Sunday, November 28, 2021

Book Review: "These Silent Woods" by Kimi Cunningham Grant

These Silent Woods was an excellent book—emotional, suspenseful, and it packed a real punch. Definitely one of the best I've read all year.

Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived off the grid in a remote cabin in the Appalachian woods for eight years now, since Finch was an infant. They survive off the land, raising a few chickens, and Cooper’s best friend Jake delivers a massive amount of supplies once a year. The only other person they see is their neighbor, Scotland, who seems to be a thorn in Cooper’s side more than anything. Is he spying on them for a reason?

It’s not an optimal existence, particularly not to raise a young girl in, but it’s all Cooper can do. Because to come out of hiding would mean the secrets he’s kept would be revealed, and it would jeopardize his ability to raise, or perhaps even see, his daughter.

“A small and insulated world for both of us, and there is a simplicity to it that makes it difficult to explain the complexities of life. The unreliable and often shifting line between right and wrong.”

This year, Jake doesn’t show up. They knew this could happen one day but it necessitates Cooper taking actions he wasn’t prepared to. And when a stranger appears in the woods, a stranger Finch becomes fixated on, the whole life Cooper has so carefully prepared for him and his daughter could be totally upended.

I’ve been waiting to read this for so long, since so many others on Bookstagram received advance copies. And boy, it lived up to the hype in every way. (There are some very brief scenes of animal death but you can skim them easily.) What a gorgeous, lyrical, suspenseful, thought-provoking book.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a really intriguing read. This sounds like the kind of book I'd like.
    Thanks for the warning about animal death. :-)

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