Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Advertised Thriller--This Contemplative Novel Is More Successful As A Relationship Drama, January 13, 2011
This review is from: The Silent Land: A novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Graham Joyce's "The Silent Land" poses quite a conundrum for me. Did I enjoy the novel? Yes, it was a rather quick and engaging read. But I'm not entirely sure that I'd go out of my way to recommend it. Billed as a "suspense novel," I don't really think "The Silent Land" will capture that marketplace with its rather gentle tone. As a mystery or puzzler, I think Joyce's work is competently constructed and well thought-out but (and here's a big but) it's not the least bit surprising. Anyone who's seen a film, watched TV, or read a book recently will undoubtedly uncover the central enigma almost from the get-go. I'm not saying that necessarily spoils "The Silent Land," but expectations set forth by the book's marketing campaign may confound "thrill readers" (the target audience listed in advance press).
Ultimately, what will sell (or not sell) "The Silent Land" is NOT the mystery that faces its central characters but their journey to reach that truth. Loving married couple Jake and Zoe are on a skiing holiday in the French Alps when the unthinkable happens--an early morning avalanche strikes as they are isolated on the slopes. Through perseverance and instinct, they manage to extricate themselves from the snow and are thoroughly invigorated just to be alive. However, when they make it back to the lodge and the village--there seems to have been an evacuation. Without a soul in sight and no telephone communications, Zoe and Jake attempt to jump ship as well before the next wall of snow hurtles down on them. But nature seems to be conspiring against their escape. Soon their fear gives way to absolute freedom which in turn slides to dread. Just what is really going on?
As I said, I think most people will have figured things out quite early--so any pleasure must be in the telling. I genuinely liked Jake and Zoe, and it wasn't a hardship to share in their joys and frustrations. As opposed to a thriller, "The Silent Land" is a contemplation of life, memories, regrets, and relationships. And it's a love story--in many ways, I think this should have been Joyce's focus. I think that "The Silent Land" had the potential to be an absolutely harrowing and heartbreaking dissection of love and marriage. The supernatural trickery should have supported this aspect as opposed to the other way around. As is, though, "The Silent Land" played out just as you know it will. A diverting read, perhaps, but this book should have rocked me to the core. About 3 1/2 stars. KGHarris, 1/11.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will get you thinking, April 27, 2011
This review is from: The Silent Land: A novel (Hardcover)
Starting with an incredibly revealing book jacket that shames Kindle and Nook, this lucky 13th book by Graham Joyce is a startling reality wake-up call --- and it prognosticates what is to come.
A daybreak "avalanche with its ferocious white teeth had snapped at their heels." Zoe is crushed by the onslaught: "Total silence, total darkness." She resigns herself to her situation: "You're in a snow tomb, be calm." Ankles over elbows, she realizes she's upside down in that tomb. Fortunately, husband Jake comes to her rescue. With no skis, they work their way to an abandoned lift operator's cabin. With heat --- and a hip flask --- to warm them, they take the operator's single set of skis, working their way back to Saint-Bernard-en-Haut. The village is deserted, but something else seems amiss.
They return to the tiny ski village where they had first met years before: "There was something they had to sort out. Something they were meant to discuss. But she knew that right now was the wrong moment." The next day they steal a police car, the only vehicle with ignition keys. They try to get out of the village, where another avalanche looms. Fogbound and snowbound, Jake teeters the car over a precipice. Returning to the hotel, there are no TV, radio or phone signals. And --- horrors! --- no Internet connection. Attempts to leave Saint-Bernard on foot fail.
The novel's text has the simplicity and beauty of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting. With deft brush strokes, Joyce paints a tapestry of intrigue and Hitchcock-like suspense, sort of a cross between Stephen King's THE LANGOLIERS and "The Twilight Zone." "It's like there's a conspiracy to keep us here," Jake ponders. Eventually they quit communicating. "When they had no banter, that meant the situation was serious," each blaming the other for their predicament. It's Jake's shocking revelation that turns eerie into just plain weird. He questions if "we're trapped here, or if we've been freed here."
Realization becomes resignation, as Zoe and Jake no longer try to leave Saint-Bernard. Something "had delivered to them an idle abundance." Zoe opines, "I'm thinking of all the stupid time-wasting things. Shopping. Bowling. Killing time. Pissing it all away. We know death is coming. And yet we always see our loved ones as taken away from us, instead of given to us for whatever time they have."
"With Nature there was always an account, and [Jake] said that ultimately they still inhabited a corner of that same infinite box that was Nature." THE SILENT LAND made me ponder how much --- or how little --- I've contributed to life. Isn't that what makes for phenomenal writing?
--- Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A relationship novel, not a supernatural thriller, June 20, 2011
This review is from: The Silent Land: A novel (Hardcover)
After reading this book several months ago and thinking about it several times in the meantime, I'm still not 100% sure of how I feel about this book. It was good, but it wasn't great. Sometimes the writing felt a bit clunky, but the imagery was always very real and very present. The story is told from perspective of a young woman who along with her husband become trapped in an avalanche while on a skiing trip. Once they escape the snow, they travel down to their chalet to find that the entire hotel, town, and countryside is completely abandoned - it's as if everyone disappeared out of thin air. It's spooky stuff, but Mr. Joyce chooses to focus on the relationship between his protagonists more than on the creepy things happening around them. This is both good and bad. I'm glad this wasn't just another ghost story, but I also never felt that passionate about either character or worried for their safety. The 'twist' ending also left me somewhat unsatisfied. I figured where it was going long before it happened so I don't really know if it was supposed to be a shocker, but it was written in a way that suggested it was. So I'm of two minds. I enjoyed it and I would probably recommend it with some minor reservations, but I definitely wouldn't go back to visit it again. Nor would I jump on the chance to read more Joyce.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
