A Hopeful Oxymoron

3.12 – Nightwoods

I am still trying to digest this one. I liked it, but it was kind of rough.  Sad things happen, I know this, but it doesn’t make them any less sad to read about.  This book is full of people living through sad things, but the point is that they are living.  Luce takes in her niece and nephew after her sister is murdered, the children are damaged, and their father is still coming for them.  I was constantly thinking how the whole book is a subtle thriller – that is an oxymoron right?  Subtle and thriller.  Most thrillers are so in your face; the violence, the bad guy vs. the good guy, the plot twists and reveals.  This book has that all as well but it is subtle; you realize the facts instead of having them thrown in your face, the action is a slow burn, the good guys are good and the bad guys bad, but, as we all know, nothing is ever that simple.

It is a beautifully written book full of wonderful sentences and descriptions.  No detail goes unnoticed and it is the details that tell much of the story.  The small things that could go unnoticed or unconsidered.  These are characters who do not want to be known, and they do not share about themselves, but you find yourself attached to them anyway.  This is a literary mystery to be sure, and I am sure that many people will find it boring or overly written, but after considering it I think it was kind of underwritten so that the reader’s emotions have to fill in the blank spots.  I am happy to say that the emotion I filled the story with was hope.  After reading a story of such sadness, I feel hopeful.  That is kind of amazing.