Reviews with content warning for Blood - In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell

2 reviews

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn't mind the dreamlike weirdness like I didn't struggle too much with that I love weird sh¡t and the beautiful evocative writing carried this story but by 60% I got sick of all the repetitive wordplay phrases and how much could this guy say without saying and saying everything without saying anything at all. Even the author ended up remarking it near the end with this lol “How he spoke ceaselessly because like most men he could not sing, and because he could not say anything without too many words.” Despite the tediously long prose I found the themes of unresolved parental grief after miscarriage(s), false expectations, the relationship between a man and woman who despite loving each other don't know each other, and how some men tend to assume their happiness and needs like those of their spouses to be the same, that what they wish is what their spouses wish too, how people refuse to see two people as a family if there's no children, and how sometimes parents take all the loss children and whatever they had expected of that dead child onto the one they end up raising very insightful even with the magic realism taking the bulk. There's probably a lot more I didn't get and probably what I got is wrong lmao but I'll leave it at that bc the added shrouded mystery makes this more interesting. I gave it a 3.5 bc it got boring 60% in and I couldn't think of anything else but reaching the end during those seemingly endless passages. Without chapter 4 I think this story would have triumphed better for me.

Content Warnings

howwoolatthemoon's review against another edition

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Oh no no no no no this is not an author I should ever read again. The other book I tried by him had many mentions, many strong hints (but no outright description of the events) of child sexual assault, with no warning in the book description or in anyone's reviews. I said I'd like to give him another chance, and here we are. In the opening scene the wife has a miscarriage and the husband eats it. And then lies to her about it, saying he had a ceremony and floated it down the river or whatever. This is not a spoiler because it's literally the first thing that happens in the book. That's disgusting, and a violation, and not what I want to read about. It's over, Matt Bell. No more second chances. You blew it, buddy.

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