Title: The Farm
Author: Tom Rob Smith
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: June 2014
Genre: Adult Fiction
Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Synopsis can be found here.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Review:
Daniel’s parents are retiring to a farm in Sweden, where his mother grew up, to live a quiet life off the land. So Daniel is shocked when his father calls him to say his mother has been placed in an asylum. Daniel grabs his things and is about to travel to Sweden when his father calls again – his mother is gone. Having checked herself out, Daniel’s mum is headed to London to talk to him, to share her story and hopefully convince Daniel that she isn’t crazy.
Whew. Wow, that was intense.
The Farm grabs you and shakes you and twists you until you’re not sure what to believe. It’s read eagerly, in one sitting or two. It’s picked up and put down again and again because it’s impossible to digest everything that is happening unless you give yourself a moment.
I’ve been a huge fan of Tom Rob Smith since Child 44 so I was really excited to get this copy for review. The author is top of his game- painting the bleak setting of Sweden, quiet and ideal against the dark village story the narrator’s mum is weaving. The book goes back and forth frequently, in and out every chapter, between the narrator and his mum narrating. The narrator, trying to hide his feelings and absorb the story and his mum, frantic and unlike her normally composed self, paranoid and intelligent. This disjointed feeling of his mum talking to you, YOU reader, adds intensity, urgency, and I immediately felt like I was listening to her ranting and raving, convinced she is being persecuted. Maybe she is.
The story itself is dark and horrible and during the entire book, up until the very very end, I wasn’t sure what story was the truth. It’s woven so tightly, so deftly, characters drawn so murky that I felt Tilde’s (Daniel’s mum), tension and despair. Has Daniel’s father changed into someone unrecognizable? How much do any of us really know our parents?
That said, I have to admit that I didn’t feel like I had a real good sense of Daniel or felt any emotion towards him (or even Tilde). I was wound up in the story and it being told to us in the way it was, distanced me. While I want to have an emotional connection to the main characters, I didn’t have one in this case but it didn’t bother me.
Overall, The Farm is a fast paced psychological thriller with a free flowing story and high intensity. I think many people will enjoy this book, it’s unique way of storytelling and complicated plot.
Rating 8 Cookie Worthy
Kimberly majored in Songwriting and currently works full time in the music industry. When she's not listening to music, knitting or writing, you can find her outside reading her favorite genres: Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.
Sounds like a very creepy read.
It is. I’m not sure totally how I feel about it. It’s well done and I liked the concept, but in the end I felt so distant from the characters, it was hard for me.