#i can never get the tone of these right

[soapdish290]

I initially read 'In The Woods' by Tana French in 2013, after seeing a recommendation basically saying that, after reading a Tana French novel, the reader "has to go and hug my dog for a long while", to paraphrase.

Re-reading it over a decade later I wasn't expecting to finish the book feeling just as desolate and affected as I did the first.

I know we here all love the phrase "doomed by the narrative" and let me tell you, there are so many characters here doomed in so many narratives. Sometimes the reader knows the details from minute one. Sometimes you can feel the doom, formless and cloying, and have to read on, aching and helpless, to watch it land.

French is an absolutely stunning writer. She fully leverages the first person perspective to create all the isolated inevitability the format can give. A sad, lonely, nostalgic autopsy of interwoven tragedy. Actually that's my blurb quote, fuck it.

I choose the word "nostalgia" very deliberately. It's a strangely butter feeling, to me. A sort of empty longing. French evokes it frequently and beautifully.

French writes slow and lets the characters and atmosphere breath and grow and move, in fits and starts, to the preordained (but, to the reader, still hidden!) conclusion.

I'm chucking a line break here because below this I'm going to spurt a bunch of spoiler shit I want to talk about and there's a (very faint) possibility that someone might read this and be pushed into reading a novel.

If you are planning to read, however, know this: The narrator is a bit of a prick. He's 100% written that way on purpose. He is what makes everything work.

Embarrassingly, when I first read the book as a 20 year old eejit, I saw Ryan as a likeable, sympathetic protagonist. I do not like who I was as a 20 year old. Luckily, inall subsequent readings, I recognised him as an extremely well drawn example of the casually misogynistic, genuinely thinks he's a good guy, thinks "political correctness has gone mad" prick everybody knew at least one of.

Honestly these days I think it's a testament to French's writing - he's very well drawn, entirely realistic, and completely vital to most of the twists. If he wasn't a fucking arsehole half of it wouldn't work.

One thing I noticed this time, is that it's heavily implied Ryan did to his flatmate Heather what he did to Cass, in part. When he fordt introduces Heather, he says he took the flat in part because he fancied her, but "we both worked out that Harry and Sally were never going to materialise" (page 103 of my kindle copy).

Later, when Heather works out that Ryan slept with and is now shutting out Cassie, Heather says "she doesn't deserve that, [...] any more than I did." (Page 491).

I'll admit this might be really obvious to everyone but my aro/ace arse, but it hit me like a truck this time around.

Another very tenuous thing I noticed and really fucking like is right at the end, when Ryan drunkenly calls Cassie and she leaves the line open and he hears her and Sam. The narrative is unsure whether this was accidental or deliberate. I choose to interpret Cassie's word choice in a way that leans deliberate. She tells Sam it was a wrong number. "He told me he loved me [...] but he turned out to be looking for Britney." (Page 587).

Now it's very likely I'm reading faaaar too much into this, but the phrasing matches Cassie and Ryan joking around about a hypothetical personal ad for Ryan, "male, six foot [...] seeks his very own Britney for..." (Page 188). I love this interpretation. Gives the scene such a delicate, devastating impact. If its a callback its so soft and intimate in its kindness or its cruelty.

There's literally an entire essay topic based on close reading the archaeological dig mirroring Ryan digging up his past, the respective value of one over the other, the effects on the present etc. On the way Ryan goes back at the end and the wood is almost gone, he connects to the people destroying the past, the arrowhead pendant he refuses, etc etc etc. The symbolism be RICH.

Fantastically written novel. I'm rambling.

[cloud-ya]

remember to feed your velk before quests

[raddest-laddest]

ok. someone’s gonna have to come get my dad or i’m gonna tweak.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Would most people realistically use 'carry' and 'convey' as synonyms in typical speech?? Seems a slightly reaching comparison to me lol

[laurenttheninth]

i cannot believe they're gonna uno reverse henchim ndes by killing off bobby nash and it's not even going to be some peaceful thing with his family around him and everyone getting a chance to say goodbye it's gonna be sudden and his team is trapped or hurt or dying or barricaded away from him or eight hundred miles away and he won't get to say goodbye to may and harry and do you think they're gonna bury him in la or in st paul with marcie and the kids and it's just not fair it's just really not fair and i don't want it to happen

[moe-broey]

Freyja voice I'm So Sorry you had a Traumatic Childhood and it made you Stupid On-Line.

[starbuck]

me: hey, so i feel like you maybe disregarded my saying that caretaking on top of work and school and pre-planned travel is a lot for me right now and i’m not comfortable with all of that pressure being on me alone when i wanna make sure you guys have everything you need when i’m not around…

my family: of COURSE we heard you, that’s why we started doing a bunch of things by ourselves at great cost to our physical well-being instead of asking you for help!!!!!!

me:

[angelfacemjj]

Editing sci-twi (who's me) to look more like me (who's her). /hj

(The way I gone from a sci-twi kin for fun to a literal sci-twi kin will never not be funny asf to me 😭💀)

[honeyviscera]

have i ever said how much painting skin is the Bane of my Existence

[byanyan]

if you think byan hasn't broken bones numerous times in their parkour adventures... you would be wrong. they don't make mistakes often these days, but in the past, especially as they were first learning (as in, teaching themself), there were many mishaps to speak of. their largest scar, one which runs up along their right side, came as a result of a parkour accident (and included a couple of fractured ribs, as well). they've broken an arm, a wrist, a couple fingers, and had many, many sprains over the years. learning was nothing if not a messy process, but it paid off - the talent they boast now is pretty high, and they only get better as they keep putting everything they've learned into practice.

[deanpinterester]

i have this unfounded theory that a lot of media is so consumed with trying to one-up each other and be different that they forget that simplicity is often just as effective of a tool in telling a compelling and cohesive story

[light-wrath-paradise]

When I start having a panic attack about visiting my family I know it's time to go to sleep immediately no ifs no buts

[yami-in-leather]

Oh man you can tell from the first episode that this season is going to be outstanding 😭❤️ there’s love and care put into every detail of every scene

[arcanamouse]

Incredibly cruel of the universe to give me the uncontrollable and overwhelming urge to chirp and purr but not allow me the means of doing so

[kitchensinksurrealism]

when you create something temporary with the intention of coming back to it later to do it properly but it's been so long you're now used to the temporary thing and you don't wanna get rid of it even though it's so messy