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A review by lawbooks600
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
3.0
Trigger warnings: Physical injury, animal death, bullying, war themes, PTSD, loss of an eye, blood depiction, infection, death of a child, grief and loss depiction, death of a soldier, scars, hospitalisation
6.5/10, I have been wanting to read this for quite a while and I finally did and although I found this to be quite well written but it was one of the most brutal books I have ever read, everything here is just too bleak and depressing and there's probably not a single hint of any positive emotions, where do I begin. It's not even a young adult book either, I am just so confused. It starts with the main character Annabelle living in a place called Wolf Hollow, hence the title and everything appears normal until the main antagonist who is a city girl called Betty decides to show up and wow is she an antagonist, just look at all of her despicable actions. Anyways Betty first decides to screw up Annabelle's life by bullying her physically and verbally if she doesn't do her whims and then she ruthlessly crushes a bird with her bare hands. Wow, and if you think this is already depressing it gets much worse. After a while, Betty disappears for whatever reason and that sets the scene for Annabelle to meet this new character called Toby who seemingly is a WWI veteran with PTSD, I don't really know but other characters describe him as odd, so there's that. Toby starts being accused for something and I don't know what that thing exactly is but I found out towards the end which was quite a disheartening experience by the way. It turns out that Betty after being missing for so long was found in a well stuck there and another character pulled her out and it looked like she would be saved despite the fact that she did not come out unscathed, she was later hospitalised in the last few pages. Toward the end of the book Annabelle focuses on Toby and something devastating happened when Betty died of her infection, then the police shot Toby, funerals were held for them and that just ends it on a really low note.
6.5/10, I have been wanting to read this for quite a while and I finally did and although I found this to be quite well written but it was one of the most brutal books I have ever read, everything here is just too bleak and depressing and there's probably not a single hint of any positive emotions, where do I begin. It's not even a young adult book either, I am just so confused. It starts with the main character Annabelle living in a place called Wolf Hollow, hence the title and everything appears normal until the main antagonist who is a city girl called Betty decides to show up and wow is she an antagonist, just look at all of her despicable actions. Anyways Betty first decides to screw up Annabelle's life by bullying her physically and verbally if she doesn't do her whims and then she ruthlessly crushes a bird with her bare hands. Wow, and if you think this is already depressing it gets much worse. After a while, Betty disappears for whatever reason and that sets the scene for Annabelle to meet this new character called Toby who seemingly is a WWI veteran with PTSD, I don't really know but other characters describe him as odd, so there's that. Toby starts being accused for something and I don't know what that thing exactly is but I found out towards the end which was quite a disheartening experience by the way. It turns out that Betty after being missing for so long was found in a well stuck there and another character pulled her out and it looked like she would be saved despite the fact that she did not come out unscathed, she was later hospitalised in the last few pages. Toward the end of the book Annabelle focuses on Toby and something devastating happened when Betty died of her infection, then the police shot Toby, funerals were held for them and that just ends it on a really low note.