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The Barn
On a narrow stretch of desolate beach hundreds of kilometres away from the closest civilization stands an enormous, ancient, wooden barn. Inside, sixteen people of varying ages and backgrounds struggle through icy cold winters, stifling hot summers, and a feast or famine supply of the basic necessities of life, waiting to be chosen. From every surface, surveillance cameras record every moment.
There is only one rule to life in the No one can ever leave. Not willingly.
Ash, the youngest of the inhabitants, has never known a life outside of the Barn. He, like most of the others, has been trapped here for as long as he can remember. Alongside his best friend Michael, Ash leads a relatively comfortable and privileged life compared to the others. As he ages however, Ash slowly begins to realize that life in the barn isn’t at all what it seems to be.
When the unthinkable happens, Ash is left with a tough to either continue to lay low and stay quiet as others are taken from the barn instead of him, or to step up and volunteer himself to visit the infamous Mr. Irvine, potentially subjecting himself to a life more captive and horrific than anything he could have imagined.
There is only one rule to life in the No one can ever leave. Not willingly.
Ash, the youngest of the inhabitants, has never known a life outside of the Barn. He, like most of the others, has been trapped here for as long as he can remember. Alongside his best friend Michael, Ash leads a relatively comfortable and privileged life compared to the others. As he ages however, Ash slowly begins to realize that life in the barn isn’t at all what it seems to be.
When the unthinkable happens, Ash is left with a tough to either continue to lay low and stay quiet as others are taken from the barn instead of him, or to step up and volunteer himself to visit the infamous Mr. Irvine, potentially subjecting himself to a life more captive and horrific than anything he could have imagined.
- GenresFiction
333 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 14, 2014
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 23, 2023
A sad depressing story of real ugly detestable people. I’m not referring to the people who were abducted but to the corporation and its owner. I wasn’t expecting the emotional attachment you form with the you hero of this story. I say hero as he really is even with the events that he has to get through and the enduring the hardships. I recommend this book but only if you have the stomach to understand the hatefulness of some people and the lengths they will go to do harm to others.
May 24, 2015
Rating 3.75 I liked it quite a bit but a few things kept it from a higher rating.
The Barn by Richard Holt
In the first couple of pages, I found the descriptions difficult to follow. I'm not sure if it was the word structure or the tempo of the phrasing. That initial impression left me dubious about the story. I was relieved when the following pages began to pique my interest. Soon Ash had me hooked, wanting to know the whys and hows of the barn and the stories of its inhabitants. While most of the barn's inhabitants are faceless strangers, the few being followed are well developed and their reactions and behaviours fit well with what has happened to them. Their interactions are well choreographed, parceling out just enough information to understand the relationships but not enough to give away the story's secrets. As readers, we follow Ash's discoveries and understandings of what the barn is and who the people held there with him are. By the end of Part 1, I was eager for each new page, looking for clues and information as Holt carefully dolled them out.
I found the details of abuse difficult and had wished that they had been spoken of more generally. I understand that a certain amount of shock and horror is necessary both for Ash and for the reader. My personal preference would be to allow the reader's own imagination to diffuse or specify details.
Something that stood out, a small thing but still there, was a reference Ash made when describing his fellow prisoners: "It was like they were a bunch of happy zombies " How would Ash be able to make such a reference? While he may have been told of the word and what it meant, he would not have had enough understanding to use the term. I base this on his confusion with other words that he heard but could not fully understand - place, car, beer, phone.
I was also curious about the lack of "romantic" relationships in the barn. Regardless of histories or circumstances I would have thought that there would be some pairings or mention of why they no longer form pairs. It's a natural thing to happen, especially in isolated groups. I wouldn't have expected such relationships to have been healthy necessarily, but present in some form. For there not to have been a single pairing in 30 or so years rang false.
There were two minor editing errors that stood out enough to pull me out of the story. Other than the unevenness of the first few pages, the story flowed well, bringing me along at a good pace, speeding up with the tension and slowing down when time was needed for reflection or recovery from difficult events. Part 3 revealed what had been hidden from Ash and the reader and was at times difficult to read. A few times I considered abandoning the book because of this, but my curiosity about how this would turn out easily won out.
Despite the above notes, The Barn is compelling and drew me back in each time I had to put it down. I could easily envision each character and the surroundings. I especially liked travelling this tale though Ash's eyes. It allowed for a natural sense of time and understanding as Ash grew and observed his world and its inhabitants. I did enjoy the ending. It fit with the story thus far and answered many questions. The remaining characters were left in a wonderful literary place where they have overcome and survived thus far and are in the position of having more story and an exhausted, battered hope before them. I look forward to reading what comes next.
