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A review by hetauuu
The Wych Elm by Tana French
5.0
I definitely have to sit with this book for a while before I give it a star rating, but I do want to write down some of my thoughts on the first Tana French novel I've read.
I got this book on a whim from Libby one morning when my girlfriend was still asleep and I didn't want to turn on the light to read a physical book. I realised pretty quickly that e-books aren't really my thing (especially when I have to read on my phone), but the story of this novel gripped me from the beginning. Having read and adored [b:The Secret History|29044|The Secret History|Donna Tartt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451554846l/29044._SY75_.jpg|221359] a while prior to picking up The Wych Elm, I was looking for another book where a mystery is told in hindsight, the narrator reflecting back on what has happened to them. While that is not as apparent here as in The Secret History, it still shapes the narrative structure of the novel, and satisfied my hunger for that style.
Once my Libby loan ran out and there were holds on it, I got a physical copy from my library. That's when I really started binge-reading this novel in chunks, going through 100 pages a day easily even when busy with schoolwork and social stuff. I've read a lot of disappointed reviews of this novel, but I think what helped me fall in love with it was that I haven't read any Tana French before, and therefore had no expectations for this book. From what I can gather, her Dublin Murder Squad series are a bit more fast-paced and more traditionally detective/thriller novels, while The Wych Elm is an absolute slowburn, more a literary fiction novel with a mystery element. However, I am a sucker for slice-of-life literary fiction, especially when the focus is on family, which is a central focus here, too. I didn't know what to expect from a Tana French novel, and I was happy with what I got.
The characters truly make the book. Our narrator, oblivious, privileged Toby Hennessy, now stunted by an awful burglar-attack-gone-violent. His cousins Susanna and Leon, siblings who would go to war for each other, and whose siblingly love is stronger than the bond between them and Toby, despite what Toby might perceive. Not to mention the vibrant, kind, warm Hugo Hennessy, Toby's uncle living in the Ivy House, dying of brain cancer. While the plot progressed very slowly over the novel's 500-ish pages, I became enamored with this bunch, as well as the myriad of characters surrounding them, from Susanna's unassuming husband Tom, to whacky aunt Miriam, and everyone in between. I love a good character-driven novel, and I did not mind meandering through the plot with this bunch.
However, the ending itself did come a bit too rushed for me, which is funny considering the book's 500+ pages of length. That's why I'm hesitant to give this a star rating just yet - I adored the characters and the setting French put me in, but the ending just felt quite unsatisfactory to me. However, it has not put me off reading more of French's work - [b:In the Woods|2459785|In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)|Tana French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562761513l/2459785._SY75_.jpg|3088141] is sitting on my bedside table as I write this review, waiting for me to crack it open. I guess The Wych Elm has changed my perspective on star ratings, and I would like to have this same approach for the future books I read: sit with the novel for a while before rushing to give it a star rating, which is only a small representation of how I truly feel about a book.
I got this book on a whim from Libby one morning when my girlfriend was still asleep and I didn't want to turn on the light to read a physical book. I realised pretty quickly that e-books aren't really my thing (especially when I have to read on my phone), but the story of this novel gripped me from the beginning. Having read and adored [b:The Secret History|29044|The Secret History|Donna Tartt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451554846l/29044._SY75_.jpg|221359] a while prior to picking up The Wych Elm, I was looking for another book where a mystery is told in hindsight, the narrator reflecting back on what has happened to them. While that is not as apparent here as in The Secret History, it still shapes the narrative structure of the novel, and satisfied my hunger for that style.
Once my Libby loan ran out and there were holds on it, I got a physical copy from my library. That's when I really started binge-reading this novel in chunks, going through 100 pages a day easily even when busy with schoolwork and social stuff. I've read a lot of disappointed reviews of this novel, but I think what helped me fall in love with it was that I haven't read any Tana French before, and therefore had no expectations for this book. From what I can gather, her Dublin Murder Squad series are a bit more fast-paced and more traditionally detective/thriller novels, while The Wych Elm is an absolute slowburn, more a literary fiction novel with a mystery element. However, I am a sucker for slice-of-life literary fiction, especially when the focus is on family, which is a central focus here, too. I didn't know what to expect from a Tana French novel, and I was happy with what I got.
The characters truly make the book. Our narrator, oblivious, privileged Toby Hennessy, now stunted by an awful burglar-attack-gone-violent. His cousins Susanna and Leon, siblings who would go to war for each other, and whose siblingly love is stronger than the bond between them and Toby, despite what Toby might perceive. Not to mention the vibrant, kind, warm Hugo Hennessy, Toby's uncle living in the Ivy House, dying of brain cancer. While the plot progressed very slowly over the novel's 500-ish pages, I became enamored with this bunch, as well as the myriad of characters surrounding them, from Susanna's unassuming husband Tom, to whacky aunt Miriam, and everyone in between. I love a good character-driven novel, and I did not mind meandering through the plot with this bunch.
However, the ending itself did come a bit too rushed for me, which is funny considering the book's 500+ pages of length. That's why I'm hesitant to give this a star rating just yet - I adored the characters and the setting French put me in, but the ending just felt quite unsatisfactory to me. However, it has not put me off reading more of French's work - [b:In the Woods|2459785|In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)|Tana French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562761513l/2459785._SY75_.jpg|3088141] is sitting on my bedside table as I write this review, waiting for me to crack it open. I guess The Wych Elm has changed my perspective on star ratings, and I would like to have this same approach for the future books I read: sit with the novel for a while before rushing to give it a star rating, which is only a small representation of how I truly feel about a book.