“As he stares out his window, however, he has the uneasy sense that he isn’t journeying toward a better, more promising future, but merely migrating from one horizontal, cursed place to another.”

Covering more than five decades, Wolf at the Table follows the Larkin family and their relationships to each other and to violence. 

Adam Rapp crafted a chilling story. His writing puts you there, in places you don’t want to be. Rapp shows the violence within the Larking family and also connects them to the violence in the world. He also deals with mental illness and uncontrollable violent thoughts. His portrayal of evil within the church and the impact on people is horrific and makes me so sad because it has nothing to do with who God is. Rapp’s ability to connect places, people, and nature together is profound.

I hate read (feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach) this book because it’s well written. I wanted to know what happens and wanted redemption. The characters are mostly unlikeable, which is not my thing. Yet maybe that’s Rapp’s point - to see violence, evil, madness for what it is, wanting to turn away and yet unable to. I don’t know how it feel about this book. It’s intense and heartbreaking. I’m glad that I will have a chance to discuss it at book club.