A review by martysuter
The Witch Elm by Tana French

4.0

I've seen a lot of negative reviews of this book online but this, dare I say, is a thought-provoking read (3.5 starts). Very cliche I know but French mixes up a lot of stuff here, family drama with some mystery and thriller thrown in for good measure (the book could have been shortened by a deft editor, I agree). Mostly there's family drama but I did like how the author flipped the script a bit and gave the bad luck to the privileged white guy. I liked the way she got me thinking about how our memories of events can be slanted and one-sided. Lots of books have dealt with this genre of an unreliable narrator but this story takes it to another level. The story we tell ourselves about our 'goodness' or authenticity can be shaky at times, especially if we happen to be a victim of a home invasion and suffer a severe concussion. In the end, I like books that challenge my thinking and get me considering other points of view.

In any case, I enjoyed the book, even though I wasn't 100% happy with the ending and most of the characters were incredibly unlikeable. I suppose it speaks to the talent of the writer to pull that off.