A review by sireno8
The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan

5.0

The sterling quality of the writing elevates this novel to where it defies genre. It's so deep and true and profoundly sad. The writer seems to be exploring what being haunted means, not just by "ghosts" but by guilt, regret and even duty. His heros are both the haunted and the haunters. At the beginning, it took me some time to get my bearings and get used to the p.o.v. Also, it felt a little circular and repetitious at the get-go. But this is precisely the intent--this feeling slightly lost in the mundane, hovering between the past and the present--so that you are unaware of the inescapble pull of the story until it's too late. Kudos to the author for making all the characters (even the 'bad' guy) empathetic. And the last chapter--perfect. This is contemporary fiction writing at its best.