The Cabin at the End of the World

The Cabin at the End of the World is the third book I've read by Paul Tremblay. One of the things I admire about Tremblay is his ability to write books in very different sub-genres (and even different genres) and still allow his voice and his unique style and prospective to shine through. Cabin is the most esoteric of the three of his books I've read (the other two being A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song). Wen, the adopted daughter of a gay couple, is playing outside the family's rented cabin when a stranger approaches. Things quickly become very bizarre as the novel combines elements of cult and locked door horror to tell a story about the (maybe) end of the world. Like A Head Full of Ghosts this book is filled with nuance and possibility, as well as heavy allusions to Christianity. I do think Tremblay may leave more up to reader interpretation in this one, which some readers will love and others will hate. For me, I often crave resolution and clarity, but I was also able to appreciate the power of denying the fulfillment that desire, especially in the context of this particular story. I found myself thinking, this book would make a really interesting play. I don't know if Tremblay has any interest in writing a stage adaptation, but I think this would be a tense, weird, thought provoking THRILL RIDE in a 90-minutes-without-an-intermission format for live theatre. Could also be an interesting movie. At any rate, back to the novel, I rate this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Ultimately I wanted a little bit more explanation or resolution, but I still enjoyed it overall.

This book is so frustrating because it is very captivatingly written, giving you insight into all these characters. It sets up this incredibly thought provoking scenario and manages to toe the line between being an incredibly tough read, but not in a way that makes you want to put it down. You want to follow these characters, move through this world, figure these problems out. And then it just, stops. Not even a cliffhanger, not a mysterious ending, it feels like the author just forgot he was writing a book halfway through the last sentence and left it. Incredibly disappointing and makes it hard to want to recommend the book to anyone ever.

I'm actually really surprised to see so many bad reviews for this book. I was so invested and enthralled the whole way through and really liked the ambiguity and pacing. I do think it wasn't the right narrator for this audiobook, but not enough to be distracting, and I even listend to it on a slower speed than I do typically. I even saw some people say it would be better as a movie when I was thinking the whole way through, “wow this is a great book, but idk how they're gonna make it work as a movie.”  If only because so much of this book is what people are thinking.

One thing I'll say for sure is that this would be such a fascinating book for discussion to see what parts any one person believes to be true and what their take on it is.

It's probably worth noting that this is the first Paul Tremblay book I've ever read and will definitely be diving into the rest of his work. 

I gotta say I was and remain devastated about Wen's death. There is so much time up to that point spent inside of her thoughts and young life that while I can appreciate it for going there I'm also really sad that it did. It's such maximum cruelty. I also can't help but wonder why a gay couple? Why put them specifically though that, is there commentary there that isn't clicking or was it just to add that level of uncertainty about it being a revenge situation motivated by targeted hate? is that the whole point???

I stopped at 21%-I have been reading some stinkers lately. I basically can't stand how the action is happening in the present and then they do these flashbacks to the characters that take 3 pages to explain and they add nothing to the story. I want to know WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! They are breaking in, I don't care about your time in the orphanage years ago.

A decent read, but I saw m night shyamalans film adaption a few months ago and definitely prefer it - feels more sure in what it has to say and how it conveys that (and the changes it makes are way for the better). I will say that the idea of the figure in the light, which was in the version of the movie I saw as well but apparently not in the final cut will stick with me for a while.

A family (Wen and her two dads) is spending the summer in a cabin near a lake, far from everything. One day, four people trespass. They just want to talk. They just need to explain the situation. Someone in the family must sacrifice themselves or else the world will be destroyed.

From this very simple idea, the author is able to create a brilliant thriller. Shocking at times. Often violent. Constantly enthralling. Mind-blowing, even. Couldn't stop reading it on the plane. Got myself the right soundtrack, and just went right trough it.

The Cabin at the End of the World is an intense read that kept me hooked till the end. I had no idea what would happen next, which made it impossible to put down.
And the ending...wow. It was frustrating at first—I wasn't sure how I felt about it. But looking back, I realize it actually adds to the creepy, unsettling feel of the whole story. It's one of those endings that some people will probably hate, while others might find it fits perfectly with the story's dark vibe.

LOOOOOOVED this.

The biggest mindfuck about this was definitely the characters.
they aren't villains like you would typically expect of a home invasion. They were genuinely nice people who've been brainwashed into doing these things. I found that so interesting.
And this one is definitely not for people who don't like opne ended books but i absolutely loved coming up with theories for what i thought happens in the book.
The M Night Shyamalan movie is great in my opinion for those who've read the book, because then you can visualise the things here so much better. Apart from majorly changing the ending, I'd say the movie is a great adaptation.


An all time favourite, for sure. 

