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A review by hessionsreadingworld
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
2.0
***WARNING- this post contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. You've been warned.***
Popsugar 2020: A book that won an award in 2019.
This book took place in less than 24 hours. The premise? A young, adopted girl, Wen, is at a cabin in the middle of nowhere on vacation with her Daddy Eric and Daddy Andrew. Wen is outside catching grasshoppers when this giant of a man named Leonard comes out of the woods and starts talking to her and somehow gets Wen to trust him, even though Wen's internal monologue tells her not to give that trust. Leonard wants to talk to her Daddy's which creeps Wen out and causes her to run inside. Turns out- Leonard is not alone. There are 3 others, all dressed similarly and carrying odd weapons. After a minor standoff, the intruders get in the cabin and explain why they need to talk to Daddy Andrew and Daddy Eric. According to these "four horsemen of the apocalypse" only Eric, Andrew, and Wen can save the world. The catch? One of them has to be sacrificed; one of them has to die. If they don't, catastrophe's will rain down on the earth until the end of the world.
I have seen this book several times on the "available now" section of the audio book search on Overdrive and figured it was time I checked it out. I have been in a mystery/thriller kick lately and thought this book would fit the bill. It has been described by other reviewers as a home invasion, apocalypse novel. That is probably the most succinct summary for this book. I, personally, do not think it is worth reading, and I will explain why.
I think that the main reason I didn't enjoy the book is because it was a horror that I couldn't buy into. Leonard and 3 other people randomly come out of the woods, with homemade weapons, in broad daylight,and who keep checking their watches and make sure they flip on the TV to show you all the crazy stuff that is happening because you won't sacrifice a member of your family? Please. I think people coming out of the woods to kill you is plausible, but not in the middle of the day without masks. I also think that if the end of the world is coming, these four people wouldn't have learned about it on an internet message board.
As a parent, the concept of stranger danger was definitely reinforced for me. I can totally see Hannah engaging with a madman like Leonard, even though her conscious is telling her not to. That was and is scary to me. However, what the book turned into was very unbelievable for me, despite what I have seen other reviewers express. For them, this situation is a real possibility in today's world. I get that. I get that there are crazy people out there who have doomsday theories. I definitely think those mad men or women act out on those delusions.
The characters of Leonard, Redmond, Sabrina, and Adriane are not developed enough for me to be believable or make me really believe them. Our author spends limited time developing the characters and seems to me to develop Andrew the most. We get flashbacks from Andrew's past about when he was beaten up for being gay, and how that trauma has changed him as a person. It is also suggested that Raymond is that same man. As the reader, we get no definitive answer on whether Raymond was indeed the man who attacked Andrew years ago or if it is a trauma induced delusion. What we do learn of the characters seems to distract from the very real issue at hand. They are in the house with crazy people who are killing themselves one by one overtime to bring about the next catastrophe before the end of the world. Again, if I was Andrew and Eric, I would just wait until all of them are dead and keep it moving. The lack of character development, and that glaring loop whole in the plot that would leave the family of three safe and sound ruined the horror/thriller part of the book for me.
Since I read this in April 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the catastrophes that is plaguing the world as a result of Eric, Andrew, and Wen's indecision is a pandemic. Guess what? The fictitious pandemic in the book also originated in a wet market in China, just like this current pandemic. So that was a relatable, plausible concept for me.
Over all- this book can be summed up rather quickly and is not worth the read. Don't talk to strangers. Don't believe everything you see on TV or the internet. If you are going on a remote vacation, bring a gun and make sure the darn thing is in the house and not your car. The end.
https://www.hessionsreadingworld.com/2020/04/the-cabin-at-end-of-world.html
Popsugar 2020: A book that won an award in 2019.
This book took place in less than 24 hours. The premise? A young, adopted girl, Wen, is at a cabin in the middle of nowhere on vacation with her Daddy Eric and Daddy Andrew. Wen is outside catching grasshoppers when this giant of a man named Leonard comes out of the woods and starts talking to her and somehow gets Wen to trust him, even though Wen's internal monologue tells her not to give that trust. Leonard wants to talk to her Daddy's which creeps Wen out and causes her to run inside. Turns out- Leonard is not alone. There are 3 others, all dressed similarly and carrying odd weapons. After a minor standoff, the intruders get in the cabin and explain why they need to talk to Daddy Andrew and Daddy Eric. According to these "four horsemen of the apocalypse" only Eric, Andrew, and Wen can save the world. The catch? One of them has to be sacrificed; one of them has to die. If they don't, catastrophe's will rain down on the earth until the end of the world.
I have seen this book several times on the "available now" section of the audio book search on Overdrive and figured it was time I checked it out. I have been in a mystery/thriller kick lately and thought this book would fit the bill. It has been described by other reviewers as a home invasion, apocalypse novel. That is probably the most succinct summary for this book. I, personally, do not think it is worth reading, and I will explain why.
I think that the main reason I didn't enjoy the book is because it was a horror that I couldn't buy into. Leonard and 3 other people randomly come out of the woods, with homemade weapons, in broad daylight,and who keep checking their watches and make sure they flip on the TV to show you all the crazy stuff that is happening because you won't sacrifice a member of your family? Please. I think people coming out of the woods to kill you is plausible, but not in the middle of the day without masks. I also think that if the end of the world is coming, these four people wouldn't have learned about it on an internet message board.
As a parent, the concept of stranger danger was definitely reinforced for me. I can totally see Hannah engaging with a madman like Leonard, even though her conscious is telling her not to. That was and is scary to me. However, what the book turned into was very unbelievable for me, despite what I have seen other reviewers express. For them, this situation is a real possibility in today's world. I get that. I get that there are crazy people out there who have doomsday theories. I definitely think those mad men or women act out on those delusions.
The characters of Leonard, Redmond, Sabrina, and Adriane are not developed enough for me to be believable or make me really believe them. Our author spends limited time developing the characters and seems to me to develop Andrew the most. We get flashbacks from Andrew's past about when he was beaten up for being gay, and how that trauma has changed him as a person. It is also suggested that Raymond is that same man. As the reader, we get no definitive answer on whether Raymond was indeed the man who attacked Andrew years ago or if it is a trauma induced delusion. What we do learn of the characters seems to distract from the very real issue at hand. They are in the house with crazy people who are killing themselves one by one overtime to bring about the next catastrophe before the end of the world. Again, if I was Andrew and Eric, I would just wait until all of them are dead and keep it moving. The lack of character development, and that glaring loop whole in the plot that would leave the family of three safe and sound ruined the horror/thriller part of the book for me.
Since I read this in April 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the catastrophes that is plaguing the world as a result of Eric, Andrew, and Wen's indecision is a pandemic. Guess what? The fictitious pandemic in the book also originated in a wet market in China, just like this current pandemic. So that was a relatable, plausible concept for me.
Over all- this book can be summed up rather quickly and is not worth the read. Don't talk to strangers. Don't believe everything you see on TV or the internet. If you are going on a remote vacation, bring a gun and make sure the darn thing is in the house and not your car. The end.
https://www.hessionsreadingworld.com/2020/04/the-cabin-at-end-of-world.html