Wolf in White Van

Brilliant.

Although it discusses serious topics, Wolf in White Van is a brilliantly written book full of beautiful descriptions. It's a book about rash decisions and the consequences that follow. It's about growing up and the time you spent inside your own head while doing so. It explores regions we all have wandered in at some point in our lives, but goes farther.

“My parents would have asked the younger me, what do you want to be safe from? After the accident nobody would ask. That was, to put it harshly, the best thing about the rifle blast that destroyed most of my face.”

Wolf in White Van is a character study if you will. After finishing it, I felt like there is more depth in there than I thought. I feel that if I read this again, now knowing where it's headed I will reveal even more layers of the labyrinth that is the protagonists mind.

It was one of those kind of books, that really impressed me with their writing style and left me with a bit more than a engaging story. It left me something to think about, be it for just a few minutes or even days. I love those kinds.

Strong 3. One of the more original novels I've read this year, but although I could relate quite a bit to its subject matter and setting, it came off as a bit too detached for me. Lacking a bit of that special oumph that I can't quite pinpoint should have been, but nontheless an intriguing and relatable reading experience overall.

This is a book where a starred review is insufficient . . . I love Darnielle's writing, but I just don't have any interest in RPGs, and that made parts of this story a little tedious to me. But the way he wrote certain interactions was beautiful, and - as one would expect from the frontman of the Mountain Goats - suffused with radical empathy throughout. I hope he writes another novel.