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The Wood of Suicides
Laurel Marks is a stunning, repressed 17-year-old schoolgirl. She also has a weakness for older men - most of all her father, whom she'll do anything to impress. After his sudden death, Laurel is sent off to a boarding school where she shortly latches onto a new love object: her English teacher, Mr. Hugh Steadman.
Following an encounter in the woods, a flirtation develops between the two, marked by hopeful highs and suicidal lows, on Laurel's part. Their romance is eventually consummated one November afternoon, in the arbor where they first met. But Laurel's middle-aged teacher proves to be a more violent lover than she ever anticipated. Like the doomed chase between Daphne and Apollo, Steadman pursues and Laurel recedes.
Laura Woollett charts the course of their obsession with an unswerving eye, describing their unbridled desire for one another and the reckless and tortured course on which they have embarked - and of Laurel's unshed grief for her father, whose absence will be either her salvation or her undoing.
Following an encounter in the woods, a flirtation develops between the two, marked by hopeful highs and suicidal lows, on Laurel's part. Their romance is eventually consummated one November afternoon, in the arbor where they first met. But Laurel's middle-aged teacher proves to be a more violent lover than she ever anticipated. Like the doomed chase between Daphne and Apollo, Steadman pursues and Laurel recedes.
Laura Woollett charts the course of their obsession with an unswerving eye, describing their unbridled desire for one another and the reckless and tortured course on which they have embarked - and of Laurel's unshed grief for her father, whose absence will be either her salvation or her undoing.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 23, 2014
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July 5, 2016
I'm going to straight up admit to being a coward who, nonetheless, sometimes musters up the courage to overcome that.
One of the things I fear, being on Goodreads, is reading and reviewing a book by someone who has been on my friends' list, as Laura Elizabeth Woollett has for several years. Earlier this year I overcame that trepidation and found I needn't have worried when reading a book by another friend on my list, Lavinia Ludlow, whose book alt.punk proved to be a funny, exasperating delight. Luckily, again, I was not let down by a friend, because Woollett's The Wood of Suicides seared my soul with nearly the same intensity as Joan Didion or Marguerite Duras.
So, let this be a notification, too, of potential bias, which is something more than we get from our purveyors of the so-called "news" today -- because my rating is partly determined by Woollett's "familiarity," distant though that may be, and partly because I have awarded the rating on a few extra-literary concerns, though not by very much, truly. And that is because Woollett is an incredible writer, a young master of external description and inner feeling. There were few times while reading this that I wasn't swooning inside at the deeply felt sadness and cosmic grasping in this story and in the hapless psyche of her protagonist, Laurel Marks.
So I am admitting up front that I'm giving this book -- Woollett's debut novel from 2014 -- the highest rating partly to congratulate her for writing a book that is this bloody good (one that for long stretches actually reaches perfection) and also to counteract some of the reviewers on here who've given it a one-star assessment for fucking retarded reasons. My "real" rating is four stars, and my enhanced rating -- meant to encourage and support Woollett in her continued authorial pursuits -- is five.
Yes, this is another teacher/student romance book, and, yes, another one where the female student is the seductress. The prevalence of these kinds of stories, both in fiction and in real life, take us into deeper sociological/psychological territory that won't be mined here for the sake of brevity, but what always fascinates me about this phenomenon from the literary perspective is how so many readers hungrily eat up these stories and then after finishing them turn into Holy Rollers of outrage: decrying the characters, the author and the very fact of age-gap affairs. You'd think that bursting enough blood vessels would cause them to stop reading these tales, yet they come back for more. Wonder why?
The question really at hand is whether Woollett has written a good book with this dynamic, and I think she has. In fact, the first 90 pages of this book are so good -- a meticulously detailed study in super-concentrated obsession -- that I had already decided to rate it highly regardless of where Woollett took the rest of the story. About halfway through, the story does take its inevitable turn, and, I will admit, that I was saddened to see the rather "idealized" feeling of the first part of the story turn into the sordid tale it becomes, but that is the sad reality that Woollett forces us to confront: the Byronic ideal versus the squalid mess borne of conflicting intentions and physical necessity. Luckily, I found that after some reluctance to accept this turn of events, Woollett won me back as her protagonist comes to realize the sad truths of her life even as she finds a twisted comfort in them. She often contemplates death, not just actual mortality, but the inevitable death of her first intense romance and the fragile ideals that gird it.
The story has all the familiar markers for stories of this kind: Laurel Marks is 17; a studious, intellectually precocious (not like the other girls, as she sees it) boarding school loner with father issues that she transfers to her English teacher, Mr. Hugh Steadman, a married father 25 years her elder. She has eating issues which seem to tie into other Freudian concerns (the idea of weight as a kind of marker of aging and time as well as of identity and control are actually explored rather deftly at times in the story, though only fleetingly). She wants to explore the power of her attractiveness with an older man (boys her age she finds repellent and immature) and thus begins what at first seems like a fruitless amusement, even as the feelings in her grow more real and painful and the power of her projections cast unwarranted motivations on her teacher. Unwarranted, at least, until we later find out his true intentions.
As the forbidden romance is pursued and consummated, mythological themes preoccupy the lovers -- the stories of fictional lovers such as Daphne and Apollo, and real ones such as Abelard and Heloise, and Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb, as well as Ovid's tales of love and Dante's of death, out of which is contemplated the "wood of suicides."
One of the absurd criticisms of the book I've seen elucidated here is that Laurel Marks is too impossibly intelligent and sports a too-abundant vocabulary for a 17-year-old girl -- as if studious, well-read young girls don't exist, or that young girls are incapable of cerebral pursuits. For one thing, Marks is actually 18 and is telling the story in the first-person in restrospect. Considering that Woollett is infusing such a vocabulary into her character, and given the fact that Woollett wrote the book when she herself was in her early '20s and obviously had this vocabulary herself, the notion that her young woman protagonist can't have the same vocabulary is patent nonsense.
I like it that Woollett makes use of a large vocabulary -- more readers should be exposed to new words -- and I favor the propagation of same. She does it for brevity, succintness, rhythm, and, yes, for precise meaning -- not to show off. Certainly, there are many instances of authors -- particularly young ones -- shoehorning arcane words into their prose regardless of appropriateness. Woollett is not one of those, and her character, Laurel, in some sense must be this way, since her bookishness has informed her ideals of poetic romance.
Laurel tells her story with a sense of having lived (given the reminiscence perspective) but also with the sense of naive confusion of the past/present-- since she is also trying to convey how she felt in the past moment. Her voice is earnest, poignant, erudite, defiant, tender and sadly resigned.
The teacher, Hugh Steadman, seems to us to be a bit of a cipher, and in fact, Laurel's peers have no interest in him. He might, in fact, be a grotesque middle-aged man that Laurel's idealized perception can't fully grasp. By elevating him to a father-god, she discounts or morphs his least attractive physical traits (coffee breath, sagging waistline, hirsuitness) into charming ones.
Woollett, Laurel Marks, and, indeed, Steadman himself, make no excuses for Steadman and his behavior, and because we can only see him through Laurel Marks' skewed prism and limiting filter he can't help but seem slightly cardboard; repulsive quite apart from what he does. Whoever or whatever Steadman is, Laurel has filled in those gaps irrationally and intellectually, tying him into something or someone larger, something pseudo-religious, something Byronic and poetic.
Interestingly, I kept thinking of the late actor, Alan Bates, when envisioning Hugh Steadman. The Bates of the 1970s would have been a perfect bit of casting for a film version of this. Bates had a sort of bookish bemused sophistication yet at the same time a distant quality, an arrogant and slightly hulking aspect that suits Steadman. I kept superimposing Bates over Steadman as I read the book.
It's hard to like Steadman, for obvious reasons, and most of the time he revulses us, but there is a letter he writes to Laurel at the end of the book that is so touching that it humanizes him greatly.
Still, Steadman is a transgressor; a man whose faults actually in many ways mirror Laurel's own, yet seem not to be informed by the wisdom of middle age. Steadman is sewing a wild oat, having a mid-life crisis -- call it what you will, and there is plenty to suggest that his behavior represents a pattern.
When Steadman pays for Laurel's first birth-control pills, it is not merely a reminder of the teacher's utilitarian selfishness, but of Laurel's other concerns about death. Her father is dead; Hugh reminds her of him. Her father had many pills for his illnesses; she carries those around in case she decides to succumb to suicide. The birth control pills evoke the other pills; each in their way suggest death, or a denial of life.
