Three star review, originally posted here:
It’s tough to believe that this book was written by the same person who wrote Cold Mountain. It’s not that Nightwoods is terrible; it’s just kind of there. Whereas Cold Mountain was absolutely incredible. Cold Mountain had so much to say. It was so imaginative and so thought-provoking, with tons in interesting characters having interesting thoughts. Nightwoods is… not that. It started off promising enough; we meet a reclusive woman in a unique location, dropped into unexpected circumstances. Seems promising! But then… nothing much really happens. We establish some characters, and it seems like they could be interesting, but then they don’t really do much. They also don’t really have much to say. The book finished, and I thought, “Wait… what was that book even about? What was it trying to tell us?” I have no idea. It was just, kinda, there.
I almost gave this book two stars, but then I realized that rating would be based entirely on my disappointment after expecting Cold Mountain quality. We know Frazier has it in him, so when he didn’t provide, it saddened me. But then I realized that’s not fair. This book isn’t BAD. It just isn’t particularly great. it’s fine, I guess. Nice and neutral. It’s just a shame to be neutral when we know it could have been extraordinary.
I guess I should add that I did the audiobook, and maybe I would have liked this book better if I’d heard it in a different voice. Will Patton did fine with it; he always does. But for some reason I just never get into any book I’ve listened to with Patton’s narration. I have no idea why, because he does a great job! But somehow I keep winding up with Patton’s books in my audiobook wish list, so I guess the Audible Gods have decided that Will Patton and I should be into the same material or something.
Helga without the H 