ralentina reviewed The Witch Elm by Tana French
A very solid murder mystery
4 stars
A murder mystery / family drama, that revolves around the finding of a corpse in a family's country home, and the unreliable narrator's efforts to unravel what happened. Said narrator, Toby, is unreliable because an attack has left him with serious memory problems, but also because, in his mindless privilege, has gone through life unaware of the pain of others. He always considered himself a good guy, but is now forced to question his innocence, not, or not only in relation to the murder, but more in general. And the book plays with the question, what does it mean to be innocent? Wouldn't we all kill, in certain situation, if we had the chance? And his killing necessarily the guilty thing to do? It could easily turn banal or sanctimonious or lame, but the threads are weaved together very skillfully, as Toby becomes less and less likeable with every page, …
A murder mystery / family drama, that revolves around the finding of a corpse in a family's country home, and the unreliable narrator's efforts to unravel what happened. Said narrator, Toby, is unreliable because an attack has left him with serious memory problems, but also because, in his mindless privilege, has gone through life unaware of the pain of others. He always considered himself a good guy, but is now forced to question his innocence, not, or not only in relation to the murder, but more in general. And the book plays with the question, what does it mean to be innocent? Wouldn't we all kill, in certain situation, if we had the chance? And his killing necessarily the guilty thing to do? It could easily turn banal or sanctimonious or lame, but the threads are weaved together very skillfully, as Toby becomes less and less likeable with every page, and more and more believable.
