Review:Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale

by Alice Thomas Ellis

Last weekend quite a few book bloggers participated in the 48 Hour Reading Challenge. I didn't know about it in time to join but I wanted to give it a try and see what would happen. This is my first book read.

Fairy Tale was recommended on a blog sometime last week but I cannot for the life of me think whose blog it was on. It sounded good so I reserved it at the library. I picked it up yesterday for my first read in my personal 48 Hour Challenge.

Eloise wants to live in a world of peace with nature, away from the rat race of the city. She brings a young man and a cat with her to a secluded red brick cottage on the edge of a wood. Her mother, Clair, and the mother's closest friend, Miriam, come for a visit and find that things are a little off here. More than just the extreme seclusion, Eloise's behavior gets more peculiar each day. Things really get crazy when Eloise brings home a baby. Did she steal it? Could she have been pregnant and no one know? And who are the strange doctors, nurses and other visitors that keep dropping in?

The book keeps your emotions in a state of confusion through almost the whole story. You are never sure that anything is what it seems. The book has no chapter breaks so you have a sense of urgency that mimics the build up of the plot. By the time you get to the end you want to shout, "What the heck just happened?" a question that Clair and Miriam are asking continually; but even they stop asking that question by the end and know that the "what" and "why" doesn't matter as much as getting out of that cottage as soon as possible.

I am still in a confused state about this book. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't consider it a candidate for rereading either. I don't like to be confused or to feel a situation is unresolved but that's exactly what you are left with when you close the covers and put the book aside. If I had more time I might be able to pinpoint a lesson or point to this story but for now I simply want to move on to something more comfortable.