Written in prose easy to read aloud, this dark journey into the wilds of Belarus was thrilling and engaging throughout. Weaving numerous folktales into the narrative, the novel played with the ideas of past trauma, the weight of promises, and what it means to live “in the world.” The characters were solid and the setting palpable. The narrative faltered a bit at the end but the majority of the tale was excellently told.

A very powerful read. There were times when I hesitated to pick the book up because I was scared of how, and how strongly, it would make me feel. It made me re-think many of the well-known fairytales I thought I had analysed thoroughly, bringing the horrors of early and mid C20th history into a new and even more dreadful light. Alek is a wholly charming main protagonist. This was a 5 star read until the last few chapters which became rather too filmic. I am a harsh marker though - 4.75 if it were possible.

I won this in a goodreads give away and I absolutely loved this book. Started out thinking it would be a lovely sad book about a kind grandfather and a boy, not at all what I expected it to be. One of those easy reads that you cant put down, Im definitely going to recommend it to friends and family!

A thoroughly captivating read. I've read this within a span of several hours.

A boy is left under the care of his grandfather...they go to the woods to fulfil a promise to the boy's mother, despite the Old Man's reluctance. Things start to unravel from there

It's a gripping tragic tale about the unravelling of a man though his tragic past, about a boy caught up in this. A man who never stopped being wild, a man who didn't want to go back to a forest because he likely knew what it means: a confrontation with his beastly sides, a confrontation he likely feared the most. It's about fear, about human nature, survival and about promises. Most of all, I felt it strongly: emotional resonance and precision. all the descriptions of survival only highlighted the growing rift between a grandfather and his grandson, the grandfather's growing wildness and I felt it was even more tragic beyond everything else.

Some lines return like haunting refrains; that just emphasizes the tragic feel of the story and the old man's regrets. And the fairy tales the old man tells reveal a heart-wrenching past.

The story is so elemental, so primal, woven through fairy tales that really emphasize the tragic position of the old man and of the boy as he gradually grows, it's fantastic. I love the writer's rich style and approach.

An interesting, unusual and sad story.
I did mostly enjoy this book, but found myself skipping quickly through some paragraphs..

3.5⭐️