Wonderland

I did not expect that ending and I don't know how I feel about it yet.
This book is certainly full of creeping building horror. That is very successful! There are times when we are in Orla's head too much, but it fits in the book. So I enjoyed the novel and I am a still pondering a few things. That's successful.

oof
I had similar issues with this book that I had with Stage's previous novel, “Baby Teeth”. it's basically a cycle of something weird happening, the family talking about how weird it was and what they should do, doing practically nothing, and that starting all over again. also similar to “Baby Teeth”, this wasn't that scary? sure, lots of weird stuff happens but it never gets TOO weird or TOO scary which is what I wanted, and what I expect from a horror novel. I thought the beginning was really promising because it was set up like a quintessential horror movie where the family moves to a new house in the middle of nowhere, but it really went down from there for me.

I had this book in my Audible library FOREVER. It was high on my tbr list but I also put it off. I really thought by the time I got to it, it would blow me away. I always try to stay away from reviews because they tend to stick in my head and I don't want them to influence my reading experience. However, this is one book that I wished I would have read the reviews first.

Firstly, I think the premise of this story is so interesting. The mix between sci-fi and horror is on point. I also think that the writing is well done. However! I was so bored. Even when there was exciting and/or tragic things happening I was bored. The characters weren't necessarily unlikable but they definitely weren't people I'd want to hang out with in my personal life. I think the character I disliked most was Eleanor Queen - it's always both names, they never shorten it. There is just something about children that act too adult that bothers me. If that was the only thing I would have just moved on and gotten over it, but mixed with the slow pace for me I think grated on me more than usual.

Even though this fell flat for me, I look forward to reading more from this author. I have Baby Teeth already on my TBR.

Wonderland by Zoje Stage is an atmospheric story combining survival and wilderness with psychological and supernatural horror. Orla, a recently retired dancer, moved from NYC to a small house upstate with her family. The change from the city to the North Country is challenging for both the expected, and some frighteningly unexpected reasons. The publisher describes this book as “if Shirley Jackson wrote The Shining,” which is a considerable stretch, but nevertheless like those masterworks before it Stage has composed a chilling story that traps characters and readers alike in haunted frozen isolation as questions of identity, self, and spirit are explored. The book has several unsettling scenes and a lot of interesting ideas, but somehow both the pacing and terror were lacking for me. Perhaps Stage also tried to tackle too many different ideas and themes in this book too? Although I enjoyed the book, I do think it could have been a bit shorter and faster paced in some sections. ⭐️⭐️⭐️