A review by eccles
Elmet by Fiona Mozley

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Grim, foreboding, dark and hopeless.  Plus torture, rape, child abuse and extreme violence.  Our perspective is that of a young boy; a naif, observant and almost wistful narrative voice that sweetly sets up the moment when the expected and inevitable horror explodes. The characters are well drawn, but of a type I suppose.  A kind of Guy Richie set piece in the Midlands.  I was warned not to read it but I did and regret it.   Prose style is seductive, at times lyrical, but I feel there’s a kind of artifice in this kind of tale of plausible, ordinary awfulness that makes the reading of it feel almost voyeuristic, if the word voyeur can be used with violence. Kind of skimmed the end, glad it was over.