Book Review: The Silent Land

At the onset of this haunting tale, Jake and Zoe, a married couple on a skiing vacation in the French Pyrenees, are buried in an avalanche.  Somehow, they both survive, and are able to dig themselves out of the snow. In the aftermath of the avalanche, Jake and Zoe notice that an eerie silence and pervasive sense of loneliness has taken over.  Upon returning to their hotel, they discover that the bustling ski village has been evacuated.

They soon discover that the phone lines are down, and their varied attempts to head further down the mountain to the next town are stymied and bring them back in a circle.  Jake suspects that they have died, but Zoe begins to experience strange, unsettling events that seem to suggest a more complex explanation than death.

The quality that instantly stands out about The Silent Land is how gripping of a novel this is.  From the opening pages, up to the very last words, I was fully taken in by this book.  Not only is it one of those book that is hard to put down, but The Silent Land is a read that is extremely well plotted and paced.  There's absolutely no fluff, or plumping to this novel, instead it is slim, trim and tightly focused.  That tight focus is a big reason behind why this is such a gripping novel, but for my personal tastes, I need a book with some interesting characters to really set a book apart from the crowd.

The strange thing about The Silent Land is that there isn't too much interesting about Jake and Zoe.  They struck me as incredibly regular folks.  However, it is that regularity of the characters that makes this book better.  I found that it was very easy for me to relate to both Jake and Zoe, their life, and their experiences.  This ease of relate-ability not only helped make the events of the book seem more real, but also made it easier for me to get caught up in the supernatural events going on around Jake and Zoe. Their reactions to events, and the ways they dealt with everything made it easy for me to feel like I was in their shoes, and experiencing events alongside them.

Another aspect that I really enjoyed about this book, is that it's a contemplative read.  As easy as it was for me to understand and relate to both Jake and Zoe, I also wondered how I would feel were I to find myself in their predicament.  Would being completely alone with an abundance of everything at your fingertips, yet with no way out feel freeing, or would it feel like a trap?  Despite this being a slim read, this is a book that lends itself to some thought provoking moments.

If I had one complaint about The Silent Land, it would be that I had the end game figured out pretty easily.  I typically prefer an author to play things closer to the chest, but I'm not totally sure Joyce was going for the big reveal here as much as he was going for that slow drawn out yanking of the heartstrings.  Either way, it didn't take too much away from the overall experience, as I still greatly enjoyed this book.

Though categorically a fantasy, The Silent Land is definitely a book that can be read by both genre and non-genre fans alike.  I think every reader will find something to enjoy in this book and maybe find a piece of themselves in these characters too.  No matter what, any reader who turns the pages of this book will find some food for thought, and an incredibly engrossing read.  The Silent Land is a very well done book and one that I'll be recommending to a number of the readers in my life.

Grade: B+

Book Review: Requiem

After the recent and sudden death of his wife, Tom Webster, a thirty-something school teacher, quits his job and journeys to Jerusalem in search of an old college friend.  While venturing through the city Tom battles inner demons and experiences mysterious visions of an old woman who seemingly wants to deliver him a message.  Before too long, a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls falls into his hands, which may  be the key to translating the mysterious vision/message he keeps receiving.  Already a nearly broken man from the sadness and guilt he is carrying, Tom is driven closer to the far edge of sanity by these wild visions that may or may not be the spirit of Mary Magdalene who is trying to reveal a long covered up secret about the Resurrection.

Ever since reading The Prestige, people have been telling me that I need to read something by Graham Joyce because he too can deliver a great fantasy tale that reads like "literature".  After some research, I figured Requiem would be as good a place as any to get a taste of Joyce's material.   What I found here was some strong prose and yarn-spinnin' ability, and a story that reminded me a bit of The DaVinci Code...except much more skillfully written and with more magic.

The biggest problem I had was that I never really felt that engaged by the characters or the plot.  Tom Webster is a total wreck of a man, he's a shitty husband, burnt out teacher, and there's a chance he's slept with one of his students...not exactly a laundry list of things that make me want to root for the guy.  Though I didn't care for Tom, I will say that he was a well developed character, just not one I cared about.

The other characters, namely his friend Sharon whom he visits in Jerusalem, wasn't that easy to relate to either.  When I can't connect with characters I experience a detachment from the story, and sorta go along with the flow, but never really get fully immersed in the narrative, and that was definitely the case here.

In the past I've been at least intrigued, if not enthralled by stories that tend to debunk or "spit the truth" about various spiritual/religious faiths, figures or events.  With that in mind, I figured the plot of Requiem would be entertaining for me, but I can't say that I ever got that into it.  This is partially a byproduct of the fact that I couldn't connect to the characters, but when major plot events would turn up, I was mostly ho-hum about it all.

For me, the most interesting aspect of the book was the slow unraveling of the story of Tom's past.  Joyce was quite masterful in slowly revealing what exactly happened with Tom's wife, why he quit his job, and whether or not there were illicit liaisons going on.  Sadly, this was more of a side plot and mostly served to explain Tom's frail mental state throughout the book.

Joyce clearly put in a lot of research effort into Requiem.  There were times when I really felt like I was in Jerusalem.  In the scenes where Tom is wandering the streets, Joyce bombards the reader's senses with tons of stimuli.  Joyce also handled the psychological unraveling and analysis of Tom quite well.  This was the one area where I actually felt a connection to Tom, as I got a sense of how mixed up his head was.  I still didn't really like the guy though, and I certainly didn't care much about what happened to him.

In the end, this one wound up as a mixed bag.  While there were some aspects of the book that I thought were handled well, I still didn't connect emotionally with the characters or the story, which left me with a mostly hollow reading experience.  Joyce is a strong writer, I think Requiem just wasn't for me.  This one does have plenty of strengths, and I think it could be enjoyed by other folks.

Grade: C+