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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
The Witch Elm não faz parte da saga de detetives Dublin Murder Squad, mas conta a história de um jovem charmoso e sortudo Toby, cuja vida é radicalmente alterada depois que seu apartamento é invadido e uma surra dos invasores que o deixa com graves sequelas. Afim de se recuperar e também ajudar um ente querido, ele decide passar um tempo em Ivy House.
A partir daí você pode pode achar que a trama vai se desenrolar para descobrir quem invadiu o apartamento de Toby e por que, mas a vida do rapaz se complica ainda mais quando um crânio humano é encontrado na a casa onde Toby esta se recuperando e onde ele e seus primos passavam os verões na época da sua adolescência.
O livro tem 526 páginas e elas estão recheadas. Quando eu estava apenas a 1/4 do livro tive a impressão de conhecer Toby melhor do que algumas pessoas reais na minha vida. E sendo ele uma destas pessoas privilegiadas que nunca teve um reverse até a fatídica invasão, foi difícil simpatizar com tudo de horrível que estava acontecendo com ele.
Na verdade foi quase impossível simpatizar com a maior parte dos personagens. Até mesmo Melissa, a namorada de Toby, acabou me irritando em vários momentos, mas não tenho certeza se é porque ela é um capacho ou se porque foi a personagem menos desenvolvida do livro.
A escrita de Tana French é atmosférica e suas descrições são maravilhosas e astutas, e assim ela nos transporta para o cenário que construiu com muita facilidade. E foi isso que me fez continuar lendo quando quase nada esta acontecendo além de conversa fiada e intriguinhas familiares de menor importância.
A autora levou muito tempo para chegar a parte suculenta da estória e isso é um dos pontos fracos do livro na minha opinião. Muita coisa poderia ter ficado de fora e não faria falta. É como os editores dizem: se não esta movendo a estória adiante, exclua.
Se estórias de crime e suspense onde os personagens não conquistam nossa simpatia não lhe incomodam, eu recomendo a leitura. Você vai ter a impressão de que o livro é mais longo do que parece, pode ser difícil de digerir em certos momentos, mas ainda assim é um bom livro.
Para resenhas mais recentes visite: Siana Press
A partir daí você pode pode achar que a trama vai se desenrolar para descobrir quem invadiu o apartamento de Toby e por que, mas a vida do rapaz se complica ainda mais quando um crânio humano é encontrado na a casa onde Toby esta se recuperando e onde ele e seus primos passavam os verões na época da sua adolescência.
O livro tem 526 páginas e elas estão recheadas. Quando eu estava apenas a 1/4 do livro tive a impressão de conhecer Toby melhor do que algumas pessoas reais na minha vida. E sendo ele uma destas pessoas privilegiadas que nunca teve um reverse até a fatídica invasão, foi difícil simpatizar com tudo de horrível que estava acontecendo com ele.
Na verdade foi quase impossível simpatizar com a maior parte dos personagens. Até mesmo Melissa, a namorada de Toby, acabou me irritando em vários momentos, mas não tenho certeza se é porque ela é um capacho ou se porque foi a personagem menos desenvolvida do livro.
A escrita de Tana French é atmosférica e suas descrições são maravilhosas e astutas, e assim ela nos transporta para o cenário que construiu com muita facilidade. E foi isso que me fez continuar lendo quando quase nada esta acontecendo além de conversa fiada e intriguinhas familiares de menor importância.
A autora levou muito tempo para chegar a parte suculenta da estória e isso é um dos pontos fracos do livro na minha opinião. Muita coisa poderia ter ficado de fora e não faria falta. É como os editores dizem: se não esta movendo a estória adiante, exclua.
Se estórias de crime e suspense onde os personagens não conquistam nossa simpatia não lhe incomodam, eu recomendo a leitura. Você vai ter a impressão de que o livro é mais longo do que parece, pode ser difícil de digerir em certos momentos, mas ainda assim é um bom livro.
Para resenhas mais recentes visite: Siana Press
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to this one on audio. The narrator did a wonderful job of pulling me into this story. This is my first Tana French, and The Witch Elm did not disappoint.
Toby experiences an event that takes away many of his childhood memories and leaves him physically and mentally disabled. Staying with an aging uncle, bits and pieces start coming back to him and causing him to question the sort of person he was. Family drama and intrigue, murder mystery, and the complications of family dynamic made this a compelling and exciting read for me.
Toby experiences an event that takes away many of his childhood memories and leaves him physically and mentally disabled. Staying with an aging uncle, bits and pieces start coming back to him and causing him to question the sort of person he was. Family drama and intrigue, murder mystery, and the complications of family dynamic made this a compelling and exciting read for me.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I despair over Goodreads’ blunt rating system. I want to give this a 3.8/5; it feels like an crucial distinction to me.
