Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Elmet by Fiona Mozley

5 reviews

aduqu's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book started so slowly, before barrelling to it's conclusion like an out of control train.

It's haunting, however it dragged a bit with no clear plot at the beginning.
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miranda_bird's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

4.0

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bingled's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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vlawton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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maricasement's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Mozley's writing, especially, is astoundingly beautiful. Her descriptions make references to nature and pull you into the physical settings of the book effectively. The book is written in 1st person and our narrator is extremely connected to the natural world, so having the descriptions be like this is very believable.
I really enjoyed the relationships Daniel has with those around him: Daddy, Cathy and Vivian, mostly. I feel that he makes a good narrator as the one who observes everything that happens, without necessarily being the one who pushes the story further. 
The relationship the family has with their land and the natural world is beautiful, too. The land is an extension of themselves; they take care of it and it does the same for them.
When I started reading this book (some time in 2020, after the pandemic had been going on for a while), these were the things that captivated me and made me enjoy the book so much. There was also the vague mystery of the chapters that occur in the future and what Mr. Price might do to Daddy. 
But then it kept getting darker and darker and my anxiety (that already was sky high) just got worse. So I stopped reading it. 
I left it to stew for more than a year and only continued it in December 2021. The ending was even more intense than I ever though it could be, but the book never stopped being beautiful.
This book also manages to discuss some interesting themes. Mainly, I think it's a book about relationships: our relationship with nature, the relationships between ourselves, our relationship with power and money and land and our relationship with our own body. Mozley is able to hint at and explicitly explore all these things through the narration.
My rating reflects the book's beauty, but also my conflicted feelings about it. Because of the writing and the narration, the book makes me feel calm and at peace, but the actual story and happenings are rather stressful and tense, creating a rather weird dichotomy (at least for me). In spite of this, I do highly recommend this book, but I do advise caution to anyone who might be sensitive to several topics (listed in my content warnings because of spoilers).
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