Reviews

In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell

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gay_for_jay's review against another edition

4.0

Honestly this was dark and weird and heavy and hard to digest, but also a decent read. I had a friend let me borrow this book a while back but I never got around to reading it. I gave it back to them and recently decided to pick up my own copy.

Glad I did, because this was just out there enough to make it an enjoyable end of year read.

undermeyou's review against another edition

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4.0

I really loved this story. Bell did a great job mixing magical realism with bits of horror. I think maybe it was just too drawn out for me because I found myself losing focus many times.

lindsayclaire's review against another edition

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3.0

I just feel like this could have been stronger if it was edited down more. I enjoyed the themes but man was it a slog.

portlandcat's review against another edition

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1.0

emmaraeempowered's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

jramzthethird's review against another edition

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5.0

Stunning, challenging, and all-around beautiful. Never before have I read a novel so rife with poetry, imagery and arcane magic bursting and leaking from every one of its crevices. The sole fault of the thing may be that it's story is too confined unto itself, but that's an inherent fault given the type of tale Bell tells: marriage is blissful freedom at best and feeling marooned on a desert island at worst, and that speaks of this book as well. We need more writers like Bell: scribes unafraid to put humanity's most animal natures under a microscope to pluck them apart with fanged, honest poetry. This novel reminded me of the power of words, and why nothing else quite compares to the shared imagination-relationship formed of reading a book.