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The Concrete Grove (2011)

by Gary McMahon(Favorite Author)

3.39 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1907519955 (ISBN13: 9781907519956)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Solaris

series

Concrete Grove

review 1: This book appealed to me from the description, I liked the concept, the cover art, the promise of a new author. Guess it just didn't quite live up to that, which isn't to say it wasn't good. It was in fact very well written and really horrific, but something about it...the opressive overwhelming bleakness, the morally questionable characters, the weirdness of their interactions, the overall (for the lack of better word) unpleasantness...don't think I can give it more than 2 stars. It reminded me very much of Clive Barker books, which I suppose it a compliment, but for me they were they were always just much too unpleasant to read, even though I've always enjoyed the film adaptations. Horror is, of course, meant to be unpleasant and disturbing and bleak, but there ought to ... morebe aspects of it/characters/plotline that you can connect with, something that engages you with the story and McMahon just like Barker doesn't give you much of that, despite really good writing and imagery. I'm gonna have to think more about this book and my review of it, but for right now, having just finished the book, these are my thoughts and first impressions.
review 2: Not very often do I sit with a book and will myself to slow down, to savour every word, to enjoy each and every wonderful description so that I don't miss anything. The Concrete Grove, however, was so good that I did just that. Dripping with powerful characters - part of me felt sorry for the bedridden wife of our protagonist; the other part felt his pain, his desire to end the suffering, one way or the other - and dialogue that was so well-written it made my hackles rise, the first book in the Concrete Grove trilogy is one that I will remember for a very long time. Beautifully bleak, intense, and deeply moving - which is a rarity in modern horror - McMahon has crafted something very special here. Five stars just doesn't seem enough less

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