Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by juliechristinejohnson
The Silent Land by Graham Joyce
3.0
Much to like about this spare, short novel, much about which to grimace. It's an easily consumed confection- you need only a spare Sunday afternoon, lounging in the backyard with an iced tea or an IPA, to knock off most of its pages.
The premise is simply boffo. Jake and Zoe, an English couple celebrating their 10th anniversary at a ski resort in the French Pyrenees, survive an avalanche. They return to the resort, shaken, but unharmed. The resort is deserted, as is the nearby village. Jake and Zoe assume all guests and residents have been evacuated in case of further avalanche activity. After a couple of days on their own, they realize that candles aren't burning down, raw food left on kitchen counters isn't spoiling, and every attempt to leave the area, whether on foot, ski, or auto, leads them right back to where they started. What strange forces are at work? I shall not reveal more.
The grimace part has to do with Jake and Zoe. Two-dimensional, insipid, boring creatures. This is a bit of a problem, as they are the only human characters in the story. Jake is particularly superficial. Joyce takes us deeper into Zoe's psyche and we feel more of the couple's isolation, wonder, and fear through her experiences.
Joyce's writing ranges from flat to admirably restrained. There is no excess in his phrases, but at times the cadence comes off as stilted. There are pages of pointless detail about Jake's and Zoe's families, perhaps meant to give us insight into their characters, but which have nothing to do with their predicament. Ditto on their sexual encounters, which are silly and contradictory. Time and effort would have been much better spent solidifying a mushy, puddle-y ending.
I must say the avalanche scene, as Zoe fights to free herself from her snowy tomb, was one of the most agonizing this claustrophobe has ever read. I felt the crush in my lungs and the panic in my bowels and I had to look away several times to catch my breath and clear my head.
My imagination was tickled. I wondered what it would be like for my husband and me to discover that we were all alone in the world, in a place of peace, and seemingly with no worries. But trapped. With no one to tell us why.
I would recommend this - don't expect great writing, but do look forward to an effortless page-turner that feels deliciously like an episode of the classic "Twilight Zone."
The premise is simply boffo. Jake and Zoe, an English couple celebrating their 10th anniversary at a ski resort in the French Pyrenees, survive an avalanche. They return to the resort, shaken, but unharmed. The resort is deserted, as is the nearby village. Jake and Zoe assume all guests and residents have been evacuated in case of further avalanche activity. After a couple of days on their own, they realize that candles aren't burning down, raw food left on kitchen counters isn't spoiling, and every attempt to leave the area, whether on foot, ski, or auto, leads them right back to where they started. What strange forces are at work? I shall not reveal more.
The grimace part has to do with Jake and Zoe. Two-dimensional, insipid, boring creatures. This is a bit of a problem, as they are the only human characters in the story. Jake is particularly superficial. Joyce takes us deeper into Zoe's psyche and we feel more of the couple's isolation, wonder, and fear through her experiences.
Joyce's writing ranges from flat to admirably restrained. There is no excess in his phrases, but at times the cadence comes off as stilted. There are pages of pointless detail about Jake's and Zoe's families, perhaps meant to give us insight into their characters, but which have nothing to do with their predicament. Ditto on their sexual encounters, which are silly and contradictory. Time and effort would have been much better spent solidifying a mushy, puddle-y ending.
I must say the avalanche scene, as Zoe fights to free herself from her snowy tomb, was one of the most agonizing this claustrophobe has ever read. I felt the crush in my lungs and the panic in my bowels and I had to look away several times to catch my breath and clear my head.
My imagination was tickled. I wondered what it would be like for my husband and me to discover that we were all alone in the world, in a place of peace, and seemingly with no worries. But trapped. With no one to tell us why.
I would recommend this - don't expect great writing, but do look forward to an effortless page-turner that feels deliciously like an episode of the classic "Twilight Zone."