Once upon a time a young Englishwoman decided to take some time off after college and went to live in a small town US. The experience must have been scarring, because after returning to England a few years later, she wrote this book. Destroying any myth of quaintness, this is about as devastating of small towns small minds representation as it gets.
It’s also probably fairly accurate, if heightened for dramatic effect, representation, because places like this as American as apple pie and privately owned assault weapons exist. This one, tucked away in the mountains of Colorado, has all the tells that try to make American great again, ignorance, raging xenophobia, gay bashing, rampant familial abuse and violence, etc. The sort of place to quickly dispel whatever quaint notions of small town life you might have had and stay in the city, where life, however dirty, expensive and loud, is at least civilized. This was actually meant to be a transitional read, to ease the Mare of Easttown withdrawals. The same sort of small town crime drama that centers around someone’s daughter (or as they say in Easttown durdur) and then evolves into so much more. But…this turned into a different beast altogether, a darker and scarier one, much more along the lines of folkhorrific stories than murder mysteries. Primarily because the evil here, both in the general town’s atmosphere and as specifically embodied by an antagonist so profoundly vile you might have a visceral reaction to him, is just so…evil. And the entire thing is powered by faith in its worst interpretation by the (once again) evil priest and his sheeple flock. These people somehow manage to let their faith to both inspire and excuse their absolutely worst behaviors, exemplified to terrifying perfection by the girl’s father. And the supporting cast of what is essentially villagers with pitchforks. The author creates a community that’s backwoods in a positively medieval way with ways and mentalities that are almost difficult to comprehend by a modern reader. And yet, it seems tragically realistic. And affecting. You will be affected. Possibly devastated. So it’s a powerhouse of a story, emotionally gutting, well rendered, with excellent writing and equally excellent character development, including every attempt to personify and explain evil and some redemption to balance it out. A really good read, but the most striking thing about it is the author’s youth, to write a story of this emotional complexity as a debut in one’s 20s is really, really impressive. And yes, yes, I’m an agist, but also most people in their 20s seem to do whiny memoirs these days. This is so much more. And infinitely superior. Excellent and engaging, this is small town USA at its scariest. Read if you dare. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
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