A review by ed_moore
Elmet by Fiona Mozley

dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Elmet focuses on the arboreal lifestyle of siblings Daniel and Cathy, self-sufficient but also cared for by their larger than life father, known to them only as ‘Daddy’. Mozely explores issues of land ownership and the exploitation of the working class by employers and landlords, all while Daddy works for both an improvement in the livelihood of his community and also right to claim the land he has built his house and family on. Aside from the perspective character Daniel, whose innocent perspective obscures the full details many events in the plot, each character is likeable though morally tainted, to the point that you aren’t sure which side of the legal and physical feud portrayed by Mozely to root for. The book as a whole is quote slow paced, there is a lot of build up to a climax that is largely obscured, whereas short interjections throughout the story from a future Daniel in search of his family and the nature of the ending make the ambiguity of the novel acceptable, whereas in other books I am sometimes more against that. It is also worth noting the importance of sexual assault within the novel before embarking on it.
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