Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Join us for a buddy read of The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay.

The Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts adds an inventive twist to the home invasion horror story in a heart-palpitating novel of psychological suspense that recalls Stephen King’s Misery, Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood, and Jack Ketchum’s cult hit The Girl Next Door.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.

One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."

Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

Everyone is welcome.

We will be reading at our own pace and using spoiler tags for the discussion.

Super! Thank you.

Have you read thus author before Claire? This will be my first book by him.

I have this ready to go. Just need to finish up one other first.

Vicki Willis wrote: "Have you read thus author before Claire? This will be my first book by him."

For me it is the first time to read him too. I’m going to start reading in half an hour or so. Where do you live? I guess we’re in completely different time zones. I live in Europe so now it is almost 9 pm.

Ok, I started listening to it. So far ( an hour in the book) I’m not sure what to think. I am very curious though to read on,
But right now, I’m after midnight so I’ll read on tomorrow.

I am on the west coast of the USA (San Diego) so we are in VERY different time zones. LOL
How is the narrator?

Vicki Willis wrote: "I am on the west coast of the USA (San Diego) so we are in VERY different time zones. LOL
How is the narrator?"

I read a lot of bad comments about the narrating, but so far I think it is very good.

Ok, I have had a very busy week and only read a couple of pages. Hoping to get a good chunk read this weekend and I will comment then.
How are you finding it Claire?

So I have read 50 pages. I am at the beginning of Lets Make A Deal section.

So far I like it. The character development is good. We know some background about Wen and about Andrew and Eric.

The tension gets ratcheted up when (view spoiler)[ the strangers knock on the door. Their request is off - are they a cult? On drugs? Ghosts? The way the word it seems like a mantra. (hide spoiler)]

The thing that scares me is (view spoiler)[ thinking about what I would do in this situation. How to protect my child? And how the world is a dangerous place that being in a remote, beautiful place is not worth the risk in our world. (hide spoiler)]

I will read on tomorrow. I agree with your questions and I thnk it is all even scarier (view spoiler)[ as we don’t really have background information on anything and don’t hear the thinkng of the adults on that (hide spoiler)]

I read a little more of this one. I am on p. 82
I am not sure that I am liking it.
I am not sure I even know what it is about. So far it has been very repetitive with (view spoiler)[ The intruders are not here because they want to be. They have no choice and the family needs to listen (hide spoiler)]
I am at the part where (view spoiler)[They just bashed in Redmond's head after he put the mask on. Why? For what reason? (hide spoiler)]

I am really wondering (view spoiler)[ If the intruders are not going to hurt the family and the family doesn;t believe the world is going to end, then what? If they are going to hurt the dads and the daughter, what is going to force the family to make that decision to kill one of themselves. They can wait for the world to end and then all die together. Right? I mean, I think that is what i would do. (hide spoiler)]

I hope you are finding this one better than I am. Or I hope it gets better quick.

I finished this one. I am giving it 3 stars. It started off with a lot of promise and sort of stalled for me. I did think the end was much better and I actually liked where the author ended the book.
It was very (view spoiler)[ sad that Wen died. I couldn't believe it at first, but then remembering this is horror, no happy endings are promised! That was brutal and tragic! (hide spoiler)]
I am glad I read it and would definitely try something else by this author.