Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Writing Retreat

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

18 reviews

danajoy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

nickthebooktoker's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I had my reservations about this book, because I'd just abandoned a thriller with a similar premise (I've come across three different retreat-based thrillers published this year alone!) Like 'The Wilderness Retreat' by Jennifer Moore, this was another slow start, but thankfully the main character wasn't half as annoying so I was able to give 'The Writing Retreat' much more of a chance!

My interest was finally grabbed once we get to the retreat itself, which makes me think this is where the story should have started to begin with. The introductory stuff leading up to this felt unnecessary, or could have just been included later on through flashbacks to contextualise Alex (and Wren's) history.

Nonetheless, the story mostly kept me intrigued, albeit the action could have kicked in sooner. There was a lot of scenes involving the retreat participants getting to know each other/developing cliques and participating in writing workshops, which just wasn't very interesting to me. In fact, the first half kind of felt like a high school drama rather than a thriller. The characters simply didn't read as a a group of adults in their mid-twenties to me and came across as caricatures at some points.

On the plus side, I did enjoy some of the themes explored, with Bartz posing the question: does great art require pain and suffering? And how far would you go/how much would you endure for the sake of your passion/art and for it to be recognised by others?

All in all, this is a competent thriller that's also full of a surprising amount of sapphic spice and plenty of twists once the action escalates. Worth a read but there's probably better thrillers out there.

Many thanks to Oneworld Publications and NetGalley for providing me with a digital review copy.

Content Warnings

katiieecat's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

ndgrad98's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

kylieqrada's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I love the conceit of this, but I feel like it suffered a little bit from having too much going on. It kept me engaged all the way through, and I liked the cast of characters. It also had decent diversity.

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Why I Read It: I chose The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz for my February Book of the Month Club pick.

Review:

Although I am not a huge fan of mysteries/psychological thrillers—I almost always find their endings unsatisfying—I still wanted to read The Writing Retreat because I found the premise intriguing. Since I went in with low expectations, I found myself pleasantly surprised while reading the first part of the book. It is well-written, the atmosphere and scenario are sufficiently spooky, and the relationships between the writers on the retreat (as well as Roza Vallo) are fascinating. The main character, Alex, is not as interesting as her fellow writers, but I could appreciate the complex dynamics between her and her former best friend, Wren.

During the buildup to the book’s climax, I only had a couple of minor complaints. For one, there are a couple of unnecessary sex scenes (one of which is nonconsensual) that do not add anything to the plot or character development. I also did not enjoy the passages of the book that are excerpts from the novel Alex is writing on the retreat. I found them boring, unnecessary, and quite poorly written.

I knew that the book’s climax was probably not going to satisfy me, and I was correct on that front. The ending is over-the-top in a way that made me roll my eyes, although luckily it is not too needlessly complicated. The biggest disappointment for me was that

Bartz seems to abandon the fascinating storyline about Wren and Alex’s breakup as soon as Roza’s evil plan is revealed. I was hoping that the book would have something meaningful to say about the dynamics of friendship, queerness, and friendship breakups, but instead Wren and Alex made up in about two paragraphs with some hasty apologies and the issue is never explored any further.

Without that thread to keep me interested, I found the ending to be boring, rushed, and slightly ludicrous.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like The Writing Retreat if:

· You like thrillers

· You want to read a book about the dynamics of relationships between women

· You are a writer

You might not like The Writing Retreat if:

· You have high expectations for thrillers

· You hope to gain some clarity, insight, or closure regarding friendship breakups

Content Warnings

arthur_ant18's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC of The Writing Retreat in exchange for my honest review!

There's plenty of lush and twisty darkness to be found in Julia Bartz's debut novel, The Writing Retreat. It follows Alex, an associate editor for a publisher who's wrestling with an extensive case of writer's block, as she ends up having the seemingly good fortune of being invited to a month-long writing retreat at the estate of Roza Vallo, the horror author who's been her longtime writing hero. Sure, it won't be completely smooth sailing, since one of the other attending writers is Wren, Alex's former best friend who has now become a foe under murky circumstances that led to their mutual buddies shutting out Alex. But no worries, because heading up to Roza's estate in the Adirondacks can still provide a prime opportunity for her to put an end to her writer's block, right? Well... maybe, but not in the way you think it would.

