Imagine you're at summer camp. It's late, and you're sitting around the fire with your friends. The woods are dark and spooky around you. The best story teller in the camp or maybe any camp, starts to weave a ghost story. No matter how implausible the story, you go along with it, just for the sheer goose-bumpy eerie pleasure. In the story, strange, repetitive, vaguely frightening things happen, and none of it makes sense, but the story teller is weaving a spell, and you're happy to be under it. When the ending comes, you say you predicted it, but in truth, it was just enough different from what you thought that you still enjoyed it.

That would be "The Silent Land". No jaw-dropping metaphors, no deep philosophical truths. Just a good ghost story.

Completely re-writing this review as I've had some more time to let it sink in and I'm not suffering from insomnia at present.

The Silent Land gets a straight up three for the premise and the premise alone.

Having thought about it, this would have been much better served as a short story. As it was there was simply too much padding throughout and pages and pages of the main characters performing the most mundane of tasks, which were in no shape or form even necessary to the plot.

Joyce also seemed to have problems with dialogue; it was way too choppy; alternating between formal and informal with no real consistency.

There also wasn't a lot to the central characters themselves - they read like ciphers with no real personality coming through at all. In fact the only two memorable characters in the whole book were featured in flashbacks. Jake's dad story was especially moving.

However, what I really disliked about the book was the sex scenes. I'm far from a prude, but they were very awkwardly written, out of place, and felt more like an adolescent teenage boy fantasy than anything else.

Thinking about it more, The Silent Land had the same issues that I had with The Tooth Fairy; there are some wonderfully crafted scenes, complete with an sublimely eerie atmosphere - but they aren't linked together very well, or just fizzle out with no real outcome.

It also didn't help that I worked out what was actually happening very early on.

I did like it. It just could have been so very much more.

An interesting premise - I really wanted to love this book. Graham Joyce's narrative descriptions are really well done, which is what kept me going at such a fast clip.

Unfortunately the ending seemed a little too pat for my taste (like a ho-hum episode of Lost). And the dialogue was stilted - almost painful to read at times.

I'd like to check out his other work to see if a stronger narrative would float my boat.

Because this story was set in the French Pyreenees, I felt really compelled to read it. It started out great, and towards teh end it went on a little much, but the ending was great. I had it figured out by about page 120, but it was certainly a good read!

I'm rather good at guessing twists in novels. I hoped I wasn't right here and was a bit heartbroken when I was. Jake and Zoe were a lovely couple whose banter, frustration, and love really struck me. I leaked a few tears in the end. I can't remember the last time that happened to me while reading. Beautiful, moving, spooky.

***SPOILERS HIDDEN***

It sounds almost post-apocalyptic according to its summary: A married couple discovers they’re the only two people--and seemingly the only living creatures--remaining after an avalanche strikes the ski resort where they’re vacationing. Phone calls go unanswered; the internet doesn’t connect; and the city’s boundaries may as well be electrified for all the luck they’re having trying to leave. All is so unfathomably quiet that they can practically hear each snowflake land.

Joyce’s basic premise seems to hint at a deep, layered story; however, although the story has plenty of surprises that kept me guessing, there's nothing particularly meaningful about The Silent Land. There's room here for some thought-provoking exploration about the meaning of life and death, but this is just a nice story written in a mostly bare-bones, dialogue-heavy style.

The ending redeems the story somewhat for no other reason than because it’s so heartbreaking. The many loose ends also tie up very neatly. Shortly after starting, I was worried that I'd figured out what had really happened--

Spoiler

that Zoe and Jake are dead

--and was in store for a predictable story, but Joyce addressed those hunches head on in chapter five. Toward the end, it's maybe too obvious that

Spoiler

Zoe has survived, but Jake has not

; however, getting definitive answers to the book’s other, stranger enigmas is highly satisfying. Joyce also maintained the suspense until about the last five pages, when suddenly all pieces to the puzzle lock snugly into place.

I was unimpressed by the simplistic writing style; however, a few passages here and there stand out as striking, especially considering the unchanging setting. This takes place entirely in a winter wonderland where it snows almost constantly, yet Joyce’s description remained original throughout all 262 pages. To cite just one example:

The gray, pregnant clouds lowered above them, but there were blue smudges in the sky. A transforming power had breathed over the land and turned it into a perfect wedding cake, and the two of them were now perched on the top like a marzipan bride and groom.

Descriptive gems like these are a welcome break from all the dialogue. If only every sentence were a gem and every paragraph meaningful. The Silent Land definitely has a unique premise, but ultimately, it's just another quick suspense read.

This was a terrific read/listen. The story was tight, tense, interesting, and Stephen Kingesque without being a rip-off. I very much liked the main characters and never questioned how they acted and reacted in such a bizarre situation, which is impressive. The narration by John Lee was excellent and exactly what narration should be. It only took about 6 hours to listen to, so I'm imagining that reading it outright would only take one good night. And it'd be worth it to stay up past your bedtime to get it finished.

The Silent Land has a lot in common with a hangout comedy or a "trapped in a bottle" episode of a sitcom. There are only two characters who riff off of each other in one setting for the entirety of the novel. The relatively short novel consists of hanging out with Graham Joyce's descriptions of an idyllic ski resort and his seemingly doomed characters. For me, this was awesome. I enjoy Joyce's straightforward style and prose; just listening to his characters chatter about their situation was riveting to me.

The Silent Land is the type of book that sets up one big mystery and doesn't resolve it until the very end. This can be an unsatisfying type of novel especially if the ending doesn't deliver. But like so many of those types of stories, the journey ends up mattering more than the resolution.

Sidebar: Joyce seems to be largely unknown in the United States (I was delighted to find many of his UK editions in Powell's Books in Portland) which is a shame. He writes light, supernatural fantasy much in the same vein as Neil Gaiman and Charles De Lint.