Reviews

Blackwood by Michael Farris Smith

krisha's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

blueherron's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

paulabellman's review

slow-paced

0.25

annarella's review against another edition

5.0

A gripping, dark and gritty story, a great gothic novel that kept me hooked till the end.
It's atmospheric and its disturbing and creepy atmosphere kept me on the edge till the end.
The characters, the setting and the plot are great and the author is a talented storyteller.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

the_clavicule_of_ac's review against another edition

This book was not for me. I don’t even know how to go about rating it. I just didn’t like it, but that doesn’t make it necessarily bad. It’s dark, bleak, haunting, and did I mention dark?! The writing is almost poetic, which I actually did like. I wish the author made the choice to make it horror story or not. There are elements, but I feel like they never truly went anywhere. Or did they? The book certainly makes you think.

sagebrushnbooks's review against another edition

5.0

Too much fiction about the South, particularly about the rural South, either romanticizes it, or condescends to its residents. This is different. This is part crime and violence, part raw exploration of rural secret keeping, power motivations, and ballad of the overlooked. Michael Farris Smith shows his Mississippi roots brilliantly in gritty dialogue, in the kudzu that he expertly uses as metaphor, as near characterization, of the constant creep and entanglement of want and evil in every human soul. I have seen comparisons between Michael Farris Smith and Dennis Lehane, but I don't think the comparisons are fair. Lehane writes cop stories, where the focus is on wrapping up the crime in question with a neat and tidy end for the clever cop/detective who solves the case -- Sherlock Holmes with a bit more grit. Smith, on the other hand, is something different, better, more. There is no wrap up, no retribution, no salvation, no reason. Here, violence just is, part of the landscape, part of the human experience, and law enforcement is no more effective at tidying up the case than at abating the creeping kudzu.

rainweaver13's review against another edition

2.0

In this case, Smith seems to be trying too hard to be the unlove child of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor. An unpleasant book.

"Rivers" and "Desperation Road" are much better. I recommend them instead.

gordonbennett's review against another edition

4.0

Great read and great story that somehow lost its way in the middle a little bit. But I loved the writing style.

Very Southern Gothic and I think there is a very strong influence from Cormac.

I want to read his other books for sure.

lindys's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.25

swinsword's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0