I benefitted from having read some reviews of the book prior to reading, which in effect warned me that the mystery of this novel was much less compelling than those of previous French books, and I think that appropriately adjusted my expectations. But I also knew that Tana French is a writer whose works I would appreciate having read regardless of how compelling I found the plot lines, because they are secondary to her writing style and her characterizations and her deep understanding of human nature. (Off the top of my head, Jane Austen, Ian McEwan, Roxane Gay, and Donna Tartt fall in this category. The Tartt-French comparison feels particularly apt to me. Secret History vs. The Likeness, anyone?)
Mystery aside, I think this book is at its best when it illustrates the discomfiting fact that random events can so thoroughly shape a life, and how privilege and circumstance of birth can impede a narrator’s ability to understand half of what’s going on around him at any given time.
I benefitted from having read some reviews of the book prior to reading, which in effect warned me that the mystery of this novel was much less compelling than those of previous French books, and I think that appropriately adjusted my expectations. But I also knew that Tana French is a writer whose works I would appreciate having read regardless of how compelling I found the plot lines, because they are secondary to her writing style and her characterizations and her deep understanding of human nature. (Off the top of my head, Jane Austen, Ian McEwan, Roxane Gay, and Donna Tartt fall in this category. The Tartt-French comparison feels particularly apt to me. Secret History vs. The Likeness, anyone?)
Mystery aside, I think this book is at its best when it illustrates the discomfiting fact that random events can so thoroughly shape a life, and how privilege and circumstance of birth can impede a narrator’s ability to understand half of what’s going on around him at any given time.
Toby, a PR agent for an art gallery and a generally lucky person as the opening statement of the book proclaims. He comes home one night after drinking with his close friends and in the middle of the night hears two men in this living room. It's a break in. He grabs a candle holder as a weapon, makes himself known to these men, and is beaten within an inch of his life. he wakes up in a hospital, family come to visit, a girlfriend he believes is hanging on a thread now wants to emotionally support him, investigators try to help identify the two men. The break-in burglars, turns out, also stole some things including his car. He agrees to take some time to recover at the Ivy House, his uncle Hugo's estate. It is revealed to Toby that his uncle is dying from a brain tumor. The Ivy House, a special haven he and his cousins Susanna and Leon spent their weekends and breaks from school, another unwanted event occurs in Toby's story when he, and others, find a human skull by a wych elm tree. This skull becomes another thread in a complex investigation our author weaves.
I never read from Irish authors but it takes some getting used to their dialog. Tana French, an author I heard of through a Stephen King blurb one day, peaked my interest because I wanted to read a horror novel by a woman outside the US. Nothing but mere curiosity as my personal motivation to read this. I like to diversity my reading catalog. I'm pleased with this choice.
French is very gifted writer. She is good at making me, the reader, feel physical pain. Descriptions of Toby's his pain shook me. I wanted to get out, and felt physically paralyzed. Other times I felt terrified with Toby's world changing so quickly as one catastrophe happens after another. Near the end a final crescendo of chaos wraps the whole novel up in a box and you'll put it away in your shelf in fear of breaking it open again.
Beside being a quality page-turner, this book is a horror story on the surface, and a crime drama at its core. And wow, the quality is top rated. Tana French knows how to bring you terror and keep you guessing.
I never read from Irish authors but it takes some getting used to their dialog. Tana French, an author I heard of through a Stephen King blurb one day, peaked my interest because I wanted to read a horror novel by a woman outside the US. Nothing but mere curiosity as my personal motivation to read this. I like to diversity my reading catalog. I'm pleased with this choice.
French is very gifted writer. She is good at making me, the reader, feel physical pain. Descriptions of Toby's his pain shook me. I wanted to get out, and felt physically paralyzed. Other times I felt terrified with Toby's world changing so quickly as one catastrophe happens after another. Near the end a final crescendo of chaos wraps the whole novel up in a box and you'll put it away in your shelf in fear of breaking it open again.
Beside being a quality page-turner, this book is a horror story on the surface, and a crime drama at its core. And wow, the quality is top rated. Tana French knows how to bring you terror and keep you guessing.
A very okay book from an author I normally really like. The first 175 pages dragged, and the narrator was annoying and just not engaging to me. The mystery aspect of the book was interesting and, while a little predictable, pretty good. The whole last chapter should have been cut, though.
Not my favorite of the Tana French books I’ve read, especially because I didn’t really love any of the characters. I think the main reason was that it focused on the victims rather than the detective work, which is French’s forte. Nevertheless, I was still sucked in and finished it quickly!
This is my first Tana French work. This book just went on too long, based on the only character I felt any compassion for was Hugo. The whole lot were spoiled little brats and everyone had an agenda. The main character is a "whoa is me" type and it just causes the book to drag on. The "twists" were pretty predictable. I give it 2.5 stars.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment