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gabbyscarlet's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I loved this book. I knocked off a star just because towards the end of the book, I kinda wanted to skim over Thad’s part to get back to Aiden. I feel like Thad’s character became slightly uninteresting, but then it picked right back up. From page one, I was locked in. It’s intense, it’s gruesome, it’s real. That’s what I look for in thrillers. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
Trigger warning: harm against an animal.
Trigger warning: harm against an animal.
amyww's review against another edition
3.0
A little graphic at times but David Joy is a great storyteller.
evanscat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mooncrab's review against another edition
5.0
David Joy takes you by the hand and walks you through this story, never veering from the darkest parts. He is an amazing writer and vividly sets the scene amidst the Appalachian landscape he knows so well. I loved the subtle mention of the McNeelys from Where All Light Tends to Go (which I absolutely loved too). The story, characters, conflict & resolution is so impressively beautiful and haunting. An easy 5 stars for me, as this is my favourite type of book.
hyponome's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
cassandralovesfeta's review against another edition
2.0
So incredibly violent, interesting idea with returning soldiers and sad but the violence was over the top. I cannot recommend
judithdcollins's review against another edition
5.0
Talented storyteller, David Joy returns following his outstanding debut, Where All the Light Tends to Go to rural North Carolina mountains of Appalachia with another dark, gritty Southern noir THE WEIGHT OF THIS WORLD. From flawed and tortured souls, in search of light within the darkness.
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
In Sylva, NC Aiden McCall, at the young age of twelve, witnessed his dad murder his mother, then turn the gun on himself. A sight which would haunt him for the rest of his life. His worst fear was becoming his father one day.
Growing up in a group home he only had one friend, Thad Broom. Thad had his own past. Aiden had always believed that as time moved on the world would open up, that life would get easier rather than harder.
Hard led to harder. Life had a way of wearing a man down into nothing. The older he got the more complicated the world had become.
With enough money and a fresh start, Aiden and Thad could set things right. However, the housing bubble burst and jobs dried up. Thad was on deployment in Afghanistan when the construction business went to pot.
Those years Thad got to leave Aiden was jealous. But when Thad came back, Aiden was not sure who had it better or worse. If they could only leave the mountains. Aiden thought somewhere like Asheville, Hendersonville, or Atlanta for a fresh start. An opportunity for a better life.
April Trantham, Thad’s mother, had her own problems and past, starting from a young age. When the boys were in high school April inherited six acres and an old run down house and a single wide from the old man George had cancer.
April and Aiden find comfort in one another while Thad is away. Thad returns after a traumatic tour of duty in Afghanistan he is never the same, more damaged than when he left. The three of them want to escape their traumas; however, the weight of the world is heavy around them, and they cannot seem to escape.
From drugs, hatred, murder, crime and violence. Thad and Aiden’s drug dealer accidentally kills himself, leaving the two young men with drugs and cash; however, they cannot seem to pull themselves from the darkness. A drug- deal gone, bad.
. . . “Things weren’t okay. Everything wasn’t going to be all right. The world was entirely broken,”
Thad soon realizes that dying was a one-way ticket to judgment and it made no difference whether it came now or years down the road. He would be judged on his way to find redemption.
A mother who had not fully given herself to motherhood and her son, due to her own demons of pain and her innocence stolen. Aiden, trying to forget his haunted past. Did some people deserve to die? People had choices. These three may have more in common than they know.
As in his first book, David Joy skillfully balances the all-consuming brutality and darkness of his characters with the lyrical beauty of his writing. He captures the emotions, the setting, the culture; from crimes, dysfunction, hatred and poison, and struggles of the wounded human spirit, often with limited choices and repeating their own environment.
Told with compassion, from sadness to hope. Fans of gritty Southern noirs/literature and authors Ron Rash, Wiley Cash and John Hart will appreciate this skillfully written tale.
A special thank you to Penguin Putman and NetGalley for an early reading copy. (Also purchased audiobook)
JDCMustReadBooks
David Joy's books are always meant to be read, pondered, and listened to. MacLeod Andrews is a perfect narrator for THE WEIGHT OF THIS WORLD, as he was for Where All Light Tends to Go. Both 5 Stars.
A great Q&A with the Author: Smoky Mountain News
The weight of desire: David Joy releases second book
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
In Sylva, NC Aiden McCall, at the young age of twelve, witnessed his dad murder his mother, then turn the gun on himself. A sight which would haunt him for the rest of his life. His worst fear was becoming his father one day.
Growing up in a group home he only had one friend, Thad Broom. Thad had his own past. Aiden had always believed that as time moved on the world would open up, that life would get easier rather than harder.
Hard led to harder. Life had a way of wearing a man down into nothing. The older he got the more complicated the world had become.
With enough money and a fresh start, Aiden and Thad could set things right. However, the housing bubble burst and jobs dried up. Thad was on deployment in Afghanistan when the construction business went to pot.
Those years Thad got to leave Aiden was jealous. But when Thad came back, Aiden was not sure who had it better or worse. If they could only leave the mountains. Aiden thought somewhere like Asheville, Hendersonville, or Atlanta for a fresh start. An opportunity for a better life.
April Trantham, Thad’s mother, had her own problems and past, starting from a young age. When the boys were in high school April inherited six acres and an old run down house and a single wide from the old man George had cancer.
April and Aiden find comfort in one another while Thad is away. Thad returns after a traumatic tour of duty in Afghanistan he is never the same, more damaged than when he left. The three of them want to escape their traumas; however, the weight of the world is heavy around them, and they cannot seem to escape.
. . . “There were so many horrible things they had buried inside themselves, all of the memories that had come to govern their lives. He found himself wishing that he could have been the one to bear it all. He wished that he could have taken all of the bad in this world and piled it onto himself so that he would have been the one to ever know that kind of suffering.”
From drugs, hatred, murder, crime and violence. Thad and Aiden’s drug dealer accidentally kills himself, leaving the two young men with drugs and cash; however, they cannot seem to pull themselves from the darkness. A drug- deal gone, bad.
. . . “Things weren’t okay. Everything wasn’t going to be all right. The world was entirely broken,”
Thad soon realizes that dying was a one-way ticket to judgment and it made no difference whether it came now or years down the road. He would be judged on his way to find redemption.
A mother who had not fully given herself to motherhood and her son, due to her own demons of pain and her innocence stolen. Aiden, trying to forget his haunted past. Did some people deserve to die? People had choices. These three may have more in common than they know.
As in his first book, David Joy skillfully balances the all-consuming brutality and darkness of his characters with the lyrical beauty of his writing. He captures the emotions, the setting, the culture; from crimes, dysfunction, hatred and poison, and struggles of the wounded human spirit, often with limited choices and repeating their own environment.
Told with compassion, from sadness to hope. Fans of gritty Southern noirs/literature and authors Ron Rash, Wiley Cash and John Hart will appreciate this skillfully written tale.
A special thank you to Penguin Putman and NetGalley for an early reading copy. (Also purchased audiobook)
JDCMustReadBooks
David Joy's books are always meant to be read, pondered, and listened to. MacLeod Andrews is a perfect narrator for THE WEIGHT OF THIS WORLD, as he was for Where All Light Tends to Go. Both 5 Stars.
A great Q&A with the Author: Smoky Mountain News
The weight of desire: David Joy releases second book
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
He wasn't sorry then and he wasn't sorry now. There was wickedness in this world that swallowed any light that might've been, darkness that could be answered only with darkness.
The Weight of This World by David Joy tells the story of Aidan McCall and his friendship with Thad Broom. When Aidan was twelve, he watched his father shoot his mother and then himself. This is the opening scene in the book and certainly paves the way for the rest of it. Aidan eventually ends up living in a trailer with his buddy, Thad, who was moved out of his house by his new step-father. The two boys raise themselves, Thad eventually joining the army and serving in Afghanistan, but returning to live in the same single-wide and to the same life of picking up occasional work, but mainly getting by by stripping foreclosed houses of their copper wiring. Aidan would like to leave the hamlet of Little Canada, in the mountains of North Carolina, to go to Asheville or maybe even further afield, somewhere where the jobs paid better and were easier to find. He's trying to save a little, but Thad is content to spend whatever money they come by on booze and meth.
It's the meth that gets them in trouble.
The Weight of This World fits into the sort of gritty Appalachian noir of Daniel Woodrell and Donald Ray Pollock. There's a lot of violence, some of it breath-taking in it's random casualness, and a bleak sense of place that shows in both the beauty of the mountains and hollows, and in the relentless poverty of the people living there. There are grace notes and Joy never forgets to write his characters, large and small, as real people, but this isn't a book for the faint of heart.
The Weight of This World by David Joy tells the story of Aidan McCall and his friendship with Thad Broom. When Aidan was twelve, he watched his father shoot his mother and then himself. This is the opening scene in the book and certainly paves the way for the rest of it. Aidan eventually ends up living in a trailer with his buddy, Thad, who was moved out of his house by his new step-father. The two boys raise themselves, Thad eventually joining the army and serving in Afghanistan, but returning to live in the same single-wide and to the same life of picking up occasional work, but mainly getting by by stripping foreclosed houses of their copper wiring. Aidan would like to leave the hamlet of Little Canada, in the mountains of North Carolina, to go to Asheville or maybe even further afield, somewhere where the jobs paid better and were easier to find. He's trying to save a little, but Thad is content to spend whatever money they come by on booze and meth.
It's the meth that gets them in trouble.
The Weight of This World fits into the sort of gritty Appalachian noir of Daniel Woodrell and Donald Ray Pollock. There's a lot of violence, some of it breath-taking in it's random casualness, and a bleak sense of place that shows in both the beauty of the mountains and hollows, and in the relentless poverty of the people living there. There are grace notes and Joy never forgets to write his characters, large and small, as real people, but this isn't a book for the faint of heart.
richardwells's review against another edition
4.0
Broken cutters, broken saws
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you’re chokin'
Everything is broken
--Bob Dylan
There is not one character in this book who has not been broken by circumstance, abuse, sexual trauma, drugs, or war. What saves this book from being unreadable besides the beauty and depth of writing, is the occasional glimmer in each of the book's three main characters that breaks into light and offers the hope of redemption.
The action, and there's a lot of it, takes place in the outback of the North Carolina mountains. This is what we now call Trump Territory, with high unemployment , minimum wage jobs taken by migrants willing to work for even less, homes left half constructed after the housing bubble burst, cheap whiskey, methedrine, a gun in every pickup, and two or three at home.
The novel opens with Thad, and Aidan, life long best friends and closer than brothers stripping an abandoned home of copper wire. Events only get worse from there as toxic life histories, petty criminality, and happenstance weave together like a knot of copperheads.
This isn't a pretty book, but it is deep, and true. I read it compulsively, shuddering, exclaiming, and breathing deeply. The Weight of This World is a brilliant title, and the weight is nigh overwhelming.
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you’re chokin'
Everything is broken
--Bob Dylan
There is not one character in this book who has not been broken by circumstance, abuse, sexual trauma, drugs, or war. What saves this book from being unreadable besides the beauty and depth of writing, is the occasional glimmer in each of the book's three main characters that breaks into light and offers the hope of redemption.
The action, and there's a lot of it, takes place in the outback of the North Carolina mountains. This is what we now call Trump Territory, with high unemployment , minimum wage jobs taken by migrants willing to work for even less, homes left half constructed after the housing bubble burst, cheap whiskey, methedrine, a gun in every pickup, and two or three at home.
The novel opens with Thad, and Aidan, life long best friends and closer than brothers stripping an abandoned home of copper wire. Events only get worse from there as toxic life histories, petty criminality, and happenstance weave together like a knot of copperheads.
This isn't a pretty book, but it is deep, and true. I read it compulsively, shuddering, exclaiming, and breathing deeply. The Weight of This World is a brilliant title, and the weight is nigh overwhelming.