‘The Witch Elm’ by Tana French

I’ve heard about Tana French and have wanted to read her Dublin Murder Squad series, but have apparently come late to the party because the first in the series is not available anymore at my library. So when one of her more recent stand-alone novels was picked for our book club, I was excited to read it. Although I liked the writing at the start, The Witch Elm ended up being so boring, weak, and slow, that in the end I felt like I had wasted my time. Interestingly, reviews are extreme on both sides–some loved it, some wondered how it ever got published, and there’s not much in between. One review (Guardian) hailed it as a poignant portrait of privilege and Stephen King (The New York Times) called it an extraordinary literary achievement–hmmm, I’ll have to think about all that, but I’m not convinced.

The premise was intriguing enough. A family is gathered for Sunday lunch at a favourite uncle’s house. When the kids go outside to play in the backyard, one of them discovers a skull in a hole in the magnificent elm tree at the bottom of the garden. I thought things were going to get interesting when the main character’s stories morphed into ‘unreliable narrator’ territory, but alas, there were few surprises, an unsatisfying ending, and it was much too long.

Really looking forward to the book club meeting though, to find out why someone chose this book! I will be all ears! 🙂 I’m grateful to be in a book club where the members are gracious about differences of opinion. Reading tastes do differ and out of respect for the author, it’s not that the book was bad, it’s just that it wasn’t right for me. I might still try Dublin Squad since that series seems to be highly regarded. I can get the first instalment e-book on Kindle for less that the price of a coffee. For those who have read the Dublin Squad series, please let me know what you thought.