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A review by maddys_needful_reads
Smolder by Michael R. Goodwin
4.0
Brief summary: Eric is divorced, drunk, angry, and about to lose his house. He decides to talk a late night walk in the woods, and discovers that there is a darkness there. (A really cool darkness that I don't want to spoil, but seriously it's awesome).
So I actually started this a couple weeks ago and stepped away - there's a scene with a deer near the beginning that is a bit too disturbing for me, so I figured it just isn't for me. That's fine, we all like different things, no big deal. But the thing is, I could *not* get the story out of my head. I decided it was worth it to push through that part and try again, and I'm so glad I did. I really enjoyed this story.
Smolder reminds me a bit of Stephen King both in theme and style.
*Thematically, there is a juxtaposition of human and supernatural horror. I'm always vague when discussing novellas so I don't spoil anything, but I thought a lot about Jack Torrance while reading this. I love the question of whether The Overlook turned Jack into something evil, or if it just brought out what was already inside of him, and we have a similar thing going on in parts of Smolder.
*Stylistically, Goodwin fluidly switches up his writing style based on what's going on in the story and the different character POVs. I get the feeling that he has that special talent where he can imagine himself as the reader of his own story and write accordingly, which not all writers have.
I didn't vibe with a few things in the story, and, funny enough, they're the same things I usually don't vibe with in Stephen King stories. I don't like animal death, especially when it's that detailed (but hey, the refrigerator scene didn't ruin the book "It" for me, so there you go). I also don't love how it was implies that the female MC deserved her abuse. Last, a few vital scenes are a bit confusing, but that could be a problem with me. All of these are matters of personal taste.
I'm happy I pushed through the part that made me uncomfortable, because Smolder is a read that will certainly stick with me.
Content warnings ***MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS***:
Graphic gore involving animals, spousal abuse, child abuse (with hints at sexual abuse, though very brief and vague), patricide, alcoholism
So I actually started this a couple weeks ago and stepped away - there's a scene with a deer near the beginning that is a bit too disturbing for me, so I figured it just isn't for me. That's fine, we all like different things, no big deal. But the thing is, I could *not* get the story out of my head. I decided it was worth it to push through that part and try again, and I'm so glad I did. I really enjoyed this story.
Smolder reminds me a bit of Stephen King both in theme and style.
*Thematically, there is a juxtaposition of human and supernatural horror. I'm always vague when discussing novellas so I don't spoil anything, but I thought a lot about Jack Torrance while reading this. I love the question of whether The Overlook turned Jack into something evil, or if it just brought out what was already inside of him, and we have a similar thing going on in parts of Smolder.
*Stylistically, Goodwin fluidly switches up his writing style based on what's going on in the story and the different character POVs. I get the feeling that he has that special talent where he can imagine himself as the reader of his own story and write accordingly, which not all writers have.
I didn't vibe with a few things in the story, and, funny enough, they're the same things I usually don't vibe with in Stephen King stories. I don't like animal death, especially when it's that detailed (but hey, the refrigerator scene didn't ruin the book "It" for me, so there you go). I also don't love how it was implies that the female MC deserved her abuse. Last, a few vital scenes are a bit confusing, but that could be a problem with me. All of these are matters of personal taste.
I'm happy I pushed through the part that made me uncomfortable, because Smolder is a read that will certainly stick with me.
Content warnings ***MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS***:
Graphic gore involving animals, spousal abuse, child abuse (with hints at sexual abuse, though very brief and vague), patricide, alcoholism