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wazbar's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
A short list of things I love about this book:
- how the contrast between the tense, claustrophobic farm and the doomed saturnalian woods is achieved purely through style.
- that we don't spend overlong on the question of the faun's reality. Instead, the slightly more interesting question of whether the attraction to the faun is "real" or "pheremones" (read: an enchantment), and I really appreciate the way it settles on the in-hindsight obvious answer: "being attracted to someone because of how they smell is still real."
- how bleak and maleficent the domesticity of the Porter farm is.
- how the Porters are awful not in spite of their veneer of niceness but how the clear it is that niceness and cruelty stem from a common root in them.
- how the contrast between the tense, claustrophobic farm and the doomed saturnalian woods is achieved purely through style.
- that we don't spend overlong on the question of the faun's reality. Instead, the slightly more interesting question of whether the attraction to the faun is "real" or "pheremones" (read: an enchantment), and I really appreciate the way it settles on the in-hindsight obvious answer: "being attracted to someone because of how they smell is still real."
- how bleak and maleficent the domesticity of the Porter farm is.
- how the Porters are awful not in spite of their veneer of niceness but how the clear it is that niceness and cruelty stem from a common root in them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Child death
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Death of parent
dozylocal's review
4.0
3.5 stars
I'm not sure why, but both times I've read this book parts have made me feel quite unconfortable. Like the discomfort of a lumpy chair or slightly off centre seat. Subtle but noticeable. I hadn't realised that Megan Lindholm also writes as Robin Hobbs until the second reading so that was a surprise too.
The story is multi layered in terms of characters and narrative. There is depth and emotion and a slow merging of the very normal and real (a happily married woman off to spend some months with the dreaded in laws) with the fantastical (the same woman, as a tween, spending hours alone in the forest with her dog and an imaginary faun friend called Pan) until both blend together seamlessly and the unreal becomes the real.
I'm not sure why, but both times I've read this book parts have made me feel quite unconfortable. Like the discomfort of a lumpy chair or slightly off centre seat. Subtle but noticeable. I hadn't realised that Megan Lindholm also writes as Robin Hobbs until the second reading so that was a surprise too.
The story is multi layered in terms of characters and narrative. There is depth and emotion and a slow merging of the very normal and real (a happily married woman off to spend some months with the dreaded in laws) with the fantastical (the same woman, as a tween, spending hours alone in the forest with her dog and an imaginary faun friend called Pan) until both blend together seamlessly and the unreal becomes the real.
aneton's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
nats96's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
xantaranth's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
rosielazar1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
elderlingfool's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
If you read the Farseer trilogy and thought Fitz was frustrating, you haven't seen anything yet. The main character of this book is the most frustrating one I ever encountered in any piece of media. Every time she excused the abuse of her husband or tried to make amends or ignore the abuse of her husband's family towards her I wanted to scream at her to leave already (what she keeps thinking about doing by the way). Initially, this book was fine, but it gets so repetitive that it feels much longer than it is. I am not saying that the way Evelyn acted wasn't realistic but it was extremely frustrating to read about the same thing over and over again.
This is a story about a woman named Evelyn that goes to spend some time at her husband's family farm together with her small son and her husband. It is also about her friendship with a faun she met as a kid and that she is unsure if he's real or something she imagined.
The parts with the family of Evelyn's husband look like an horror movie and the parts with the faun look like an erotic romance novel. The family's interactions with Evelyn got increasingly worse and it was infuriating to read, especially because Evelyn refused to do what she kept thinking about doing the entire time since she is very aware about how their treat her. Her husband's treatment of her, however, comes as a shock to her. I am pretty sure his parents are also verbally abusive towards him but he keeps defending them instead of his wife and kid (like a coward).
This is an incredibly frustrating book to read, but at least it made me feel something even if that something was anger. By the end I was hating the entire thing. Even if Evelyn got some victories, even if it was the intention of the author that the reader felt upset about what was happening, I still hated it. Since my ratings are more emotional that rational that is all I can say.
This is a story about a woman named Evelyn that goes to spend some time at her husband's family farm together with her small son and her husband. It is also about her friendship with a faun she met as a kid and that she is unsure if he's real or something she imagined.
The parts with the family of Evelyn's husband look like an horror movie and the parts with the faun look like an erotic romance novel. The family's interactions with Evelyn got increasingly worse and it was infuriating to read, especially because Evelyn refused to do what she kept thinking about doing the entire time since she is very aware about how their treat her. Her husband's treatment of her, however, comes as a shock to her. I am pretty sure his parents are also verbally abusive towards him but he keeps defending them instead of his wife and kid (like a coward).
This is an incredibly frustrating book to read, but at least it made me feel something even if that something was anger. By the end I was hating the entire thing. Even if Evelyn got some victories, even if it was the intention of the author that the reader felt upset about what was happening, I still hated it. Since my ratings are more emotional that rational that is all I can say.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Child death
marcatili's review against another edition
4.0
This is a difficult book for me to rate. As a big fan of 'Robin Hobb' novels, I've been looking forward to reading something with Megan Lindholm's name on it. 'Cloven Hooves' seemed thematically right down my alley, and in many ways it did not disappoint.
The author is a master at frustrating the reader by putting the protagonist through one injustice after another. Unlike works by Hobb, these injustices take place in the most mundane, domestic of settings. Be prepared to read a lot about cleaning houses and doing the shopping. The injustices build gradually higher until they're as unbearable for the reader as they are the protagonist. Escape becomes necessary.
Cloven Hooves is a complex book exploring the expectations put upon women. The protagonist, Evelyn, tries so hard to meet those expectations, but within her is the desire to be free. To be wild. This manifests in her love for the faun, which exists at the edges of her reality, urging her to leave the house and go into the forest.
Yet while Evelyn has a simmering strength of character below the surface, she is so often a passive protagonist, going where she is led and rarely standing up for herself in any way that goes beyond mere whining. Though her character journey from passive wife to free individual is part of the theme of the novel, she never escapes being reliant on men in her life.
The author is a master at frustrating the reader by putting the protagonist through one injustice after another. Unlike works by Hobb, these injustices take place in the most mundane, domestic of settings. Be prepared to read a lot about cleaning houses and doing the shopping. The injustices build gradually higher until they're as unbearable for the reader as they are the protagonist. Escape becomes necessary.
Cloven Hooves is a complex book exploring the expectations put upon women. The protagonist, Evelyn, tries so hard to meet those expectations, but within her is the desire to be free. To be wild. This manifests in her love for the faun, which exists at the edges of her reality, urging her to leave the house and go into the forest.
Yet while Evelyn has a simmering strength of character below the surface, she is so often a passive protagonist, going where she is led and rarely standing up for herself in any way that goes beyond mere whining. Though her character journey from passive wife to free individual is part of the theme of the novel, she never escapes being reliant on men in her life.
phunkypbj's review
3.0
This is a very unusual book. I can't say it's my favorite from Lindholm/Hobb but her talent for making you feel what a character feels and in building relationships you care about is in fine form here.
brightredday's review
4.0
This was a difficult book. It never went where I expected, and I've never read anything like it.