The Cabin at the End of the World - Paul Tremblay
This book is tense. That's really what I want to start out with, no matter how you read it, you just don't know who's right, and who's wrong in the situation given. By the end of the book you're more confused than when you started, and that's not a bad thing, per say. Main characters Andrew, his husband Eric, and their daughter Wen are on vacation when a large man named Leonard happens by Wen. He explains to her that he needs to talk to her dads, and they have a terrible decision to make. But she will not be hurt, and it isn't hurt fault. This is how the book opens, with a bang, and an uneasy feeling of dread. It isn't long before the plot gets rolling but then...it gets side tracked. I have ADD, and get distracted easily but the way this is written makes me wonder which way Tremblay was going and why. It would sporadically go off on tangents, but all the tangents pertained to the family. They DID have meaning, it made you feel closer to the family, made you more sympathetic, but I think there might have been a better way to do this than shoving a bunch of exposition into the middle of the chapter. The chapters are told by character, and changes perspective. Sometimes the chapters overlap, and when one chapter concentrated on what Wen was seeing, we'd switch to Eric and see the same scene play out, but an entirely different way. It made for an interesting read, and gave me a bunch of perspective on certain acts, bringing me closer to the family.
The one gripe I have about this is that it very suddenly goes from third to first person. It kind of made me stumble for a minute and go "wait what? Am I reading this wrong?". It's a jarring change, but it doesn't ruin the book for me, not one bit.
Now, there's one thing that I find rather nice about this book, that many others don't think about. Representation for the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man, I often see my sexuality portrayed as stereotypical, obnoxious, or there for a comedic effect. But Eric and Andrew are just a nice, married, loving couple. Yes, their homosexuality plays a part in the book, but it doesn't do so in an overly critical or obnoxious way. It brings the problems that homosexuals face to light, and then handles those problems with grace.
The book is solid, it's good! The premise is incredibly fascinating, the ending leaves you hungry for more, the characters are very easy to relate to. A few gripes here or there with how it's written out and how the story is told. But nothing that would keep me from enjoying the book.
A solid 4/5 stars.
This book is tense. That's really what I want to start out with, no matter how you read it, you just don't know who's right, and who's wrong in the situation given. By the end of the book you're more confused than when you started, and that's not a bad thing, per say. Main characters Andrew, his husband Eric, and their daughter Wen are on vacation when a large man named Leonard happens by Wen. He explains to her that he needs to talk to her dads, and they have a terrible decision to make. But she will not be hurt, and it isn't hurt fault. This is how the book opens, with a bang, and an uneasy feeling of dread. It isn't long before the plot gets rolling but then...it gets side tracked. I have ADD, and get distracted easily but the way this is written makes me wonder which way Tremblay was going and why. It would sporadically go off on tangents, but all the tangents pertained to the family. They DID have meaning, it made you feel closer to the family, made you more sympathetic, but I think there might have been a better way to do this than shoving a bunch of exposition into the middle of the chapter. The chapters are told by character, and changes perspective. Sometimes the chapters overlap, and when one chapter concentrated on what Wen was seeing, we'd switch to Eric and see the same scene play out, but an entirely different way. It made for an interesting read, and gave me a bunch of perspective on certain acts, bringing me closer to the family.
The one gripe I have about this is that it very suddenly goes from third to first person. It kind of made me stumble for a minute and go "wait what? Am I reading this wrong?". It's a jarring change, but it doesn't ruin the book for me, not one bit.
Now, there's one thing that I find rather nice about this book, that many others don't think about. Representation for the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man, I often see my sexuality portrayed as stereotypical, obnoxious, or there for a comedic effect. But Eric and Andrew are just a nice, married, loving couple. Yes, their homosexuality plays a part in the book, but it doesn't do so in an overly critical or obnoxious way. It brings the problems that homosexuals face to light, and then handles those problems with grace.
The book is solid, it's good! The premise is incredibly fascinating, the ending leaves you hungry for more, the characters are very easy to relate to. A few gripes here or there with how it's written out and how the story is told. But nothing that would keep me from enjoying the book.
A solid 4/5 stars.
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