Gave this another listen for book club. Originally, I had listened to this while I was recovering from something and had just thought that it was confusing because I had faded in and out. It was still a little confusing for me the second go, at least during the action scenes. The beginning was strong and Wen was well written. Although, Eric and Andrew bled together for me and at times was hard to keep them straight, less frequently this also happened with Sabrina and Adrian. I did appreciate the tension of belief: is the end coming, is it all made up, will we find out? The concept is great.
I didn't think that Redmond was O'Bannon but then again, does it matter? I did think that it was a good distraction, and in character for the accusation to be made.

I also watched the film this weekend and also felt mixed about it. Different than the book.

I've been frustrated by how toothless Stephen King is in his dotage and by how infrequently King's son, Joe Hill, publishes new books. So I'm excited to discover a writer who is able to alternate between cold dread and heart racing intensity the way Tremblay has in both of the books by him I read recently.

3.5 stars.

As my first completed book of 2019, I freely admit I started it at the end of 2018 (back on 28 Dec) as a group I'm in on Goodreads is having a discussion about it over January with the author. I read this over the course of a week, although if taken without any breaks it was more like 3 days, and surprised myself how quickly I got through it. I was reading the Kindle version having grabbed it fairly cheap over Christmas.

It doesn't have traditional chapters, which confuses the Kindle reader, moreover it has larger sections broken down into smaller parts that are entitled with the character who's viewpoint the passage is in. I'm not a fan of labelling the point of view and prefer to figure it out simply from the text itself however in this case it became useful towards the end of the novel when the action ramps up.

The story follows an ordeal that besets Wen and her two fathers, Andrew and Eric, when a group of strangers appear at their remote holiday cabin asking for their help to halt the apocalypse. Violence is inevitable from the moment the sinister Leonard starts asking Wen odd questions in the front yard as she catches grasshoppers and the likelihood escalates as three more strangers appear and Wen runs in to her dads to tell them.

After forceably entering the cabin and restraining Andrew and Eric, Leonard et al tell their tale of visions and instructions that lead them all to this “special family” in the cabin with the red door and that, without them, the world will shortly end. Without spoiling any further goings on, what faces the group is a desperate struggle to grapple with damning information and inexplicable actions.

While an entertaining read, I wouldn't describe this as ‘horror' as many others have. It isn't scary or particularly disturbing; similar to ‘Head Full of Ghosts', the book looks at what is a variation on events that have almost undoubtedly happened somewhere at some time in modern history. If you find it disturbing that humans can do terrible things to each other then you may want to consider if you are too naive for Tremblay's work.

Across both ‘Head Full of Ghosts' and ‘The Cabin at the End of the World', Tremblay's prose paints a dim view of organised religion and the part it has to play in the atrocious things people do to one another. While it's primarily focused on Christianity or adjacent faiths, the impression remains that it extends to all organised monotheist religions prevalent in the world today. Whether this is a reflection of the author or simply an easy thread to pull on to add an extra dimension to his stories, I couldn't say.

Overall the prose is well written, with the exception of the let's-hyphenate-a-bunch-of-words-together tendency that crops up a few times throughout the book. If you've read ‘Head Full of Ghosts', you may remember the last minute almost twist at the end and ‘The Cabin...' has a similar mechanism in the last pages. It made me consider the similarities in composition between the two books and, while they tell two different tales, there are a fair few.

In terms of rating, I find myself perhaps a little too cynical for Tremblay's books as none of the content surprises or disturbs me as the genre classifications suggests they should. It has made me wonder if the author wrote these intending to disturb or intending merely to shine a light and point out the horrible things that occur in everyday society. While I'd definitely consider reading more of his work, I shan't expect to be scared by it.

(Review also published here: https://aspectsof.me/2019/01/06/cabin-end-world-review/)

I'm on a horror kick. Years ago I read [b:A Head Full of Ghosts 23019294 A Head Full of Ghosts Paul Tremblay https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1415678368s/23019294.jpg 42563937] and loved it. So I turn to Tremblay to scare me again and Cabin did scare me, but not in the way I was looking for. First of all, hats off to this man for managing to ratchet up the tension until I thought my head was going to explode. First he lulled me in with falling in love with this adorable little girl, and then he puts her in this nightmare of a situation. Anyhoo, I'm going to have to admit I lost patience with this about 150 pages in. I had to put it down and go read some other things. Then I picked it up and finished it and find myself left with a bunch of non-resolutions. Okay. That's okay. I'm going to wait and see if I remember this book after some time has passed. I don't remember liking [b:Disappearance at Devil's Rock 27064358 Disappearance at Devil's Rock Paul Tremblay https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1464530350s/27064358.jpg 47104908] but I remember some parts of it as if they actually happened to ME. That is the power of this man's writing.