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Full disclosure: the author is one of my closest friends and the version I read was a draft. That being said, I wouldn't give a book five stars or recommend it to my other friends if I didn't genuinely think it was deserving.
Elliott asked me to read the draft because she knew I would give honest feedback if something wasn't working. She did not expect me to come back and say "no notes; it's perfect", and I actually didn't want to for fear that she'd think I just didn't care enough to read it closely! This is going to sound like a terrible thing to do to a friend, but I tried so hard to find fault with this novel. Grey Dog is so good that I failed. I read very little historical fiction and even less horror, so I felt like I couldn't help on anything genre-specific, but I looked closely at character; setting; pacing; and dialogue and couldn't suggest a single change. The one short scene that I initially thought could potentially have been cut ended up paying off later; nothing rang false; and I could clearly envision the settings.
Even though I'm not a particular fan of horror, I loved how atmospheric and creepy this was. I also thought that Elliott found a really nice balance with the more disgusting elements of the story - it never felt gratuitous. There's a beautiful subtlety to this novel, and I could feel how much care was put into it.
I'm proud of you, Elliott.
Elliott asked me to read the draft because she knew I would give honest feedback if something wasn't working. She did not expect me to come back and say "no notes; it's perfect", and I actually didn't want to for fear that she'd think I just didn't care enough to read it closely! This is going to sound like a terrible thing to do to a friend, but I tried so hard to find fault with this novel. Grey Dog is so good that I failed. I read very little historical fiction and even less horror, so I felt like I couldn't help on anything genre-specific, but I looked closely at character; setting; pacing; and dialogue and couldn't suggest a single change. The one short scene that I initially thought could potentially have been cut ended up paying off later; nothing rang false; and I could clearly envision the settings.
Even though I'm not a particular fan of horror, I loved how atmospheric and creepy this was. I also thought that Elliott found a really nice balance with the more disgusting elements of the story - it never felt gratuitous. There's a beautiful subtlety to this novel, and I could feel how much care was put into it.
I'm proud of you, Elliott.