A review by wanderaven
The Wych Elm by Tana French
5.0
I mean, what to say? It's French, it's my heart.
I see others, though, who say they're long-term fans saying they didn't like it and I have to imagine they've been fans for different reasons I'm in love with French. For all the reasons they didn't like it (shifting perspectives from her usual, slow reading, languid, long scenes), I relished that it just felt like a heavier investment in all that I love about her. French has, since the first book, been categorized in the publishing world as a literary mystery writer, and whether you find that categorization as insulting or whether it justifies your particular worldview on publishing as an excuse to read a mystery, those of us who understand why that term is used understand its meaning - - and understand that The Wych Elm just takes us deeper into that literary connotation. French doesn't care whether you're anxious to find out the heart of the mystery (or maybe she does, but she's going to make you work for it - delicious, immersive, creepy work), as she would rather take you into the hearts and minds of all the characters and their inner lives and narratives and relationships.
If you've previously loved French's work but find this one not to your liking, there's a good chance that you loved her for her claustrophobic, dank Dublin murder squad meeting rooms and clever detectives and for her distinctive plots and twists. Perhaps you previously cared less about her delving into the conflicted and unreliable brains of those detectives and the way her novels have always weighted to the side of psychological explorations, because for the The Wych Elm, she's tossed in every card and set the whole pile ablaze.
I mean, I get it. I dragged this book around for six weeks and on two plane-necessitated journeys, it took me that long to read. It felt like a security blanket (and it sort of was). And for the last 200 pages or so, I began to feel a bit antsy to find out what was going on, and committed more time to reading. But it all took me so long because I adored the depth and the words and the world and I didn't want it to end because when I finished it late last night sure, I found out what had happened, but now I have to wait some God-awful interminable length of time before I get to have that experience again.
I had people asking me about this one. Friends who had never previously acknowledged my obsession with French were literally texting me in the weeks after the release solely so that they could ask what I thought and whether they should try this one, since there's been so much interest and press. And on the whole, honestly, I didn't know what to say. I tended in my heart towards: ummm, perhaps not? but only because to the best of my understanding these are friends not really categorized in my brain as Readers and because they hadn't previously read French and weren't already enamored of her words and creations, I wasn't sure that this is a good place for them to begin.
This reminded me a lot of The Secret History, which I don't say lightly because so often publishers like to make that comparison and it's rarely apt and feels like a slight to the novel being compared as if it can't just stand on its own merit (and honestly, I like Secret quite a lot but it was tempered by all the hype because it took like a decade for me to get to it - I love this more) but this does have that same claustrophobic, smarmy-guys-in-a-privileged-world-thinking-they-should-protect-one-another-while-wondering-whether-the-others-will-be-literally-stabbing-them-in-the-back feel.
I see why this has been a bit polarizing, even to long term fans. French has gone all in with the elements at which she excels, and if you love her for those elements, you'll love this. If those elements were previously just acceptable embroidery to plots and settings you preferred, you may falter with this one.
From the end of a late chapter, and illustrative of why I love her writing so damn much - she's uncanny in relating what an experience feels like because if you've had the same experience in your own, real life, you'll be floored by the fictional one she creates:
(masked because it may be considered somewhat of a small spoiler)
I see others, though, who say they're long-term fans saying they didn't like it and I have to imagine they've been fans for different reasons I'm in love with French. For all the reasons they didn't like it (shifting perspectives from her usual, slow reading, languid, long scenes), I relished that it just felt like a heavier investment in all that I love about her. French has, since the first book, been categorized in the publishing world as a literary mystery writer, and whether you find that categorization as insulting or whether it justifies your particular worldview on publishing as an excuse to read a mystery, those of us who understand why that term is used understand its meaning - - and understand that The Wych Elm just takes us deeper into that literary connotation. French doesn't care whether you're anxious to find out the heart of the mystery (or maybe she does, but she's going to make you work for it - delicious, immersive, creepy work), as she would rather take you into the hearts and minds of all the characters and their inner lives and narratives and relationships.
If you've previously loved French's work but find this one not to your liking, there's a good chance that you loved her for her claustrophobic, dank Dublin murder squad meeting rooms and clever detectives and for her distinctive plots and twists. Perhaps you previously cared less about her delving into the conflicted and unreliable brains of those detectives and the way her novels have always weighted to the side of psychological explorations, because for the The Wych Elm, she's tossed in every card and set the whole pile ablaze.
I mean, I get it. I dragged this book around for six weeks and on two plane-necessitated journeys, it took me that long to read. It felt like a security blanket (and it sort of was). And for the last 200 pages or so, I began to feel a bit antsy to find out what was going on, and committed more time to reading. But it all took me so long because I adored the depth and the words and the world and I didn't want it to end because when I finished it late last night sure, I found out what had happened, but now I have to wait some God-awful interminable length of time before I get to have that experience again.
I had people asking me about this one. Friends who had never previously acknowledged my obsession with French were literally texting me in the weeks after the release solely so that they could ask what I thought and whether they should try this one, since there's been so much interest and press. And on the whole, honestly, I didn't know what to say. I tended in my heart towards: ummm, perhaps not? but only because to the best of my understanding these are friends not really categorized in my brain as Readers and because they hadn't previously read French and weren't already enamored of her words and creations, I wasn't sure that this is a good place for them to begin.
This reminded me a lot of The Secret History, which I don't say lightly because so often publishers like to make that comparison and it's rarely apt and feels like a slight to the novel being compared as if it can't just stand on its own merit (and honestly, I like Secret quite a lot but it was tempered by all the hype because it took like a decade for me to get to it - I love this more) but this does have that same claustrophobic, smarmy-guys-in-a-privileged-world-thinking-they-should-protect-one-another-while-wondering-whether-the-others-will-be-literally-stabbing-them-in-the-back feel.
I see why this has been a bit polarizing, even to long term fans. French has gone all in with the elements at which she excels, and if you love her for those elements, you'll love this. If those elements were previously just acceptable embroidery to plots and settings you preferred, you may falter with this one.
From the end of a late chapter, and illustrative of why I love her writing so damn much - she's uncanny in relating what an experience feels like because if you've had the same experience in your own, real life, you'll be floored by the fictional one she creates:
(masked because it may be considered somewhat of a small spoiler)