There are many things like this in the book that Woollett introduces and ponders both explicity and implicitly. She expects the reader to do a little work, a little thinking for himself or herself. At the same time, Woollett never falters in the precision of her language and storytelling. When she decribes a thought or a room or a scene, we can grasp it and see it. She made it so easy for me to visualize the spaces in which these characters walked and lived.
The specter of suicide does haunt the book, but mainly as a specter. I think most or all of us in moments of despair and confusion have considered this as an option --whether seriously or fleetingly -- to kill all the pains we've had, are having, or inevitably will have. Laurel Marks, because of her limited views and options, sees it as an option perhaps more than most. And, as the story ends, we are not sure how seriously she has come to discount it as a real option. The story does not pander to our need for a pat solution, and that is something I appreciate.
As I closed this book, I had tears in my eyes. I was sad for the characters, but happy for Woollett, and this was a heady blend. I loved it.
(KR@Ky 2016)
One of the things I fear, being on Goodreads, is reading and reviewing a book by someone who has been on my friends' list, as Laura Elizabeth Woollett has for several years. Earlier this year I overcame that trepidation and found I needn't have worried when reading a book by another friend on my list, Lavinia Ludlow, whose book alt.punk proved to be a funny, exasperating delight. Luckily, again, I was not let down by a friend, because Woollett's The Wood of Suicides seared my soul with nearly the same intensity as Joan Didion or Marguerite Duras.
So, let this be a notification, too, of potential bias, which is something more than we get from our purveyors of the so-called "news" today -- because my rating is partly determined by Woollett's "familiarity," distant though that may be, and partly because I have awarded the rating on a few extra-literary concerns, though not by very much, truly. And that is because Woollett is an incredible writer, a young master of external description and inner feeling. There were few times while reading this that I wasn't swooning inside at the deeply felt sadness and cosmic grasping in this story and in the hapless psyche of her protagonist, Laurel Marks.
So I am admitting up front that I'm giving this book -- Woollett's debut novel from 2014 -- the highest rating partly to congratulate her for writing a book that is this bloody good (one that for long stretches actually reaches perfection) and also to counteract some of the reviewers on here who've given it a one-star assessment for fucking retarded reasons. My "real" rating is four stars, and my enhanced rating -- meant to encourage and support Woollett in her continued authorial pursuits -- is five.
Yes, this is another teacher/student romance book, and, yes, another one where the female student is the seductress. The prevalence of these kinds of stories, both in fiction and in real life, take us into deeper sociological/psychological territory that won't be mined here for the sake of brevity, but what always fascinates me about this phenomenon from the literary perspective is how so many readers hungrily eat up these stories and then after finishing them turn into Holy Rollers of outrage: decrying the characters, the author and the very fact of age-gap affairs. You'd think that bursting enough blood vessels would cause them to stop reading these tales, yet they come back for more. Wonder why?
The question really at hand is whether Woollett has written a good book with this dynamic, and I think she has. In fact, the first 90 pages of this book are so good -- a meticulously detailed study in super-concentrated obsession -- that I had already decided to rate it highly regardless of where Woollett took the rest of the story. About halfway through, the story does take its inevitable turn, and, I will admit, that I was saddened to see the rather "idealized" feeling of the first part of the story turn into the sordid tale it becomes, but that is the sad reality that Woollett forces us to confront: the Byronic ideal versus the squalid mess borne of conflicting intentions and physical necessity. Luckily, I found that after some reluctance to accept this turn of events, Woollett won me back as her protagonist comes to realize the sad truths of her life even as she finds a twisted comfort in them. She often contemplates death, not just actual mortality, but the inevitable death of her first intense romance and the fragile ideals that gird it.
The story has all the familiar markers for stories of this kind: Laurel Marks is 17; a studious, intellectually precocious (not like the other girls, as she sees it) boarding school loner with father issues that she transfers to her English teacher, Mr. Hugh Steadman, a married father 25 years her elder. She has eating issues which seem to tie into other Freudian concerns (the idea of weight as a kind of marker of aging and time as well as of identity and control are actually explored rather deftly at times in the story, though only fleetingly). She wants to explore the power of her attractiveness with an older man (boys her age she finds repellent and immature) and thus begins what at first seems like a fruitless amusement, even as the feelings in her grow more real and painful and the power of her projections cast unwarranted motivations on her teacher. Unwarranted, at least, until we later find out his true intentions.
As the forbidden romance is pursued and consummated, mythological themes preoccupy the lovers -- the stories of fictional lovers such as Daphne and Apollo, and real ones such as Abelard and Heloise, and Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb, as well as Ovid's tales of love and Dante's of death, out of which is contemplated the "wood of suicides."
One of the absurd criticisms of the book I've seen elucidated here is that Laurel Marks is too impossibly intelligent and sports a too-abundant vocabulary for a 17-year-old girl -- as if studious, well-read young girls don't exist, or that young girls are incapable of cerebral pursuits. For one thing, Marks is actually 18 and is telling the story in the first-person in restrospect. Considering that Woollett is infusing such a vocabulary into her character, and given the fact that Woollett wrote the book when she herself was in her early '20s and obviously had this vocabulary herself, the notion that her young woman protagonist can't have the same vocabulary is patent nonsense.
I like it that Woollett makes use of a large vocabulary -- more readers should be exposed to new words -- and I favor the propagation of same. She does it for brevity, succintness, rhythm, and, yes, for precise meaning -- not to show off. Certainly, there are many instances of authors -- particularly young ones -- shoehorning arcane words into their prose regardless of appropriateness. Woollett is not one of those, and her character, Laurel, in some sense must be this way, since her bookishness has informed her ideals of poetic romance.
Laurel tells her story with a sense of having lived (given the reminiscence perspective) but also with the sense of naive confusion of the past/present-- since she is also trying to convey how she felt in the past moment. Her voice is earnest, poignant, erudite, defiant, tender and sadly resigned.
The teacher, Hugh Steadman, seems to us to be a bit of a cipher, and in fact, Laurel's peers have no interest in him. He might, in fact, be a grotesque middle-aged man that Laurel's idealized perception can't fully grasp. By elevating him to a father-god, she discounts or morphs his least attractive physical traits (coffee breath, sagging waistline, hirsuitness) into charming ones.
Woollett, Laurel Marks, and, indeed, Steadman himself, make no excuses for Steadman and his behavior, and because we can only see him through Laurel Marks' skewed prism and limiting filter he can't help but seem slightly cardboard; repulsive quite apart from what he does. Whoever or whatever Steadman is, Laurel has filled in those gaps irrationally and intellectually, tying him into something or someone larger, something pseudo-religious, something Byronic and poetic.
Interestingly, I kept thinking of the late actor, Alan Bates, when envisioning Hugh Steadman. The Bates of the 1970s would have been a perfect bit of casting for a film version of this. Bates had a sort of bookish bemused sophistication yet at the same time a distant quality, an arrogant and slightly hulking aspect that suits Steadman. I kept superimposing Bates over Steadman as I read the book.
It's hard to like Steadman, for obvious reasons, and most of the time he revulses us, but there is a letter he writes to Laurel at the end of the book that is so touching that it humanizes him greatly.
Still, Steadman is a transgressor; a man whose faults actually in many ways mirror Laurel's own, yet seem not to be informed by the wisdom of middle age. Steadman is sewing a wild oat, having a mid-life crisis -- call it what you will, and there is plenty to suggest that his behavior represents a pattern.
When Steadman pays for Laurel's first birth-control pills, it is not merely a reminder of the teacher's utilitarian selfishness, but of Laurel's other concerns about death. Her father is dead; Hugh reminds her of him. Her father had many pills for his illnesses; she carries those around in case she decides to succumb to suicide. The birth control pills evoke the other pills; each in their way suggest death, or a denial of life.
There are many things like this in the book that Woollett introduces and ponders both explicity and implicitly. She expects the reader to do a little work, a little thinking for himself or herself. At the same time, Woollett never falters in the precision of her language and storytelling. When she decribes a thought or a room or a scene, we can grasp it and see it. She made it so easy for me to visualize the spaces in which these characters walked and lived.
