Through the Woods

by Emily Carroll

[Quirky Cat]

Many will recognize the name Emily Carroll, as she is a well-known comic artist (and author) with Through the Woods being her first published set of works. If you’re looking for a spooky read this Halloween, or in general, this is the perfect read for you. As well as being interesting and captivating, the stories are quick, making the entire book an easy read for one sitting. Included are the stories, Our Neighbors House, A Lady’s Hands Are Cold, My Friend Janna, The Nesting Place, and His Face All Red.
What I really enjoyed about all of these stories is that Emily Carroll is unafraid to tell a simple story, or to skip the ending (knowing that whatever we come up with ourselves will be far worst). She uses creative storytelling techniques to get under our skin and thoroughly creep us out, while also forcing us to think about the everyday items/events as something otherworldly.
I personally found A Lady’s Hands Are Cold to be my favorite of the set, as Carroll blends new and old (Edger Allen Poe’s the Tell Tale Heart) together into a seamless and disturbing story. What’s best is we’re never actually told if what the girl was seeing is real, or if she was simply imagining the whole thing. Leaving the endings to our own imagination allows for multiple interpretations of the same story. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to have a book club discussing their theories together

For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks