In The House Upon The Dirt Between The Lake And The Woods By Matt Bell

Title: In The House Upon The Dirt Between The Lake And The Woods

Author: Matt Bell

Pages: 312 Pages

Format: Hardback

Source: Borrowed from Library

My Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis

In this epic, mythical debut novel, a newly-wed couple escapes the busy confusion of their homeland for a distant and almost-uninhabited lakeshore. They plan to live there simply, to fish the lake, to trap the nearby woods, and build a house upon the dirt between where they can raise a family. But as their every pregnancy fails, the child-obsessed husband begins to rage at this new world: the song-spun objects somehow created by his wife’s beautiful singing voice, the giant and sentient bear that rules the beasts of the woods, the second moon weighing down the fabric of their starless sky, and the labyrinth of memory dug into the earth beneath their house.

This novel, from one of our most exciting young writers, is a powerful exploration of the limits of parenthood and marriage—and of what happens when a marriage’s success is measured solely by the children it produces, or else the sorrow that marks their absence.

My Thoughts

I asked on Twitter for some horror/spooky type recommendations and I had a few people respond but I only ended up getting around to reading one of them. In The House Upon The Dirt Between The Lake And The Woods was recommended to me by Cathy. Thank you so much for the recommendation now I just need to figure out how to review this.

Ok first off I want to mention the title. I don’t think I have ever read a book with such a long title before. I could never remember what it was so I was always having to look at the book for the name.

Umm I really have no clue how to put into words my thoughts on this book. I guess I will start by saying this isn’t a plot driven book. It’s a fast read but at the same time it moves slowly. There were some passages that I thought were overly descreptive and repetitive that I could have done without because those instances made the book drag for me.

When I was reading the book I was so immeresed in it but when I put the book down I had to force myself to pick it back up again. Not because it was bad or anything but because it was well I don’t know it was just so weird.

It’s very descriptive and I would say somewhat graphic in its descriptions. I am just so torn on how I feel about this book but I think in the end I am going to go with a 3 star rating because while I was completely immersed in the book while reading it I am left wondering what the heck I just read in a sense. I don’t know guys like I said this one is a hard one for me to review.