The specter of suicide does haunt the book, but mainly as a specter. I think most or all of us in moments of despair and confusion have considered this as an option --whether seriously or fleetingly -- to kill all the pains we've had, are having, or inevitably will have. Laurel Marks, because of her limited views and options, sees it as an option perhaps more than most. And, as the story ends, we are not sure how seriously she has come to discount it as a real option. The story does not pander to our need for a pat solution, and that is something I appreciate.
As I closed this book, I had tears in my eyes. I was sad for the characters, but happy for Woollett, and this was a heady blend. I loved it.
(KR@Ky 2016)
April 6, 2014
The Wood of Suicides features the pursuit and seduction of a middle-aged high school English teacher by a 17-year-old student with father issues. Those that like a more literary read with plenty of poetry, slower moving relationships and psychological character studies will enjoy it.
Though a lot of sex happens it is not erotic, and it is not described in explicit terms.
One issue that some may struggle with is that the heroine is unlikable with literally no redeeming qualities. I suspect that she would be diagnosed as a sociopath. She is self-absorbed, vain, selfish and absolutely self-centred. You can't even pity her since she was toxic long before her father's death.
This is a book with literally no subplots or even reality outside the steady, relentless pursuit of a teacher by a teenage girl. Which perfectly mirrors her own obsession: nothing exists for her except her desire for this man. It is all she thinks about, all she puts any energy into. And strangely it is not much of a sexual desire - she barely enjoys sex with him at first and continually describes his body in unappealing ways.
In retrospect the ending is not very surprising and won't make you care for the heroine any more. And if you don't really care for the heroine, and I didn't, you won't particularly care what happens anyway.
That's not to say this wasn't an interesting and beautifully written read. It just doesn't satisfy as a romance because you can't empathise with the heroine, you won't find the hero attractive, there's no coup-de-foudre or even friendship-blossoming-into-love, just a sustained, one-sided campaign of seducation. So really it's not very romantic at all.
It's more like watching the iceberg approach the Titanic and slowly sink it.
Though a lot of sex happens it is not erotic, and it is not described in explicit terms.
One issue that some may struggle with is that the heroine is unlikable with literally no redeeming qualities. I suspect that she would be diagnosed as a sociopath. She is self-absorbed, vain, selfish and absolutely self-centred. You can't even pity her since she was toxic long before her father's death.
This is a book with literally no subplots or even reality outside the steady, relentless pursuit of a teacher by a teenage girl. Which perfectly mirrors her own obsession: nothing exists for her except her desire for this man. It is all she thinks about, all she puts any energy into. And strangely it is not much of a sexual desire - she barely enjoys sex with him at first and continually describes his body in unappealing ways.
In retrospect the ending is not very surprising and won't make you care for the heroine any more. And if you don't really care for the heroine, and I didn't, you won't particularly care what happens anyway.
That's not to say this wasn't an interesting and beautifully written read. It just doesn't satisfy as a romance because you can't empathise with the heroine, you won't find the hero attractive, there's no coup-de-foudre or even friendship-blossoming-into-love, just a sustained, one-sided campaign of seducation. So really it's not very romantic at all.
It's more like watching the iceberg approach the Titanic and slowly sink it.
August 16, 2014
When your obsession turns into a nightmare for you, it tears you up in the inside and that's really depressing as well as heart-breaking The Wood of Suicides by Laura Elizabeth Woollett is a sad, disheartening story of a 17-year old girl, who must find a way to go on with her life, after she figures out that the man she has fallen for, doesn't love her, instead uses her.
Thank you Laura Elizabeth Woollett for sharing with me a copy of your amazing novel for an honest review.
Laurel Marks, a 17-yr old teenager, having obsession for older men, not to mention even had a thing for her own father, was sent to a boarding school by her mother, after her father's death. In her boarding school, she soon gets obsessed with her handsome, English teacher, Huge Steadman, who's married with kids. But eventually her crush and flirtations turn into a full-fledged love affair. They started sneaking out in the school grounds, in his home, when his wife's away. But Steadman got more demanding of Laurel and on the other hand Laurel got withdrawn from their relationship. Finally Laurel plunges more into darkness, ultimately fell into the laps of depression. So finally she manages to free herself from her lover and Steadman ended up with nothing, no wife, no children, but this made her more torn up in the inside.
The narration of the protagonist is contemplative and disturbing; you can feel her pain almost immediately. Laurel was actually facing some psychological issues, all she needed was love, but instead she was sexually used, this made her more depressed. The author has written in such a way that almost after reading a few pages of the book, we can see Laurel right through her, can peek into her soul. The author has kept the narration interesting, not a chance of losing interest. Also she has made some well-developed characters for her plot with whom the readers can actually connect.
Finally, in a nut-shell, if you love some teacher-student fantasy, then definitely go for this one.
Thank you Laura Elizabeth Woollett for sharing with me a copy of your amazing novel for an honest review.
Laurel Marks, a 17-yr old teenager, having obsession for older men, not to mention even had a thing for her own father, was sent to a boarding school by her mother, after her father's death. In her boarding school, she soon gets obsessed with her handsome, English teacher, Huge Steadman, who's married with kids. But eventually her crush and flirtations turn into a full-fledged love affair. They started sneaking out in the school grounds, in his home, when his wife's away. But Steadman got more demanding of Laurel and on the other hand Laurel got withdrawn from their relationship. Finally Laurel plunges more into darkness, ultimately fell into the laps of depression. So finally she manages to free herself from her lover and Steadman ended up with nothing, no wife, no children, but this made her more torn up in the inside.
The narration of the protagonist is contemplative and disturbing; you can feel her pain almost immediately. Laurel was actually facing some psychological issues, all she needed was love, but instead she was sexually used, this made her more depressed. The author has written in such a way that almost after reading a few pages of the book, we can see Laurel right through her, can peek into her soul. The author has kept the narration interesting, not a chance of losing interest. Also she has made some well-developed characters for her plot with whom the readers can actually connect.
Finally, in a nut-shell, if you love some teacher-student fantasy, then definitely go for this one.
December 12, 2013
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
It's hard to talk about the book without giving away some spoilers so read on at your own risk. I'll hide the major ending spoiler though.
Where do I start? I really, really liked this book. I finished this at midnight and stayed up for another hour just absorbing and thinking about everything that happened in the book.
It's short in pages (a little under 200) but very dense in content.
When I first started the book even though the synopsis says that she has an affair with her teacher I thought I was dealing with an unreliable narrator. The story is told from the perspective of Laurel, a 17 year old girl who idolizes her father to the point of being jealous of her own mother. There isn't really any explanation given as to how or why her feelings for her father become so intense. After he dies she is sent to a boarding school and promptly falls for her English teacher, Mr. Steadman.
Since it is told from Laurel's perspective and she becomes so obsessive so quickly I wondered if all of the meaningful glances weren't in her head and everything was innocent on his side. Turns out those glances did mean something and after his slow, skillful seduction in the classroom they end up consummating their relationship in the middle of the woods.
What follows next is the telling of how their relationship evolves/devolves over the course of the school year. This is no romantic, sexy schoolgirl/teacher fantasy. This is a toxic, corrosive, and delusional relationship on both sides.
There are so many good discussion points that come out of this book like Laurel's hatred of womanhood, derision of her mother, and her quest to stay a schoolgirl.
Someday, however, if I were to go on living, I would be forced to become a woman; to take on the essential characteristics that disgusted me as much as they did him. It was my misfortune to have been born into a sex that I despised, a sex whose inherent physicality precluded all hopes of divinity.
The many contradictions of Laurel's feelings from idolization of her teacher to disgust at the physical act with him. At one point she is very aware that he only wants her because she is schoolgirl but she's not able to resist this relationship that has developed.
I had fallen in love with his contradictions, with his blend of flesh and godliness,bourgeois and bohemian, brute lust and cold refinement.
Since he's an English teacher there are many references to literature and poetry which only added to the depth of the story.
What made this book work for me was the writing. I was a little worried in the beginning that it was going to be way over my head but once I got into it I could appreciate it. The writing is beautiful. The melancholy and obsessive voice of Laurel is well done.
I like to think that I was born in those woods, in a flash of green and stream of sepia sunlight – the mythic haze of that Marin County Monday. Everything before that September day was simply a prelude, leading up to the shock of my conception: bereft, kneeling, as he stood like a god in my sunlight, his white shirt ablaze.
He was fluent, he was limpid, he conducted himself with ease. He shot me meaningful glances, full of black, liquid fire, as he read from Don Juan – seeking my face with every mention in the poem of the words “heart”, “love”, and “desire”.
