star rating because it was really long
3.5 star rating because it was really long
Again I have very mixed feelings about this book. Starting with the good, it was an interesting mystery and I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book. Our protagonist Toby is viciously attacked near the start of the novel leaving him with serious injuries and a long road to recovery ahead of him. He then moves into his uncle’s house to help care for him, but when a skull is found hidden in the back garden, a long police investigation is launched.
I liked Toby’s sprawling family and the dynamic between them. The mystery was really intriguing until the last third of the novel and I had several theories as to the perpetrator at one stage.
Now onto the bad. At 500 pages this was needlessly long. So much of this mystery consisted of Toby and his cousins sitting around discussing the past, and it felt that several of these events could have been condensed.
Sadly I found the end utterly baffling.
This is sadly one of those examples where a poor ending detracted from the whole novel. That being said I would definitely give another novel by this author a go.
I liked Toby’s sprawling family and the dynamic between them. The mystery was really intriguing until the last third of the novel and I had several theories as to the perpetrator at one stage.
Now onto the bad. At 500 pages this was needlessly long. So much of this mystery consisted of Toby and his cousins sitting around discussing the past, and it felt that several of these events could have been condensed.
Sadly I found the end utterly baffling.
Spoiler
I know Toby was slightly brain damaged, but I really could not follow why he decided to murder that police officer. It was very clear the whole family was going to get away Scott free, and all he had to do was let his snide comments go. Given this character was not previously prone to violence, this just seemed like a bizarre choice.This is sadly one of those examples where a poor ending detracted from the whole novel. That being said I would definitely give another novel by this author a go.
Though this book was a little slow at first, it does pick up and it ended strong! This was a little different from her regular series but I still enjoyed it and was guessing about the mystery/resolution until the end. I did get the murderer right--yay! But the ending surprised me.
Given the amount of praise that surrounds Tana French's work, I as excited to dive into 'The Witch Elm.' The story itself is well-crafted. The plot is interesting, and there are a lot of interweaving parts that eventually come together. At its core, 'The Witch Elm' is a classic cloak and dagger tale. The story, however, would be more effective if it were about 150 pages shorter. Our narrator, with his severe brain injury, is classically unreliable. He's also self-centered, ignorant, and in general fairly rude. Plenty of his narration is cringe-worthy. I praise French's ability to write in that persona, but the lengthy and stagnant narrative is difficult to wade through just to get to the action of the story. I rate this book a 2.5/5.