In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt

“A tale is a funny thing, and even when it’s your own and you have a quill in your hand you must be careful where you touch it.”

– Laird Hunt

Specifics:

Book: In the house in the dark of the woods

Author: Laird Hunt

Published: 16th Oct’18

Genre: Horror fiction, Psychological fiction, Historical fantasy

Publisher: ONE (Pushkin press)

Pages: 210

My rating: 3/5

Blurb:

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS AND WASN’T A WOMAN WHO WENT TO THE WOODS.

In this dark fairy tale, a young woman sets off to pick berries in the depths of the forest, but can’t find her way home again. Or perhaps she has fled and abandoned her family. Or perhaps she’s been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the wildness. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman who offers her help. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her to the depths of the witch-haunted woods, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.

DEDICATION:

Deep into that darkness peering,

Long I stood there

Wondering, fearing

REVIEW:

Let us say that we take Alice in Wonderland and put it in a blender with a few famous scenes from other fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, add a considerable amount of gore, confusion and horror and a pinch of surprise – the blend is basically the gist of this book.

For most part, the only thing I felt while reading the book was confusion. It starts off really well, with a very good fairy tale kind of vibe but as we dig deeper, it slowly blends into mystery, thrill, horror and gore. It doesn’t exactly feel like a wicked or dark twist to a fairy tale. It rather feels like a fairy tale happening in an alternate universe.

It is set in the era of witchcraft in colonial America/England (There are sources suggesting both but I lean on the latter). Like the blurb says, a woman is lost in the woods, and how, is a mystery that is left for us to figure out. While this is intriguing, it does become sort of monotonous and thus, boring.

The book also keeps flashing back to Goody’s past and connects it to the present. While it was a good narrative, in a few parts, it only adds to the confusion.

The only reason I ended up finishing the book is that it is small and I was halfway through already. But, I think it was a good choice because it wasn’t a bad read, it just requires a lot of your attention to remember and keep track of everything that is happening and judge the same.

The slump mid-way can be annoying but it is totally worth finishing. I also think that it requires an intellect that I do not have to fall in love with the book.

I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

“For there are things in this world that you think will never come to pass that will rob you of your voice for nothing but the joy of them when suddenly they do.”

– Laird Hunt

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Few things that will forever be embedded in my mind are definitely the murders that Goody has committed. The ease with which she discusses her past and also manages to behave like really good wife and mother is worth talking about.

Instead of writing about the plot and characters, this time I have theories, so let’s jump into them.

MY THEORIES:

THEORY 1: According to my dumb brain, this story is the game that Goody and Eliza play in Eliza’s home come to reality.

So, there are a few characters:

1. Goody, the humble mother and wife with an abusive mother who would beat her and her father

2. Eliza, a woman who left her family to live in the woods with a house that has a stream nearby and a cellar and is good with herbs

3. Captain Jane who is a brave soldier of the woods, that helps those that are lost and also has a flying ship made up of human bones and skin

4. Granny Someone, who is a weak witch that wanders around selling things (necklaces) she makes from raw materials she picks up from the woods and apparently traps people

5. A beautiful man who isn’t a man that traps kids luring them with music (I honestly, do not recollect) and puts them in a dark cellar after turning them into pigs

6. A red boy who has control over everyone at the forest, especially Eliza.

While at Eliza’s house, Eliza and Goody play a game where they act out a story and switch characters abruptly. For example, consider Alice in wonderland! 1 is Alice, 2 is the hatter, 3 is queen of hearts, and 4 is Cheshire cat and so on… The game begins with allotted roles that are interchanged as the game goes on.

Similarly, the above mentioned characters excluding the last two are interchanged. Once Goody decides to stay at Eliza’s house, Goody becomes Eliza, Eliza becomes Captain Jane, Captain Jane becomes Granny Someone and I guess someone new becomes Goody and Granny someone falls asleep or dies.

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THEORY 2: Goody, most probably due to the abusive and unstable childhood is a psychopathic cold blooded murderer who hallucinates the entire story and probably is the one who built the ship made of human bones and skin with the remnants of her victims.

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“There are no poor men. Not even among the wretches.”

– Laird Hunt

Reasons to read the book:

1. It is a dark and eerie twist to a fairy tale
2. A unique writing style
3. Will put your mind to work
4. It’s a unique blend of fantasy, thriller and gore.
5. Weirdly strong female character/’s

Cons:

1. Confusing to a large extent
2. Violence might act as a trigger to those vulnerable
3. Can be one of those books DNF’d due to boredom/confusion
4. Hits a plateau midway and then it’s hard to keep reading but gets interesting by the end

“There was magic in wanting to see a thing that has been marvelously described.”

– Laird Hunt