Winterset Hollow: A Novel by Jonathan Edward Durham, 1/5

I respect the hard work and courage required of first-time novelists, but…this was so bad. At the heart of this fantasy story is an imaginary work of poetry, supposedly written in the early 1900s and of enduring popularity and influence. Unfortunately, the poetry excerpts throughout the book are not convincing at all: for no apparent reason, the introductory verses and a handful of other snippets are in a different rhyme scheme than all the rest, and the overall effect is not consistent with the work’s era of origin. As a lover of poetry, it was hard to maintain suspension of disbelief in the face of verses like the following (21-22):

You know I love it here, said Runny, you know I am a happy bunny
But still I wish to spread my wings and fly beyond the trees
I promise you that I’ll be back, I promise I’m not lying, Flack
I promise I just need to go see what I need to see

And with those words, his shoulders dropped, and Runny hopped a might hop
And turned to face the hedgerow that he’d known for all this time
And jump, he did, as rabbits do, for this was sad for Runny too
It was no treat to go and leave his bestest frog behind

Poetry aside, the descriptive passages are self-indulgently tedious, like someone telling you every detail of a dream they had the other night. The author’s word choices are often contrived in their novelty, trampling across the line between “inventive” and “incorrect.” Words used in unexpected ways are usually a sign of excellent writing, but not when they fail to enhance the effect of the text and merely serve as a distraction. I was particularly baffled by the appearance of the word “ingrace” in three different contexts, none of which were consistent with the solitary dictionary definition (from 1913) that exists online. Adding to my annoyance were petty complaints like an increasingly repetitive use of “well” as an intensifier towards the end of the book (I guess you could say I was well annoyed by it), multiple instances of comparing things to lanterns, and more than one reference to “serendipity.” Scenes of gruesome violence and a somewhat banal plot twist work feverish overtime to cover for characters lacking in depth and development. The cover blurb by Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series) describing Winterset Hollow as “astonishingly powerful and multilayered” is so ridiculous in light of the book’s crucial shortcomings that I have to assume she was treating the review as a creative writing exercise.

Why I read it: The author is absolutely hilarious on Instagram.