A review by pizzabrot
The Ruins by Scott Smith

4.0

I feel absolutely gutted! This book leaves you feeling the same way like the good ol' NBC Hannibal episodes, devastated, in need of psychological treatment and beyond all hope for anything remotely good. Smith has this really amazing, cinematic-feeling writing style that pulls you right into the story (it doesn't matter how much you struggle against it: there's no escape) and the characters were extremely fleshed out (pun intended) in their personalities, even though I personally didn't really connect with them. But that might just be me. I didn't really appreciate the supernatural elements in the novel, but the adventure and survival aspects were SO on point and, I don't want to say enjoyable, but...well...in some wicked way...hm...It's a real tragedy that Smith never wrote more than his two books because I'd absolutely read everything this man writes. While "A Simple Plan" was stronger in my opinion, there are only a few books that are equal to Smith's powers of narration. Even though the middle part dragged a bit, I flew right through the novel (the only reason why I took so long being an annoying thing called real life, which always seems to get in the way at the worst possible times) and couldn't put it down once I had the time to stard reading again. I felt like I was right in the middle of a movie, everything seemed so close and extremely vivid, which is something that usually never happens and made it that much more real. And oh my god, given the gruesome things that happen over the course of the plot, I'm not sure that "realness" is a good thing. So much of the book was completely and utterly disgusting; not terrifying, no, I wouldn't classify it as a horror novel (unless you have really weak nerves), but it is definitely disturbing when you look at the fates, the pain and the terror some, or let's face it, most of the characters have to endure. If you think the last couple of pages of "A Simple Plan" were traumatizing, there's more of the stuff in that alley. It didn't leave me feel as hollowed-out as his first novel (I was more attached to the characters in that one. I didn't feel like I got to know the people in The Ruins well enough to really feel sorry for them, even though unfortunately I did feel with them. Yuck...), but God, if you don't know what to expect from the author (and honestly, even if you do), you're on a terrible/y (good) journey nonetheless. The ending was perfect, if not exactly surprising. There was only one real way to pull it off, and nothing else would've fit, even though you might argue that some fates are worse than others. Sadly it was rushed, and characters behaved unnecessary stupidly, which led to me feeling that even the author couldn't cope with the sick turns of his novel anymore. Either way, if you're looking for hope, you should definitely not look here.

PS: The title is very misleading, considering this isn't about any ruins at all. Unless you want to call the characters' ruins, because ultimately that's exactly how you can describe them towards the end. Oh, isn't that poetic...

PS2: I recommend this book to everyone who wants to be on a (not so voluntary) diet.