October is here, bringing my favorite time of the year. The humidity of the South Texas summer has given way to a slight crispness in the air, the perfect weather to curl up with a light blanket and a good book. With the spooky season finally upon us, I've decided to pepper in some horror reads among the other books on my TBR list. Laird Hunt's 2018 novel In the House in the Dark of the Woods recently caught my eye at my local library. It promised an "indigenous horror story set in Colonial New England," a premise I couldn't pass up. At a little over 200 pages, I hoped the book would be a quick start to my seasonal reading.
The world outside is strange and wonderful, dark and foreboding. The woman leaves her man and boy to enter the woods in search of berries. She becomes lost amongst the trees, encountering bizarre places and people along the way. What secrets do these dark woods hold? The woman's duty to her family beckons her forward, her desire to find her way home forcing her through situations she would never have dreamed of. Fantasy and reality blend together into a dark fairy tale that will leave the woman forever changed by the things she encounters.
In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a peculiar read, something more akin to a folktale than horror in the literal sense. Think Lewis Carrol's Wonderland mixed with Hansel and Gretel. Lair Hunt's lyrical prose enraptured me from the start, but I struggled to invest in the story he portrayed. There's no real sense of direction to the novel. Instead, we bear witness to one woman encountering oddity after oddity. What began as an intriguing setup brimming with a dark undertone gave way to an annoyance that nothing of real consequence seemed to be happening. Even after reading the entire book, I still can't say with confidence that I fully understand what exactly happened. The atmosphere is certainly creepy, but In the House in the Dark of the Woods offers little else.
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