Hi, it's Naomi back with another vlog for you. This time I'm gonna be talking about
The Wych Elm by Tana French. So this is a standalone novel, it is not one
of her Dublin Murder Squad series. I haven't tried any of those yet but
they're incredibly well respected and regarded within the genre. Speaking of
genres, this book kind of defies genre. It would be very easy to say
because the author has written crime novels before, it's a crime novel, but I
think it has a lot more wider appeal than that. The book itself centres
around a chap named Toby. Toby is a nice guy with a nice life. He's got a nice car,
a nice job, a nice girlfriend. Everything seems to fall in place for him. And
that's what some of the other characters mention. They do mention the level of
privilege he has been afforded in his life and it's made very clear from
day one that Toby is or was a lucky man. And luck is something that really runs
through the book. It's a theme the author uses quite a lot. You know
who is lucky, what is luck, and what happens when our luck runs out? So Toby
is attacked which leaves his life massively change. His once easy life now
is a day-to-day struggle both physically and mentally.
So he's really suffering from the trauma of this attack.
When a body is found Toby takes on this role of amateur detective and it takes
him to some really dark places. He almost exposes himself as an
unreliable narrator because he knows he can't trust what he does or doesn't
remember because of the nature of his injuries from the attack, let alone
trusting what other people are telling him. So it must be an incredibly scary
and frightening place to be in mentally. And you see this reflected in his
relationship with his family. So they'd previously seemed like quite a
close-knit, large family but Toby starts pushing himself away, because I
think he feels like they're pitying him and their attitude attitude towards him
has changed since he's had this accident. He's really struggling with processing
the first bit of very bad luck he's had in his life. And it leaves him
in this very angry, alienated space. The cast of characters surrounding Toby
are all fantastic, they are all great, they have a specific role, no one is
floating around without any agency in this novel. They're believable and the
dialogue between them absolutely sings. It's such a strong point of this novel,
the dialogue is so well written. It reads a little like a Donna Tartt novel
sometimes. You know, with the mundane activities of everyday life coupled
along with this secret, bubbling away underneath. This looming darkness
that always feels like part of a Donna Tartt novel, it's kind of present here as
well, that's why I draw that comparison. The style and pacing of this novel make
it such a pleasure to read. Even though it is a more slow burn, you're so
engrossed by the writing that it just flies by. I mean at a glance it's
quite a long novel for the amount of action that takes place. However I
don't think there's ever a point where it drags, it's just so well done I really
thoroughly did enjoy it. I also read a review by Stephen King of this book
after I'd finished it and he brings up a point which I really do agree with.
He thinks that the blurb on the back of the book is basically too much
information about the book and yes I'm inclined to agree. So that's why I've
kept it a little bit vague today because I feel like anyone who goes on to the
book to read the book will thank me for that a little bit. It's a fantastic
read, it's gonna appeal to so many people. It's got elements for so many different
people's tastes. I've already started recommending it to
customers and I think it's gonna stick with me throughout the year this one.
It's a book I think will probably end up on a lot of end of year roundup book
lists as well so do give it a try let us know what you think. Thank you
very much for listening to me today and if you want to hear more from me,
more from the other vloggers or more from waterstones in general then please
do subscribe to our channel. Thank you, bye bye!