The only thing that didn't ring true was the end.
If you want a book that will give you a lot to think about you should definitely pick this up.
It's hard to talk about the book without giving away some spoilers so read on at your own risk. I'll hide the major ending spoiler though.
Where do I start? I really, really liked this book. I finished this at midnight and stayed up for another hour just absorbing and thinking about everything that happened in the book.
It's short in pages (a little under 200) but very dense in content.
When I first started the book even though the synopsis says that she has an affair with her teacher I thought I was dealing with an unreliable narrator. The story is told from the perspective of Laurel, a 17 year old girl who idolizes her father to the point of being jealous of her own mother. There isn't really any explanation given as to how or why her feelings for her father become so intense. After he dies she is sent to a boarding school and promptly falls for her English teacher, Mr. Steadman.
Since it is told from Laurel's perspective and she becomes so obsessive so quickly I wondered if all of the meaningful glances weren't in her head and everything was innocent on his side. Turns out those glances did mean something and after his slow, skillful seduction in the classroom they end up consummating their relationship in the middle of the woods.
What follows next is the telling of how their relationship evolves/devolves over the course of the school year. This is no romantic, sexy schoolgirl/teacher fantasy. This is a toxic, corrosive, and delusional relationship on both sides.
There are so many good discussion points that come out of this book like Laurel's hatred of womanhood, derision of her mother, and her quest to stay a schoolgirl.
Someday, however, if I were to go on living, I would be forced to become a woman; to take on the essential characteristics that disgusted me as much as they did him. It was my misfortune to have been born into a sex that I despised, a sex whose inherent physicality precluded all hopes of divinity.
The many contradictions of Laurel's feelings from idolization of her teacher to disgust at the physical act with him. At one point she is very aware that he only wants her because she is schoolgirl but she's not able to resist this relationship that has developed.
I had fallen in love with his contradictions, with his blend of flesh and godliness,bourgeois and bohemian, brute lust and cold refinement.
Since he's an English teacher there are many references to literature and poetry which only added to the depth of the story.
What made this book work for me was the writing. I was a little worried in the beginning that it was going to be way over my head but once I got into it I could appreciate it. The writing is beautiful. The melancholy and obsessive voice of Laurel is well done.
I like to think that I was born in those woods, in a flash of green and stream of sepia sunlight – the mythic haze of that Marin County Monday. Everything before that September day was simply a prelude, leading up to the shock of my conception: bereft, kneeling, as he stood like a god in my sunlight, his white shirt ablaze.
He was fluent, he was limpid, he conducted himself with ease. He shot me meaningful glances, full of black, liquid fire, as he read from Don Juan – seeking my face with every mention in the poem of the words “heart”, “love”, and “desire”.
The only thing that didn't ring true was the end.
If you want a book that will give you a lot to think about you should definitely pick this up.
July 19, 2020
If you read this book, stop when you reach the Epilogue. You have reached the novel's conclusion. The Epilogue is an add-on that detracts from an otherwise impressive novel.
If the Epilogue had been omitted, The Wood of Suicides would have merited five stars and the following review alone would have been posted:
High school student Laurel Marks has Mommy (and Self) issues, and her father dies. Novelist Laura Elizabeth Woollett writes Laurel's troubling archetypal story with power, passion, and poetry.
Woollett's book should not be minimized by common labels. It is a coming of age novel. It explores taboos, power, and identity. It shocks. This novel does all these but more. The Wood of Suicides, drawing on ancient and modern myth, presents a striking quest for transcendence and the struggle for Self. It's a remarkable novel, written by one who has mastered the art.
I want to write more but won't. I don't want to detract from the author's opus. If you are a reader, you will be engulfed in this tale's terrible beauty and its pedestrian awfulness. If you are a writer or want to write, study this novel. It may make you remember why you wanted to be an author in the first place.
*******
If it had not been for the Epilogue, that's what I would have posted by itself.
There's a lesson here for writers. If you reach the end of your story or novel, stop. If an editor or agent or your self-editor tells you there are too many unanswered questions and wants more, hold firm, don't budge, and respect your readers' imaginations.
The Epilogue of The Wood of Suicides answered questions that didn't need to be answered and created questions that hadn't been asked. In a new short pages, each worn trope of the genre was introduced, leaving the ending predictable and unsatisfying.
I still highly recommend the book. Just don't bother with the Epilogue.
If the Epilogue had been omitted, The Wood of Suicides would have merited five stars and the following review alone would have been posted:
High school student Laurel Marks has Mommy (and Self) issues, and her father dies. Novelist Laura Elizabeth Woollett writes Laurel's troubling archetypal story with power, passion, and poetry.
Woollett's book should not be minimized by common labels. It is a coming of age novel. It explores taboos, power, and identity. It shocks. This novel does all these but more. The Wood of Suicides, drawing on ancient and modern myth, presents a striking quest for transcendence and the struggle for Self. It's a remarkable novel, written by one who has mastered the art.
I want to write more but won't. I don't want to detract from the author's opus. If you are a reader, you will be engulfed in this tale's terrible beauty and its pedestrian awfulness. If you are a writer or want to write, study this novel. It may make you remember why you wanted to be an author in the first place.
*******
If it had not been for the Epilogue, that's what I would have posted by itself.
There's a lesson here for writers. If you reach the end of your story or novel, stop. If an editor or agent or your self-editor tells you there are too many unanswered questions and wants more, hold firm, don't budge, and respect your readers' imaginations.
The Epilogue of The Wood of Suicides answered questions that didn't need to be answered and created questions that hadn't been asked. In a new short pages, each worn trope of the genre was introduced, leaving the ending predictable and unsatisfying.
I still highly recommend the book. Just don't bother with the Epilogue.
January 5, 2014
***Reviewed for the Library Thing Early Reviewer****
http://www.librarything.com/work/1432...
A young woman sets her desires on an older man and finds that her idea of love was more than she bargained for with him. This modern, quasi-YA story is long on prose and scant on reality. Laurel, a senior in an all-girls boarding school has recently lost her father. Her mother sends her away to fulfill her own needs, presumably with her best friend's husband. Laurel comes to lust after her English teacher, Hugh Steadman, a man who reminds her of her father. While Laura Elizabeth Woollett attempts to create a unique tale reminiscent of Apollo and Daphne or "Lolita", the cliches are too much to tolerate. Laurel is an overly verbose and completely unbelievable teenager (her vocabulary alone sets her on a different planet than most 17-year-olds). The sexual relationship that is alluded to between Laurel and her father is ridiculous. He has trigeminal neuralgia, a painful, but not life-threatening (and treatable) condition and mistakes his daughter for his wife. As for her teacher, Steadman, a man who falls for his uniform-clad ingenue has been done to the hilt. Woollett would do better to focus her energies on creating a more believable, original story with accurate facts rather than rehashing her graduate English literature and psychology course work and ripping off some classic works.
http://www.librarything.com/work/1432...
A young woman sets her desires on an older man and finds that her idea of love was more than she bargained for with him. This modern, quasi-YA story is long on prose and scant on reality. Laurel, a senior in an all-girls boarding school has recently lost her father. Her mother sends her away to fulfill her own needs, presumably with her best friend's husband. Laurel comes to lust after her English teacher, Hugh Steadman, a man who reminds her of her father. While Laura Elizabeth Woollett attempts to create a unique tale reminiscent of Apollo and Daphne or "Lolita", the cliches are too much to tolerate. Laurel is an overly verbose and completely unbelievable teenager (her vocabulary alone sets her on a different planet than most 17-year-olds). The sexual relationship that is alluded to between Laurel and her father is ridiculous. He has trigeminal neuralgia, a painful, but not life-threatening (and treatable) condition and mistakes his daughter for his wife. As for her teacher, Steadman, a man who falls for his uniform-clad ingenue has been done to the hilt. Woollett would do better to focus her energies on creating a more believable, original story with accurate facts rather than rehashing her graduate English literature and psychology course work and ripping off some classic works.
