A review by alexisreading23
Grey Dog by Elliott Gish
4.0
A young spinster seeks to discard her past for a fresh beginning at a teaching post in the small town of Lowry Bridge. Grisly phenomena and a haunting presence residing in the woods begin to break down her carefully presented image as she becomes all the more tormented by and tempted towards the mysterious 'grey dog'.
I finished this practically in one sitting and scared myself in the dark after reading this. Like the best horrors, this was a slow-burn that succeeded to plant an uneasy tremor of fear and discomfort that only grew throughout the novel. While I must admit the premise was not entirely original and the plot rather easy to predict from the first instance, this did not take away my enjoyment of the reading process as it was carried off with style and skill.
I thought the form of first-person diary entries worked very well as it often does with the horror genre. The voice of Ada was sympathetic and engaging and the slow revealing of information was executed well, allowing the reader to understand the likely pattern of events before disclosing the missing details. I also enjoyed the development of the various other characters in Lowry Bridge who were very believable and colourful in their own way. The deterioration of Ada's mental state and her increased ostracisation by the townspeople was dealt with very well and I particularly enjoyed how this process revealed the darkness of female rage and repression which grows out of necessity from the harsh realities of the early twentieth-century society. I liked that Ada's hidden queer identity and her submission to her position dictated by the expectations of the highly religious and domineering patriarchy she lives in create a 'monster' to rival any other horror the novel could present.
While I did not think this novel was treading new ground in many aspects (although it still managed to pull these off skilfully and without seeming repetitive or mundane), it was still a vastly entertaining and compelling read. The final third of the novel was the masterpiece for me as it handled Ada's growing attraction to the forces of the grey dog and the bloody, audacious behaviour that signified her final break with her past. (Mild spoilers) I enjoyed the rather gruesome connection between illicit attraction and consumption, the embracing of nudity and the primal stink of the 'outside god' in rejection of the clean, buttoned-up puritanism of the respectable woman. This was a great read to coincide with Halloween and I would definitely recommend it.
I finished this practically in one sitting and scared myself in the dark after reading this. Like the best horrors, this was a slow-burn that succeeded to plant an uneasy tremor of fear and discomfort that only grew throughout the novel. While I must admit the premise was not entirely original and the plot rather easy to predict from the first instance, this did not take away my enjoyment of the reading process as it was carried off with style and skill.
I thought the form of first-person diary entries worked very well as it often does with the horror genre. The voice of Ada was sympathetic and engaging and the slow revealing of information was executed well, allowing the reader to understand the likely pattern of events before disclosing the missing details. I also enjoyed the development of the various other characters in Lowry Bridge who were very believable and colourful in their own way. The deterioration of Ada's mental state and her increased ostracisation by the townspeople was dealt with very well and I particularly enjoyed how this process revealed the darkness of female rage and repression which grows out of necessity from the harsh realities of the early twentieth-century society. I liked that Ada's hidden queer identity and her submission to her position dictated by the expectations of the highly religious and domineering patriarchy she lives in create a 'monster' to rival any other horror the novel could present.
While I did not think this novel was treading new ground in many aspects (although it still managed to pull these off skilfully and without seeming repetitive or mundane), it was still a vastly entertaining and compelling read. The final third of the novel was the masterpiece for me as it handled Ada's growing attraction to the forces of the grey dog and the bloody, audacious behaviour that signified her final break with her past. (Mild spoilers) I enjoyed the rather gruesome connection between illicit attraction and consumption, the embracing of nudity and the primal stink of the 'outside god' in rejection of the clean, buttoned-up puritanism of the respectable woman. This was a great read to coincide with Halloween and I would definitely recommend it.