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duboduke's review against another edition
4.0
Skin-crawling, intense, and disturbing, "The Woman" takes aim at how misogyny and violence breed and grow within a seemingly normal, happy family that has a few dark secrets.
maksch03's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
0.25
Terrible book. It felt like someone new started writing about 60% of the way through without either reading the previous books or the beginning of this one. Continuity errors all over the place. Example, this book seems to take place literally days or maybe weeks after the second book which was the late 80s. Yet people have computers and cell phones and Belle (the mom) is lamenting flat screens and three computers in her house. The Woman was injured at the end of the 2nd book, the beginning of this book sees her treating those wounds and hiding out in a cave (which is where shes found by Cleek), yet then later she acts like it's been years since everything happened yet she's still a youngish woman. I was trying to figure out if I'd missed a time jump listed anywhere but it just appears to be terrible lazy writing.
brackenmacleod's review
5.0
While I liked the movie, I LOVE the book! I mention them together because the project was conceived as a movie/book collaboration and it seems that any analysis of one demands mention of the other. No matter how great an actress Pollyanna MacIntosh is (and she is The Woman), she's restricted by having no comprehensible dialogue to deliver (unless you understand pidgin Gaelic). Despite that, she does an admirable job. In the book, however, Ketchum gives The Woman a clear voice that fills out her character and adds depth to her experience in the story. Having insight into her perception adds an entirely other dimension to the story that is satisfying and rewarding. In a fairly straight forward story about family secrets and abusive relationships, the addition of The Woman's direct perspective makes all the difference. Wonderful!
Additionally, "Cow," the novella/short story included in Cemetery Dance's special edition is worth the cover price of the special edition. There's not much I can write about it without spoiling the story entirely (and if you've read [b:Off Season|598217|Off Season - Unexpurgated Hard Cover Edition|Jack Ketchum|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176151535s/598217.jpg|584847], you already know where this one is going). There's little else to be said other than that it provides an utterly satisfying resolution to the Dead River series.
Additionally, "Cow," the novella/short story included in Cemetery Dance's special edition is worth the cover price of the special edition. There's not much I can write about it without spoiling the story entirely (and if you've read [b:Off Season|598217|Off Season - Unexpurgated Hard Cover Edition|Jack Ketchum|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176151535s/598217.jpg|584847], you already know where this one is going). There's little else to be said other than that it provides an utterly satisfying resolution to the Dead River series.
ikeamonkeyfan's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
3.5
It's interesting to see feminist ideas through a man's eyes. I liked the book and i liked the equality that was created. But it was funny to see it told in a way where even when ~women are in charge~ they use the body of men first and foremost. It's like the "equality" is shown through gender loyalty. Idk. Not like there aren't other details that mean more than that, but that idea is what stuck out to me most.
igotid77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
marco5599's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Makes you wonder who's the real beast here. Capturing a savage; bold move. Trying to turn it into a pet; bad move. But what it exposes about the Cleeks is what attracts even more attention. Dysfunctional family stuff, the messed-up kind. Add a captive cannibal mom who just lost hers and you have a recipe for some seriously uncomfortable, depraved and blood soaked scenes. Ketchum and his blunt way of putting it had me hooked again. A beast of a writer.
badseedgirl's review
3.0
Every voracious reader has a guilty pleasure reads, admit it, you know you do. Maybe its precocious scared wizard children attending a secret school, or maybe its sparkly vampires, or maybe it’s time traveling nurses who can’t get home because they are too busy rolling in the hay with their “bonnie lad” of a husband. Whatever the case, these are the novels you are slightly embarrassed to admit you own, or feel like you should be checking the books out on your child’s or partner’s library card. Well for me it’s zombie novels, followed only slightly by “splatterpunk” novels.
Splatterpunk is defined by the graphic violence within its pages, and Jack Ketchum has to be one of the masters of this sub-genre. The Woman is in fact the third book in his “Dead River” series. I guess I forgot that when I took the book out of the library. No matter, this is a self-contained story, although I plan to go back and read the first two at some point. The major problem with this story was the lack of character development, but as the main character, known only as “The Woman” is part of a tribe of cannibalistic cave dwellers in Maine featured in the first two novels, I’m sure there was more character development across the arc of the series. Although even as I was typing that line, unbidden came the thought “well maybe not.” Splatterpunk novels are not necessarily known for character development and growth, mostly they are about how far the author can go with the graphic violence and get away with it.
There is lots and lots of violence in this book. It is clearly not for the faint of heart. On the surface this novel appears to be extremely misogynistic. Horrible things are done to the women in this book, all the women. But below the surface, they are strong woman characters, and express this strength by the end of the novel, all be it in some non-traditional ways. And that is one of the grand things about Splatterpunk. In most cases it allows the victims to eventually get in their licks in the end.
3.5 of 5 stars
Splatterpunk is defined by the graphic violence within its pages, and Jack Ketchum has to be one of the masters of this sub-genre. The Woman is in fact the third book in his “Dead River” series. I guess I forgot that when I took the book out of the library. No matter, this is a self-contained story, although I plan to go back and read the first two at some point. The major problem with this story was the lack of character development, but as the main character, known only as “The Woman” is part of a tribe of cannibalistic cave dwellers in Maine featured in the first two novels, I’m sure there was more character development across the arc of the series. Although even as I was typing that line, unbidden came the thought “well maybe not.” Splatterpunk novels are not necessarily known for character development and growth, mostly they are about how far the author can go with the graphic violence and get away with it.
There is lots and lots of violence in this book. It is clearly not for the faint of heart. On the surface this novel appears to be extremely misogynistic. Horrible things are done to the women in this book, all the women. But below the surface, they are strong woman characters, and express this strength by the end of the novel, all be it in some non-traditional ways. And that is one of the grand things about Splatterpunk. In most cases it allows the victims to eventually get in their licks in the end.
3.5 of 5 stars
alexandrabree's review against another edition
3.0
I am in the grey zone on this novel.
There is nothing wrong with this novel, but there is a lot thats just not right about it. It just didn't fit in with the other Ketchum books that I have read. I love the Dead River series so I can't say that I am not disappointed. This book has too much shock factor and not enough of a base. The characters where just not round enough, I couldn't relate, didn't get to know them. Found out mid way through the book that the setting is not Dead River wish there had been more about that...
Overall this feels like a publisher pleaser, written to fill the final spot in the trilogy without being a brain child of the author. Words slapped on paper :(
There is nothing wrong with this novel, but there is a lot thats just not right about it. It just didn't fit in with the other Ketchum books that I have read. I love the Dead River series so I can't say that I am not disappointed. This book has too much shock factor and not enough of a base. The characters where just not round enough, I couldn't relate, didn't get to know them. Found out mid way through the book that the setting is not Dead River wish there had been more about that...
Overall this feels like a publisher pleaser, written to fill the final spot in the trilogy without being a brain child of the author. Words slapped on paper :(
deadlight's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0