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A review by justinkhchen
Sundial by Catriona Ward
4.0
4 stars
Nature versus nurture, Sundial is very much a grim, nightmarish expression of that statement; even though I don't think it is as tightly woven as Catriona Ward's previous effort, The Last House on Needless Street, it remains an immersive experience filled with taut tension, ultra-violence, and silent dread.
Catriona cherishes deception in her narrative, Sundial starts as a very disturbing, but quite mainstream domestic thriller, but around its 40% point the story evolves into something not as classically identifiable: a little sci-fi, a lot of human drama, and tiptoeing into body horror — think Blake Crouch and David Cronenberg. Sundial is guaranteed to be divisive, especially if you were fooled by its conventional genre setup, and would've preferred it to stay on the familiar track, rather than going into crazy town.
As much as I love its vivid storytelling (the California desert setting is PERFECT for this story), and the ability to thread all the seemingly unrelated concepts into one, Sundial is borderline excessive for its own good. Between the atypical characterization (no one is 'normal' and relatable), gender-bending naming convention, time jump, and toying with fact vs. fiction, it may comes across as obnoxious, and after the first read through I'm still at loss at how some of its pieces fit together (or do they?). If you're looking for a story that can be casually enjoyed with your brain half shut off, you'll be annoyed by how much effort is needed to 'get' Sundial.
I've now grouped Catriona Ward in the same category as Stephen Graham Jones: talented fringe authors who accidentally wrote a novel that strikes mainstream appeal. The Last House on Needless Street and The Only Good Indians might be the outlier rather than the norm, because clearly these authors doesn't play by the rules, and their immediate post-success effort is intentionally niche and not at all watered-down just to be another bestseller — and I applaud them for it. Will definitely keep my eyes out for the next effort from Catriona Ward.
Nature versus nurture, Sundial is very much a grim, nightmarish expression of that statement; even though I don't think it is as tightly woven as Catriona Ward's previous effort, The Last House on Needless Street, it remains an immersive experience filled with taut tension, ultra-violence, and silent dread.
Catriona cherishes deception in her narrative, Sundial starts as a very disturbing, but quite mainstream domestic thriller, but around its 40% point the story evolves into something not as classically identifiable: a little sci-fi, a lot of human drama, and tiptoeing into body horror — think Blake Crouch and David Cronenberg. Sundial is guaranteed to be divisive, especially if you were fooled by its conventional genre setup, and would've preferred it to stay on the familiar track, rather than going into crazy town.
As much as I love its vivid storytelling (the California desert setting is PERFECT for this story), and the ability to thread all the seemingly unrelated concepts into one, Sundial is borderline excessive for its own good. Between the atypical characterization (no one is 'normal' and relatable), gender-bending naming convention, time jump, and toying with fact vs. fiction, it may comes across as obnoxious, and after the first read through I'm still at loss at how some of its pieces fit together (or do they?). If you're looking for a story that can be casually enjoyed with your brain half shut off, you'll be annoyed by how much effort is needed to 'get' Sundial.
I've now grouped Catriona Ward in the same category as Stephen Graham Jones: talented fringe authors who accidentally wrote a novel that strikes mainstream appeal. The Last House on Needless Street and The Only Good Indians might be the outlier rather than the norm, because clearly these authors doesn't play by the rules, and their immediate post-success effort is intentionally niche and not at all watered-down just to be another bestseller — and I applaud them for it. Will definitely keep my eyes out for the next effort from Catriona Ward.