The Chosen
Elizabeth Lowry
12th April 2022
A quick note on what this book is about before I start, just in case you don't know - The Chosen is about Thomas Hardy and the death of his wife, Emma, and then the time following. It is a fictional telling, but based around known facts of Hardy's life. Okay, on with the review.
This book. THIS BOOK. From the first page I was utterly hypnotised. It has an almost gothic air to it, I guess because it is both a love story and a ghost story in one, but also because the writing just lures you in slowly, with breadcrumbs, though you know even as you gobble them down that you may ultimately be going to your doom.
Okay I'll try to stop being overly descriptive now! XD
But in all seriousness, I absolutely adored my time with this book, and loved how much I wanted to keep reading. I may have, in the end, consumed it all too quickly, but surely that's just a lovely excuse to reread it? And, as I have not read any of Thomas Hardy, I am much more inclined to try now interestingly. That is how much I enjoyed this book.
The emotion in this story is so finely written - each sentence and interaction and even dream of Hardy gave you a feeling of the complexity of emotions he may have experienced on the death of his first wife. As they had become increasingly estranged, having her presence - distant as it was - suddenly ripped away completely seems to leave Hardy-within-the-book as a ghost himself, and I loved the jumps with time and also playing with memory. This is a beautiful example of grief for me, it felt so accurate to the grief I have experienced, though perhaps a little better written and evoked!
Ultimately, this book was absorbing, beautiful, and wholely captivating. I really enjoyed my time with it.
8/10 resdiscovered lockets with miniature paintings within.
{I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own. Thank you!!}
0 whisperings:
Post a Comment