Starve Acre

I feel like I waited forever to read this book. I follow a ton of British book bloggers so they have been talking about this since....2019? It's finally here in the states and I wish I had enjoyed it more.
There is a giant disconnect here between the reader and the story and it is because of our protagonist. Richard (father of Ewan) is excavating their side yard to find the root of the old gallows tree that used to grow there. He is also dealing with grief, but handles that by throwing himself into his work. He was forced into sabbatical by his school, so now he is digging up the yard.
Richard refuses to believe. Even when something weirder than weird happens right in front of him, he just “mehs” it and moves on with his routine. His wife is suffering (from grief, maybe more), his neighbors keep warning him something is wrong with the property, and a group lead by Mrs. Ford and the “Beacons” try to help. Add in a very worried sister-in-law and this is a lot of people for Richard to ignore. But he does!
And we slowly get the story of Ewan's behavior before his death. Some of it is.....a little mature for a five-year-old. Some of it he would have found physically challenging to accomplish (I'm trying to stay spoiler free here). But Richard ignores all of this.
What happens is, as Richard remains disconnected from the story, YOU the reader remain disconnected from the story. I wish, really wish, we had been in Juliette's head instead. Or even Gordon's. I felt like I was watching a neighbor's tv through a window, only getting half the story.
The end: I feel like Richard is just going to continue to Richard so nothing much will come of it and, therefore, what the hell was the whole point?