There aren't too many psychological thrillers that have utterly gripped me as of late, but hooboy, The Writing Retreat is now part of that small collection. I will advise you, though, to avoid the back cover. It gives away a—well, not a twist, per se, but an important plot point nonetheless that doesn't even occur until halfway through the book. But even if you do come across it, Bartz has spread enough juicy meat throughout the rest of the masterfully paced story to keep you hooked. The first half of the plot is a slow-burn that lays down the pieces and gradually builds up the characters and their interrelationships, while the second half kicks it all into high gear. I wouldn't necessarily say that it veers in an ultra-bonkers direction, but it definitely embarks on some twists and turns that floored me. The gothic mood and the claustrophobic locale make for such a robust atmosphere, one that's heightened by the fact that we're diving into this via Alex's first-person POV—a POV that crystallizes how much she needs to (pardon my French here) get her shit together. She's an endearing protagonist all the same, though.

Bartz rounds out the supporting characters with their own layers as well. We've got Wren, as I previously mentioned, who shares an incredibly intricate dynamic with Alex. There are the other writers at the retreat, Taylor, Keira, and Poppy, who all play their own crucial roles in the story. And then there's Roza, who I personally find to be the most complex character in this cast. She actually reminds me a bit of Terence Fletcher, J.K. Simmons's character in Whiplash—not that she has explosive and vitriolic outbursts necessarily (though both of them share a penchant for being temperamental), but she does have a habit of insidiously breaking down writers until they're left absolutely raw in a seeming mission to unearth their inner artist. She simultaneously terrifies, appalls, and enthralls me with her numerous facets, and I wish we could experience characters of this caliber more often.

I was pleasantly surprised by the book's queer elements, especially since most of the thrillers I read are ridiculously straight. I also appreciate its thematic handling of toxic codependency, internalized misogyny, and the pains that writers endure to create remarkable stories—the last which felt reminiscent of Stephen King's Misery, since it covers similar subtext within an equally confined environment.

If there's any gripe I have with this, it's in regard to the book-within-a-book conceit that gives us a peek at the novel Alex endeavors to pen throughout the plot. Sometimes I love how this trick is able to deepen certain stories. But in The Writing Retreat, while I initially like how Alex's book reflects the course of events surrounding her, it ends up feeling tropey and extraneous, especially towards the third act. That's really my only criticism for what's otherwise one of the most absorbing psychological thrillers I've read in a long time.

Overall, if you don't have the ARC already, I urge you to pick up The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz when it's published on February 21st, 2023.

Content Warnings

emilycmarshman's review

Go to review page

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Thank you to Atria Books + NetGalley for the eARC!

This book was absolutely insane. From the jump, I felt like I couldn't tear my eyes away, devouring at an insatiable speed I haven't experienced while reading in a bit.

'The Writing Retreat' follows a small group of young female writers who've been invited, seemingly, on the basis of their scale of talent compared to their peers, to the upstate New York manor of a renowned feminist horror novelist named Roza Vallo, to participate in a writing retreat (...duh). One of those women is our narrator Alex's ex-best-friend whom she had a...bloody falling out with. This alone would have been enough to keep me reading, but then there's ghosts? And murder? And a whole mess with Roza's books that I can't get into without completely spoiling this book for you, but you'll have to trust me when I tell you it's worth reading this book to find out.

I am giving this book a 3.5-4 star rating because I felt as if there were some loose ends that could have done with tying up (still unsure about the reason Alex saw a monster in the woods as a child?) and the ending felt a bit rushed, in my opinion, but I do genuinely think this was a solid literary thriller. I love any book that passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. A fun, winter-y read for anyone looking to lock themselves up indoors when it gets too cold and immerse themselves in a book that will dig its claws into you and refuse to let go.

Content Warnings

More...