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A review by wanderaven
The Orchard by David Hopen
4.0
What everyone else says is true (I'm just adding my voice to the chorus): comparisons to The Secret History are apt and deserved. We've the philosophical wanderings, the intentional cruelties - large and small, literary references, and morbid teenagers feeding off of one another's trauma.
I read The Secret History literally decades after publication and so perhaps time and its popularity built against any success of it being a favourite for me. Don't get me wrong - I liked it very much but, having read The Goldfinch first, I couldn't tear my heart away from the first love. So while I liked TSH and acknowledge The Orchard's comparisons to be worthy, it should be clear that it stands on its own merits.
I loved the Jewish setting. I loved the uncommon nod to teenagers/young adults having the depth and cleverness that sometimes makes them fascinating and lovely creatures and sometimes makes them self destructive monsters.
Be prepared for languishness, questions, frustrations, great writing. I unfortunately found one of the twists at the end something I saw, to the final detail, early on. This didn't detract, and I have to wonder if I was just lucky, or if others might suspect its arrival.
In a flush of election-influenced stress and weakness, I requested a flurry of ARCs from publishers, which is when HarperCollins allowed me this one, and is why I'm reviewing a couple weeks after publication. I'm happy to have received it because, while a number of book people I trust have recommended it, it's unlikely I would've otherwise gotten to it as quickly as I did, and I'm happy to have experienced such a fantastic reading experience to close out the year.
While a number of the base elements are superficially like TSH, the same solid piers also shore up this debut: lush, beautiful writing and strong storytelling.
I read The Secret History literally decades after publication and so perhaps time and its popularity built against any success of it being a favourite for me. Don't get me wrong - I liked it very much but, having read The Goldfinch first, I couldn't tear my heart away from the first love. So while I liked TSH and acknowledge The Orchard's comparisons to be worthy, it should be clear that it stands on its own merits.
I loved the Jewish setting. I loved the uncommon nod to teenagers/young adults having the depth and cleverness that sometimes makes them fascinating and lovely creatures and sometimes makes them self destructive monsters.
Be prepared for languishness, questions, frustrations, great writing. I unfortunately found one of the twists at the end something I saw, to the final detail, early on. This didn't detract, and I have to wonder if I was just lucky, or if others might suspect its arrival.
In a flush of election-influenced stress and weakness, I requested a flurry of ARCs from publishers, which is when HarperCollins allowed me this one, and is why I'm reviewing a couple weeks after publication. I'm happy to have received it because, while a number of book people I trust have recommended it, it's unlikely I would've otherwise gotten to it as quickly as I did, and I'm happy to have experienced such a fantastic reading experience to close out the year.
While a number of the base elements are superficially like TSH, the same solid piers also shore up this debut: lush, beautiful writing and strong storytelling.