The Barn by Richard Holt
In the first couple of pages, I found the descriptions difficult to follow. I'm not sure if it was the word structure or the tempo of the phrasing. That initial impression left me dubious about the story. I was relieved when the following pages began to pique my interest. Soon Ash had me hooked, wanting to know the whys and hows of the barn and the stories of its inhabitants. While most of the barn's inhabitants are faceless strangers, the few being followed are well developed and their reactions and behaviours fit well with what has happened to them. Their interactions are well choreographed, parceling out just enough information to understand the relationships but not enough to give away the story's secrets. As readers, we follow Ash's discoveries and understandings of what the barn is and who the people held there with him are. By the end of Part 1, I was eager for each new page, looking for clues and information as Holt carefully dolled them out.
I found the details of abuse difficult and had wished that they had been spoken of more generally. I understand that a certain amount of shock and horror is necessary both for Ash and for the reader. My personal preference would be to allow the reader's own imagination to diffuse or specify details.
Something that stood out, a small thing but still there, was a reference Ash made when describing his fellow prisoners: "It was like they were a bunch of happy zombies " How would Ash be able to make such a reference? While he may have been told of the word and what it meant, he would not have had enough understanding to use the term. I base this on his confusion with other words that he heard but could not fully understand - place, car, beer, phone.
I was also curious about the lack of "romantic" relationships in the barn. Regardless of histories or circumstances I would have thought that there would be some pairings or mention of why they no longer form pairs. It's a natural thing to happen, especially in isolated groups. I wouldn't have expected such relationships to have been healthy necessarily, but present in some form. For there not to have been a single pairing in 30 or so years rang false.
There were two minor editing errors that stood out enough to pull me out of the story. Other than the unevenness of the first few pages, the story flowed well, bringing me along at a good pace, speeding up with the tension and slowing down when time was needed for reflection or recovery from difficult events. Part 3 revealed what had been hidden from Ash and the reader and was at times difficult to read. A few times I considered abandoning the book because of this, but my curiosity about how this would turn out easily won out.
Despite the above notes, The Barn is compelling and drew me back in each time I had to put it down. I could easily envision each character and the surroundings. I especially liked travelling this tale though Ash's eyes. It allowed for a natural sense of time and understanding as Ash grew and observed his world and its inhabitants. I did enjoy the ending. It fit with the story thus far and answered many questions. The remaining characters were left in a wonderful literary place where they have overcome and survived thus far and are in the position of having more story and an exhausted, battered hope before them. I look forward to reading what comes next.
May 20, 2024
I have no idea where I got this book from as it's been on my e-reader for years. The only reason I finally read it now is because I went to the oldest un-read books in an effort to tidy up my library!
It is not a book I would normally read. I make it a rule to stay far, far away from anything that might be about sex trafficking and dark themes like that. But the premise intrigued me and when I started it I got really hooked.
Most of the book is about living in the barn, isolated from the world and growing up in this strange environment. There are only hints about why they are there and it's a bit of a mystery. I chose to believe that it might not be human trafficking for as long as possible.
The second half of the book has some very disturbing scenes and descriptions of things happening elsewhere, but nothing too terrible happens on page. It was a tolerable read for someone like me with a very weak stomach for anything in this category. I find it really hard to believe that a trafficking operation could exist on such a huge scale, and over such a long time period, but you never know.
The book is clumsily written in places, in need of an editor for grammatical mistakes and some of the writing feels quite amateur. But it also worked for our un-educated POV character who has never lived a normal life in the outside world.
I strongly considered not reviewing this book so that I could purge it from my memory, but actually it was quite good and deserves recognition. It handled a horrible topic in a relatively tasteful way and told a good story at the same time. It takes a stretch of the imagination to be believable at times, and was definitely a fantastical version of how a human trafficking operation would work, but if you take out the dark themes you basically have a typical dystopian orphan-takes-down-bad-corporation kind of book and I think that's why it appealed to me.
It is not a book I would normally read. I make it a rule to stay far, far away from anything that might be about sex trafficking and dark themes like that. But the premise intrigued me and when I started it I got really hooked.
Most of the book is about living in the barn, isolated from the world and growing up in this strange environment. There are only hints about why they are there and it's a bit of a mystery. I chose to believe that it might not be human trafficking for as long as possible.
The second half of the book has some very disturbing scenes and descriptions of things happening elsewhere, but nothing too terrible happens on page. It was a tolerable read for someone like me with a very weak stomach for anything in this category. I find it really hard to believe that a trafficking operation could exist on such a huge scale, and over such a long time period, but you never know.
The book is clumsily written in places, in need of an editor for grammatical mistakes and some of the writing feels quite amateur. But it also worked for our un-educated POV character who has never lived a normal life in the outside world.
I strongly considered not reviewing this book so that I could purge it from my memory, but actually it was quite good and deserves recognition. It handled a horrible topic in a relatively tasteful way and told a good story at the same time. It takes a stretch of the imagination to be believable at times, and was definitely a fantastical version of how a human trafficking operation would work, but if you take out the dark themes you basically have a typical dystopian orphan-takes-down-bad-corporation kind of book and I think that's why it appealed to me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews