A review by jogalt
The Innocents by Michael Crummey

dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I'm glad I ended up finishing this book, I was not accustomed to the slow pace but I needed to know how everything wrapped up. 
Interconnected themes of nature, isolation and innocence made this a tense and interesting read. Especially their relationship with the land and creatures they're surrounded by. 
Overall I would recommend it as the writing and language was wonderful to read, and the questions is poses about our real nature's are very interesting to me.

how Ada and Evered slowly lost connection with the place they lived. Ada not wanting to communicate w/ Martha by the end, feeling alienated from her home and her body. Evered becoming more violent, hunting more, drinking, his brash, headstrong nature being encouraged by the men who visited. Ada feeling shamed and unfamiliar with her womanhood, very similar paths for man and women even today. We are introduced to adulthood differently. And compounded with the isolation and lack of information they experience, it makes for a tense and unpredictable relationship. When Ada becomes pregnant, it cements that they have lost everything they knew and can no longer stay. (Equal/added discomfort as it was an implied sexual assault, I wish the author had made this point more clear as I feel it is important for the two to distinguish.)


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