September 19, 2016
One of the better teacher-student romance novels of the last few years--- dreamy, eerie in places, and narrated by a heroine it would be all-too-easy for me to fall for. I certainly think I could develop a crush on the heroine myself--- however not? Literary, starved and ethereal, dream-haunted, a bit masochistic, willing to lose herself in books and an Older Lover. Isn't she just the type I'd fancy? Though I do think I'd do better for her than her boarding-school English teacher. I mean, he does teach her to sleep naked and he gives her an antique edition of Petrarch's Il Canzoniere--- good choice on both things. But he doesn't read it to her in the original, and he keeps calling her "my wood nymph". Okay, now--- just No. If you give a girl an antique book of poetry, you read it to her. If you can't read in the original, even just for the sound, then find a good translation. Give her the original, but read to her from a good modern translation. And...really. As her Older Lover, as the nominal pursuer and seducer, the legend of Daphne and Apollo is not something you want to invoke. You compliment her on her beautifully starved collarbones and hipbones, you (obviously) teach her to sleep naked and avoid underwear. But you don't invoke Apollo and Daphne. And you don't--- you really just don't call her things like "my wood nymph". Overwrought classical allusions are wrong. For dreamy, literary, ethereal girls, you stay with a very crisp, clear, almost minimalist style. Trace a finger over a stark collarbone or along a bare, slender leg to the sharp edge of a hipbone and tell her that she's a lovely ghost girl, that she's the lithe figure cutting through dark water in a rooftop pool on a summer's night. That's where you go. Not to Ovid. Trust me on this. I've pursued enough Comp. Lit. co-eds in my time to know these things.
Nonetheless, despite the failings of the male lead (attempting to have your way with your young admirer in your wife's garden hothouse rather than in your book-filled study? Wrong on so many levels!) "The Wood of Suicides" is intriguing, alluring, allusive--- excellent heroine, excellent settings. Worth a look if you keep your own nostalgic shelf of teacher-student romances, worth a look if your tastes run to bookish, ethereal, haunted heroines.
Nonetheless, despite the failings of the male lead (attempting to have your way with your young admirer in your wife's garden hothouse rather than in your book-filled study? Wrong on so many levels!) "The Wood of Suicides" is intriguing, alluring, allusive--- excellent heroine, excellent settings. Worth a look if you keep your own nostalgic shelf of teacher-student romances, worth a look if your tastes run to bookish, ethereal, haunted heroines.
December 16, 2013
This novel was not what I expected it to be. The troubled teenager is obsessed with older men and after her father dies, she seeks out the affections of a teacher, 25 years older than she is. Also, he is a husband and father. To make a long story short, they become involved in a sordid romance which amounts to nothing. I found this novel to be a sad, hopeless story; not an enjoyable read.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway - thank you very much.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway - thank you very much.
February 20, 2015
I received this book for free through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers.
Wow. I loved this book. Both Laurel and her teacher were really strange, but in a good way. Laurel was a very fascinating character. I also really loved the author's style of writing. Very poetic. This book also held my interest the entire time. I couldn't stop reading it. The story sort of reminded me of something a Lana Del Rey song would be about. Overall, it's a great book.
Wow. I loved this book. Both Laurel and her teacher were really strange, but in a good way. Laurel was a very fascinating character. I also really loved the author's style of writing. Very poetic. This book also held my interest the entire time. I couldn't stop reading it. The story sort of reminded me of something a Lana Del Rey song would be about. Overall, it's a great book.
April 22, 2014
Poetically cringe-worthy, this book paints a toxic picture of forbidden and condemned romance.
Beautifully written and compelling to read, I found myself reading sentences I didn't want to finish, but couldn't stop the freight-train the doomed lovers had set in motion.
Beautifully written and compelling to read, I found myself reading sentences I didn't want to finish, but couldn't stop the freight-train the doomed lovers had set in motion.
January 14, 2018
I can honestly say that I loved the narration of this book. Laurel's intellectual musings were a joy to read (I'm strictly speaking of the prose though, because this book is certainly not a "joy.") Much as I enjoyed reading her narrative though, the caveat to that is that I found her voice to be a poor representation of a teenager. Most 17 year olds don't possess that much self-awareness, and although they may follow courses of action similar to Laurel's, they often don't have the presence of mind to know why they have done so. I also found her voice, specifically, to be entirely too sophisticated sounding to be representative of your average teenager, and though I'm sure SOMEWHERE there exists a teenager who speaks like Laurel, it would be a rarity at best.
Though I may have found the narrative unrealistic for a teenager, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of it in any way. In fact, quite the opposite. Given that I usually read YA, I'm used to writing that is less... complex than the writing in this book. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I've read many a beautiful YA novel with gorgeously lyrical prose, others that were admirable in their minimalistic sparseness, and still more that found a way to evoke the most beautiful imagery or fill me with real, tangible emotion. What I mean to say is that this writing style is perhaps more cerebral than other books I've read as of late, and it was a refreshing change (I always like changing it up). And beyond that, it served the book well, because Laurel is very much in her own head all the time, analyzing things, she is very much the cerebral type, and this writing style fits her very well. (Even if it doesn't sound like a 'typical" teenager, it still works.)
REVIEW AFTER FINISHING THE BOOK:
I don't know how I feel about this book. From a writing standpoint, as a story, I enjoyed it, and I think the author did a bang up job writing a novel with some disturbing and macabre themes. This book forces us to look at and confront the disparity in Laurel's affair, between the idealistic way she saw things in the beginning, blinded by her unhealthy obsession, and the stark reality of what was actually going on. Beyond that, she's definitely a somewhat unreliable narrator, and I feel that she's written very well. We get the chance to view the world as she does and see through her eyes, and in the crafting of that, and the architecture of this story, I think the author succeeded phenomenally.
So when I later go on to talk about the things in this book that I disliked, or that irked me, please understand that it's no fault of the author's, they're simply my own feelings and opinions. You can appreciate a well crafted character without necessarily LIKING that character. All of my issues with this book are in that vein, I don't care for things the characters do, don't understand them, or don't like what's happening, but I can still say that despite my feelings, those book was beautifully written.
Now that that's addressed, on to Laurel specifically. I don't get this bitch. I feel like she definitely has some legitimate psychological issues that need handling with therapy or something. We didn't get enough background on the specifics of her childhood to help us truly understand why she is the way she is, but there's definitely something off with her.
It starts with a hardcore Electra complex and an unhealthy obsession with her father that leads her to perceive her mother as the enemy and to subtly try to entice her father. There's even some allusion to the fact that in a state of neurological illness, he mistook her for his wife and did... something, but it's vague at best. Who knows. Laurel also has some views about sexuality that seem wildly unhealthy to me, and we have no idea how those formed, but its clearly evident that her views have a large impact on not only how she views her parents' relationship (with her father being a pure and intellectual creature who was corrupted by her mother, a sexual creature,) but also how she goes about her life and feels about the things she does. The langue in this book, specifically, gives us insight into how screwed up (she talks about how she's being defiled, and how she wishes she could remain "pure") Laurel seems disgusted by this and looks at sexuality and the idea of becoming a woman as something that's morally repugnant. She wishes to stay virginal and devoid of sexuality forever. Yet she allows herself to become involved in this illicit affair with her English teacher, and even has a large hand in helping it become a reality rather than just fantasy. (Mind you, he's still a piece of shit, and I'm certainly not absolving him of anything.) My point is, I just didn't understand Laurel. I tried, I really did, I tried as hard as I could to wrap my mind around someone who is "daddy issues" personified, but also looks at sexuality (in the way many people who are highly religious do), as something that is base and sinful and inherently filthy.
But I just couldn't get into her head. This girl is at times, straight up delusional in her obsession with her teacher, never mind her other mental health issues (some kind of eating disorder for sure, if not legitimate anorexia, I'm no expert in that). Her emotions are all over the place and oscillate between self loathing, grief righteous indignation, and flat out contempt for people less attractive than her, or people who are exploring their sexuality in a healthy manner. Her idea that marriage is sacred to her, and her thoughts on how she has no desire to be Steadman's wife, because being a family man makes him more "respectable," is ludicrous given the fact that she's so self-absorbed that she doesn't spare more than a passing thought for his wife or children. Its like she wants to be used and defiled so she can justify this fucked up self-loathing she has, while still keeping the guy that's basically abusing her "pure," because somehow that will uphold her messed up ideology about the world. Like I said this girl is fucked in the head and I. Just. Don't. Get her.
From what I gather though, that's kind of the point. This is supposed to be a tragic story about things that are often romanticized (i.e. student teacher affairs), and it's supposed to portray the unhealthiness that is more often than not the reality of these things. In that, this book does a spectacular job. I might find Laurel irritating, and I might dislike her, but the author has absolutely crafted a compelling character. Its evident that Laurel needs a lot of things, chief among them, probably better parenting, and certainly psychological help. What she most definitely didn't need though, was a grown man in the midst of his own mid-life crisis who thinks nothing of taking advantage of a grief stricken and unstable teenage girl who isn't emotionally equipped to deal with that relationship (not to mention her unhealthy emotional state).
