New Arrival: Review of Laird Hunt's In the House in the Dark of the Woods

Long-time readers of fairy tales know that it’s a terrible idea to go into the woods. Not only are there wolves in terrible disguises and old women who love their children medium well, journeying into the woods means straying from the path you know and that you know is safe. Sure, Bilbo had a grand adventure, but there were plenty of times he could have died, a victim of his great adventure. In horror fiction, the dangers in the woods can cause not only physical harm but psychological as well. In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt (a short read despite a long title) is a great example of the woods, the antithesis of civilization, being apt to change you in ways you didn’t expect.

The story is told through a woman simply named Goody, a woman in the 1800’s who narrates how she has gotten lost and is unable to get home to her husband and son. From Goldilocks and the Three Bears to The Blair Witch Project, stories like this have illustrated how not knowing your way creates unease and drives the plot. As Goody wanders, trying to find her way back home, she finds assistance, as well as obstruction, from women she encounters on her journey, including the crusty Captain Jane and the effervescent Eliza, doing everything for her from feeding her to taking her on enchanted boat rides. The story, though short, isn’t necessarily a breeze to read through as Goody’s narration sometimes devolves into stream of consciousness and the very strange aspects of the experience means the very underpinning of logic is suspect. Is what she experiencing real? If it’s a dream, Laird Hunt’s sentences make sure it’s a darkly beautiful one.

Like Jeremy Shipp’s home invasion (and mind invasion) novel Bedfellow, this book is not one to be breezed through. The reader, as they accompany Goody on her journey, will start to doubt what came before, who exactly is who, and what exactly is going on. This book is not a book with a neat, tidy ending. This story owes much of its bones to Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” but becomes its own animal by traversing away from the straight-ahead morality tale and letting itself drift on the currents of a fever dream, becoming a fairy tale more about female empowerment than rather than any hard lesson. The wilds of the forest are all around Goody, and the reader, but they may also be inside.