I could take a few minutes here to really talk about Steadman, but there's very little to talk about here. He's a pretty flat character, who definitely takes advantage of her vulnerability, and uses Laurel for his carnal pleasure whose feeding her romantic lines and pretending that what they're doing is beautiful. I will say that there are instances where I don't feel that an underage person becoming involved with someone older is always abusive. There can be exceptions where the person who is just slightly underage is fully aware of what they're doing and is emotionally mature and sound enough to consent, and if the older person goes to every length possible to make the younger person aware of the treachery of the situation, well, it's probably not good, but my point is, there can be grey areas where it isn't always statutory rape. But that is definitely not the case here. I feel like Steadman absolutely took advantage of Laurel's vulnerability and fragility. Now to be fair, Laurel definitely had a hand in pursuing their affair, but he didn't even try to reject her gestures, instead he just jumped right into this affair, because clearly, he's a shitbag. You know who I really feel bad for? Danielle.
This is my rant about the end, so I'm just gonna go ahead and label this whole damn thing a spoiler:
All in all, this was a well crafted and clever novel. It was poetic and beautiful, and I even really liked the literary and artistic references sprinkled into the book. They served to not only punctuate, but also resonate with the story, so well done on that deal. This was a great book, I just didn't like it, but that's definitely a "it's not you, it's me" thing, because the book was, as I said, very well crafted. I just found the whole story to be rather tragic, and not one I care for, but I'm still giving it four stars for being a good story. So if you're looking for a student-teacher affair novel that's more tragedy than scandal and sensuality, then this is definitely for you, and you'll probably love it.
Though I may have found the narrative unrealistic for a teenager, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of it in any way. In fact, quite the opposite. Given that I usually read YA, I'm used to writing that is less... complex than the writing in this book. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I've read many a beautiful YA novel with gorgeously lyrical prose, others that were admirable in their minimalistic sparseness, and still more that found a way to evoke the most beautiful imagery or fill me with real, tangible emotion. What I mean to say is that this writing style is perhaps more cerebral than other books I've read as of late, and it was a refreshing change (I always like changing it up). And beyond that, it served the book well, because Laurel is very much in her own head all the time, analyzing things, she is very much the cerebral type, and this writing style fits her very well. (Even if it doesn't sound like a 'typical" teenager, it still works.)
REVIEW AFTER FINISHING THE BOOK:
I don't know how I feel about this book. From a writing standpoint, as a story, I enjoyed it, and I think the author did a bang up job writing a novel with some disturbing and macabre themes. This book forces us to look at and confront the disparity in Laurel's affair, between the idealistic way she saw things in the beginning, blinded by her unhealthy obsession, and the stark reality of what was actually going on. Beyond that, she's definitely a somewhat unreliable narrator, and I feel that she's written very well. We get the chance to view the world as she does and see through her eyes, and in the crafting of that, and the architecture of this story, I think the author succeeded phenomenally.
So when I later go on to talk about the things in this book that I disliked, or that irked me, please understand that it's no fault of the author's, they're simply my own feelings and opinions. You can appreciate a well crafted character without necessarily LIKING that character. All of my issues with this book are in that vein, I don't care for things the characters do, don't understand them, or don't like what's happening, but I can still say that despite my feelings, those book was beautifully written.
Now that that's addressed, on to Laurel specifically. I don't get this bitch. I feel like she definitely has some legitimate psychological issues that need handling with therapy or something. We didn't get enough background on the specifics of her childhood to help us truly understand why she is the way she is, but there's definitely something off with her.
It starts with a hardcore Electra complex and an unhealthy obsession with her father that leads her to perceive her mother as the enemy and to subtly try to entice her father. There's even some allusion to the fact that in a state of neurological illness, he mistook her for his wife and did... something, but it's vague at best. Who knows. Laurel also has some views about sexuality that seem wildly unhealthy to me, and we have no idea how those formed, but its clearly evident that her views have a large impact on not only how she views her parents' relationship (with her father being a pure and intellectual creature who was corrupted by her mother, a sexual creature,) but also how she goes about her life and feels about the things she does. The langue in this book, specifically, gives us insight into how screwed up (she talks about how she's being defiled, and how she wishes she could remain "pure") Laurel seems disgusted by this and looks at sexuality and the idea of becoming a woman as something that's morally repugnant. She wishes to stay virginal and devoid of sexuality forever. Yet she allows herself to become involved in this illicit affair with her English teacher, and even has a large hand in helping it become a reality rather than just fantasy. (Mind you, he's still a piece of shit, and I'm certainly not absolving him of anything.) My point is, I just didn't understand Laurel. I tried, I really did, I tried as hard as I could to wrap my mind around someone who is "daddy issues" personified, but also looks at sexuality (in the way many people who are highly religious do), as something that is base and sinful and inherently filthy.
But I just couldn't get into her head. This girl is at times, straight up delusional in her obsession with her teacher, never mind her other mental health issues (some kind of eating disorder for sure, if not legitimate anorexia, I'm no expert in that). Her emotions are all over the place and oscillate between self loathing, grief righteous indignation, and flat out contempt for people less attractive than her, or people who are exploring their sexuality in a healthy manner. Her idea that marriage is sacred to her, and her thoughts on how she has no desire to be Steadman's wife, because being a family man makes him more "respectable," is ludicrous given the fact that she's so self-absorbed that she doesn't spare more than a passing thought for his wife or children. Its like she wants to be used and defiled so she can justify this fucked up self-loathing she has, while still keeping the guy that's basically abusing her "pure," because somehow that will uphold her messed up ideology about the world. Like I said this girl is fucked in the head and I. Just. Don't. Get her.
From what I gather though, that's kind of the point. This is supposed to be a tragic story about things that are often romanticized (i.e. student teacher affairs), and it's supposed to portray the unhealthiness that is more often than not the reality of these things. In that, this book does a spectacular job. I might find Laurel irritating, and I might dislike her, but the author has absolutely crafted a compelling character. Its evident that Laurel needs a lot of things, chief among them, probably better parenting, and certainly psychological help. What she most definitely didn't need though, was a grown man in the midst of his own mid-life crisis who thinks nothing of taking advantage of a grief stricken and unstable teenage girl who isn't emotionally equipped to deal with that relationship (not to mention her unhealthy emotional state).
I could take a few minutes here to really talk about Steadman, but there's very little to talk about here. He's a pretty flat character, who definitely takes advantage of her vulnerability, and uses Laurel for his carnal pleasure whose feeding her romantic lines and pretending that what they're doing is beautiful. I will say that there are instances where I don't feel that an underage person becoming involved with someone older is always abusive. There can be exceptions where the person who is just slightly underage is fully aware of what they're doing and is emotionally mature and sound enough to consent, and if the older person goes to every length possible to make the younger person aware of the treachery of the situation, well, it's probably not good, but my point is, there can be grey areas where it isn't always statutory rape. But that is definitely not the case here. I feel like Steadman absolutely took advantage of Laurel's vulnerability and fragility. Now to be fair, Laurel definitely had a hand in pursuing their affair, but he didn't even try to reject her gestures, instead he just jumped right into this affair, because clearly, he's a shitbag. You know who I really feel bad for? Danielle.
This is my rant about the end, so I'm just gonna go ahead and label this whole damn thing a spoiler:
All in all, this was a well crafted and clever novel. It was poetic and beautiful, and I even really liked the literary and artistic references sprinkled into the book. They served to not only punctuate, but also resonate with the story, so well done on that deal. This was a great book, I just didn't like it, but that's definitely a "it's not you, it's me" thing, because the book was, as I said, very well crafted. I just found the whole story to be rather tragic, and not one I care for, but I'm still giving it four stars for being a good story. So if you're looking for a student-teacher affair novel that's more tragedy than scandal and sensuality, then this is definitely for you, and you'll probably love it.
March 6, 2019
In the slew of books about student-teacher relationships, this one is dark, epic, and delivers exactly what it promises. It's hard to read, only in that the narrator isn't always the voice you expect. It's a tight, short, gut punch of a book, and I can't wait to read more of Laura's work.
April 3, 2015
In
The Wood of Suicides
, author Laura Elizabeth Woollett makes it murky who’s the seducer and who’s seduced even though it’s statutory rape when a high school student has sex with her teacher. Woollett writes with a poetic flair. Mature writing, a fascinating portrait created for Laurel and some lovely scenery descriptions. Laurel’s father died and she transferred to this boarding school. She’s an anorexic and suicidal. [“I did go to the bathroom, but not to throw up, not to self-harm, self-pleasure, or even cry. The impulse to do all these things was there, but not the resolve, as I sat with my feet up inside the locked cubicle, locked in a paroxysm of self-hatred, desire, and despair.”] She carries her father’s pills and contemplates taking them to kill herself. Even if Laurel had a crush on Hugh Steadman, her English teacher, it’s wrong for him to make advances and to take advantage of her as her teacher. But he did and this goes on for a year. “It was evident that he saw me, from the way that his eyes were occasionally drawn to my swinging legs or paused often and for a longer time on my face; even that he saw me as a nice-looking girl. His gaze did not betray anything further, however; no inappropriate feelings, no bubbling, uncontrollable lust. It was the gaze of a felon, on the brink of committing statutory rape.”
So Laurel thinks until she gets a book on a day trip and starts to study her teacher some more and puts time into it on her end. It’s a confusing mutual admiration and many young women have crushes on their teachers that should never end with sexual encounters. In this case it’s as icky and gross as he’s 25 years older and even more so as he reads her poetry and tells her about love stories that remind him of them. Of course at the beginning Laurel’s rather enamored and can’t believe it’s happening but as it goes on clearly Steadman’s the lucky bastard fucking the “nymph” as he so grossly calls her. The deviant. He’s married to a doctor and unrealistically tells Laurel he’ll leave his wife and they’ll marry. He puts her on birth control as they’re having sex three times a week on the rug in the classroom. Laurel doesn’t even enjoy the sex that much. As these things go, they come to a disappointing end for all parties involved.
So Laurel thinks until she gets a book on a day trip and starts to study her teacher some more and puts time into it on her end. It’s a confusing mutual admiration and many young women have crushes on their teachers that should never end with sexual encounters. In this case it’s as icky and gross as he’s 25 years older and even more so as he reads her poetry and tells her about love stories that remind him of them. Of course at the beginning Laurel’s rather enamored and can’t believe it’s happening but as it goes on clearly Steadman’s the lucky bastard fucking the “nymph” as he so grossly calls her. The deviant. He’s married to a doctor and unrealistically tells Laurel he’ll leave his wife and they’ll marry. He puts her on birth control as they’re having sex three times a week on the rug in the classroom. Laurel doesn’t even enjoy the sex that much. As these things go, they come to a disappointing end for all parties involved.
February 18, 2014
Cross-posted to http://off-the-book.org.
Like Lolita told by Lolita herself, The Wood of Suicides gives you a very psychological kind of insight into the protagonist's mind. Laurel Marks is seventeen, and on the cusp of adulthood. Sent away to boarding school after the death of her father, who she obsessively admired and desired in turns, she starts to fantasize about her English teacher.
Her teacher, Hugh Steadman, is a Byronic hero to young Laurel. He’s handsome, loves poetry, and slowly falls in lust with Laurel. He becomes her new father figure and love interest all at once. If this sounds a bit creepy, you’re right – but Woolett does a great job with Laurel’s voice. Laurel’s narration is self-evaluating, introspective, and provocative. It’s easy to become mesmerized by this story as the downward spiral ultimately becomes clear.
Young love at its most destructive, the tale so many fantasize about – that of a young girl and her teacher – turns into a dark, twisted anti-romance with a bittersweet ending.
This is not an easy read by any means, but I consider that a compliment. There are a considerable amount of literary references – to Freud, to the Greek myths of old, to Romanticist poetry. I frequently underlined particularly admirable turns of phrase, or lush descriptions. Some readers may not be well-versed with Greek myth, but Woollett twines it in without making it seem like a history lesson.
While I didn’t consider Laurel likable, I don’t think that’s necessary to enjoy this novel. It’s a fantastic debut, and I loved the novelty of an unreliable narrator with a coquettish air. I would recommend to fans of the literary master Vladimir Nabokov, or, on the guilty pleasure end of the spectrum, fans of the Ezra /Aria relationship on Pretty Little Liars.
And on that note…
http://www.off-the-book.org/2014/02/b...
Like Lolita told by Lolita herself, The Wood of Suicides gives you a very psychological kind of insight into the protagonist's mind. Laurel Marks is seventeen, and on the cusp of adulthood. Sent away to boarding school after the death of her father, who she obsessively admired and desired in turns, she starts to fantasize about her English teacher.
Her teacher, Hugh Steadman, is a Byronic hero to young Laurel. He’s handsome, loves poetry, and slowly falls in lust with Laurel. He becomes her new father figure and love interest all at once. If this sounds a bit creepy, you’re right – but Woolett does a great job with Laurel’s voice. Laurel’s narration is self-evaluating, introspective, and provocative. It’s easy to become mesmerized by this story as the downward spiral ultimately becomes clear.
Young love at its most destructive, the tale so many fantasize about – that of a young girl and her teacher – turns into a dark, twisted anti-romance with a bittersweet ending.
This is not an easy read by any means, but I consider that a compliment. There are a considerable amount of literary references – to Freud, to the Greek myths of old, to Romanticist poetry. I frequently underlined particularly admirable turns of phrase, or lush descriptions. Some readers may not be well-versed with Greek myth, but Woollett twines it in without making it seem like a history lesson.
While I didn’t consider Laurel likable, I don’t think that’s necessary to enjoy this novel. It’s a fantastic debut, and I loved the novelty of an unreliable narrator with a coquettish air. I would recommend to fans of the literary master Vladimir Nabokov, or, on the guilty pleasure end of the spectrum, fans of the Ezra /Aria relationship on Pretty Little Liars.
And on that note…
http://www.off-the-book.org/2014/02/b...
January 21, 2014
Laurel, the teenaged protagonist of Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s The Wood Of Suicides, bears a name that echoes with mythology, and wears a wounded heart upon her sleeve. Like so many teens, on the cusp of adulthood, she still views her father as a hero, even a god. But this god dies, leaving his daughter lost and alone. Suddenly all her anchors come adrift. Laura finds herself attending a girl’s boarding school, creating her own myths to match her loss, and narrating her life with the same self-centered unreliability she now sees in the gods.
A teacher, himself a mythic figure, fills the place of the missing father in Laurel’s dreams. Her fantasies begin to cross the line, and his to cross the hall. School life, school conversation and school relationships are all convincingly complex and incomplete. But the strictness of English literature yields to the lure of Greek tragedy as the story progresses, and science submits to the promise of the Fall.
The story maybe lags a little at the start, but after the fall it’s filled with powerful descriptions, an enthralling and haunting exploration of young love betrayed, and a literary sense of wonder. Well-chosen references lend depth to the tale, and behind it all is that frightening allure of, “hidden among the wisteria, a festering hornet’s nest.”
Not an easy read, this book is relatively short, somewhat disturbing, deeply enthralling, and wonderfully crafted—a myth rewrit for the modern world, and truly a memorable tale.
Disclosure: I received a free ecopy from the publisher with a request for my honest review.
A teacher, himself a mythic figure, fills the place of the missing father in Laurel’s dreams. Her fantasies begin to cross the line, and his to cross the hall. School life, school conversation and school relationships are all convincingly complex and incomplete. But the strictness of English literature yields to the lure of Greek tragedy as the story progresses, and science submits to the promise of the Fall.
The story maybe lags a little at the start, but after the fall it’s filled with powerful descriptions, an enthralling and haunting exploration of young love betrayed, and a literary sense of wonder. Well-chosen references lend depth to the tale, and behind it all is that frightening allure of, “hidden among the wisteria, a festering hornet’s nest.”
Not an easy read, this book is relatively short, somewhat disturbing, deeply enthralling, and wonderfully crafted—a myth rewrit for the modern world, and truly a memorable tale.
Disclosure: I received a free ecopy from the publisher with a request for my honest review.
December 11, 2013
We get to indulge in a fantasy many have had but also see the downsides of forbidden relationships. Laurel Marks loves her father but when he dies, she is left with how to move on. She begins classes at a boarding school and one day runs to the woods, upset. It is here she has a chance encounter with Hugh Steadman, her English teacher.
Mr. Steadman teaches Romantic Poetry and Laurel, in the throws of a schoolgirl crush, believes he is speaking straight to her. Their innocent looks and flirtation in class eventually turn into a heated affair. The two sneak around the school grounds and even spend a weekend in his home, while his wife is away. For Laurel, this is her epic poem come true. Soon, she becomes more withdrawn from Steadman as he longs to be closer. He files for divorce and talks about the life they will have together. Laurel feels suffocated and trapped and eventually cracks under the pressure of a fantasy that has become all too real.
We see the myth of Apollo and Daphne running throughout. Steadman pursues the young unattainable Laurel. However, like the mythical Daphne, Laurel keeps running further and further, not wanting to ever be caught and tied to Steadman forever. In the end, Laurel is free from her lover and Steadman is forced to face the life he has created, wifeless and lover-less.
Mr. Steadman teaches Romantic Poetry and Laurel, in the throws of a schoolgirl crush, believes he is speaking straight to her. Their innocent looks and flirtation in class eventually turn into a heated affair. The two sneak around the school grounds and even spend a weekend in his home, while his wife is away. For Laurel, this is her epic poem come true. Soon, she becomes more withdrawn from Steadman as he longs to be closer. He files for divorce and talks about the life they will have together. Laurel feels suffocated and trapped and eventually cracks under the pressure of a fantasy that has become all too real.
We see the myth of Apollo and Daphne running throughout. Steadman pursues the young unattainable Laurel. However, like the mythical Daphne, Laurel keeps running further and further, not wanting to ever be caught and tied to Steadman forever. In the end, Laurel is free from her lover and Steadman is forced to face the life he has created, wifeless and lover-less.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2013
When I started The Wood of Suicides, it was immediately clear to me that it would hold my attention to the very end. Laurel is a character who, while not quite endearing, is very human, and captivated me to want to get inside her mind and "figure her out" though it is certainly obvious why she is so unstable. Her middle-aged English teacher/pursuer is one who effectively gave me the creeps and I thought it was a good choice that the author did not make him too multi-dimensional.
The pacing of the book was right where it should be, and the prose was quite beautiful. I appreciated greatly the references of art and mythology; It entwined with the story and was an important factor.
Overall, The Wood of Suicides is one that you want to curl up by the window and have a cup of tea (or coffee!) with, though keep in mind that it has something of a dark cloud over it.
The pacing of the book was right where it should be, and the prose was quite beautiful. I appreciated greatly the references of art and mythology; It entwined with the story and was an important factor.
Overall, The Wood of Suicides is one that you want to curl up by the window and have a cup of tea (or coffee!) with, though keep in mind that it has something of a dark cloud over it.
October 22, 2016
I found the protagonist repellent.
Trying to seduce her father, contemptuous of her mother
Seducing her teacher, her Me Me Me self involvement and hypocrisy.
The creepy way she wants her gross old teacher to smoke the kinds of cigarettes her father did. Her disregard and callousness towards his wife and children. Her so called 'belief in the sanctity of marriage'
Her spinelessness breaking it off and instead making him a sex offender.
Her disgust for women (but..she's a lesbian at the end?)
Her ridiculously flowery writing. Grandiosity at its most terrible.
Her shivers of disgust for people less attractive.
This bitch is nuts.
She thinks she is more intelligent than everyone yet she is so juvenile in her obsessions and unsaid ultimatums.
She is thoughtfully well written even though I hated her.
Trying to seduce her father, contemptuous of her mother
Seducing her teacher, her Me Me Me self involvement and hypocrisy.
The creepy way she wants her gross old teacher to smoke the kinds of cigarettes her father did. Her disregard and callousness towards his wife and children. Her so called 'belief in the sanctity of marriage'
Her spinelessness breaking it off and instead making him a sex offender.
Her disgust for women (but..she's a lesbian at the end?)
Her ridiculously flowery writing. Grandiosity at its most terrible.
Her shivers of disgust for people less attractive.
This bitch is nuts.
She thinks she is more intelligent than everyone yet she is so juvenile in her obsessions and unsaid ultimatums.
She is thoughtfully well written even though I hated her.
June 21, 2018
This book probably got 4 stars because it spoke to me personally. I found the writing to be beautiful. The simplest of explanations was magic on the page. This book isn't for everyone. Reader beware.
"He was a non-interventionist god. A god who was impotent. A god who may or may not have seen everything but, in my case, never appered to be looking when I sought out his sloe-dark eyes. A god whose image I was made in, perhaps, but imperfectly, impulsively, in a sticky, blind moment of self purgation. A god whose presence was stronger on his absence. Could I call him a god?"
"He was a non-interventionist god. A god who was impotent. A god who may or may not have seen everything but, in my case, never appered to be looking when I sought out his sloe-dark eyes. A god whose image I was made in, perhaps, but imperfectly, impulsively, in a sticky, blind moment of self purgation. A god whose presence was stronger on his absence. Could I call him a god?"
April 1, 2020
This is not an easy book to read. This is an inside look at a girl’s life as it spirals out of control. However, the prose was very lyrical and beautiful. That caused it to be expressive. I enjoyed the way Woollett played with words. Without the language it would have been a lower star. The story wasn’t bad, but I felt cheated at the end of the book. I didn’t understand what had happened. There was no closure or understanding. Too bad.
October 21, 2013
Not what I was expecting. I should read the blurb, not judge the cover!
Halfway through the story I was convinced Laurel was a deluded schoolgirl!!
Unlikely ending.
Halfway through the story I was convinced Laurel was a deluded schoolgirl!!
Unlikely ending.
November 8, 2013
Interesting retelling of Apollo/Daphne myth. Laurel's love interest at the end is a bit of a shocker, yet not totally unexpected.
3.5 stars but rounded up to 4.
3.5 stars but rounded up to 4.
December 31, 2013
3 stars for her strong writing style. Found myself skipping paragraphs as it was drawn out. Nothing earth shattering here.
I won this as a Goodreads First-reads giveaway.
I won this as a Goodreads First-reads giveaway.
November 27, 2013
Great book! Loved it.
June 6, 2015
I haven't encountered too many novels that accurately portray the fierceness of teen girl sexuality this well.
July 16, 2023
Ame la escritura y como se narro la historia, empezó como un sueño y parecía que tenía un significado distinto a cómo terminó, me provocó un nudo en el estómago, fue un libro distinto aunque el final no me quedo del todo claro
March 19, 2024
I loved it though
November 12, 2024
It was fine. I personally think it tried too hard to be mysterious and deep; ended up shallow and confusing.
July 11, 2022
At first i thought this was going to be boring but i was so wrong. The main character is selfish and its really hard not to hate her. But as it progresses i actually began to understand her. The ending isnt surprising. I love this book its so intense and the anticipation of laurel before they even met i just totally understand her. Love this book.
September 10, 2016
Haven't receive my copy yet, just received notice I had won. 11/21/13
Received my copy and hope to start soon. Have 11 others plus my current read in front. 12/3/13
Started and finished 1/4/13
Laurel Marks is a 17 year old that has just lost her father. She has a weakness for older men, and her mother has enrolled her in boarding school for her senior year where she meets Huge Steadman, her English teacher. Suddenly she is obsessed by Mr. Steadman. Their flirtation leads them into a full fledge love affair. Where normal love leads to happiness, this affair throws Laurel into a deeper depression than she already was in.
Hmmm, not really what I was expecting I guess. The story was well written and the characters well developed. It was a little too deep and hard to follow at parts with a lot of referencing to other works of art and/or literature. I found it similar to Lolita except I found the girl the "pursuer" in this one while Lolita was the victim.
Received my copy and hope to start soon. Have 11 others plus my current read in front. 12/3/13
Started and finished 1/4/13
Laurel Marks is a 17 year old that has just lost her father. She has a weakness for older men, and her mother has enrolled her in boarding school for her senior year where she meets Huge Steadman, her English teacher. Suddenly she is obsessed by Mr. Steadman. Their flirtation leads them into a full fledge love affair. Where normal love leads to happiness, this affair throws Laurel into a deeper depression than she already was in.
Hmmm, not really what I was expecting I guess. The story was well written and the characters well developed. It was a little too deep and hard to follow at parts with a lot of referencing to other works of art and/or literature. I found it similar to Lolita except I found the girl the "pursuer" in this one while Lolita was the victim.
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