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There are currently 32 member reviews
for The Bog Wife
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Catharine L. (Petoskey, MI)
The Bog Wife
I usually enjoy fantasy, but this novel was too bizarre for me. The Haddesley family was so dysfunctional. The idea of a "bog wife" created from vegetation was weird. The mother who mysteriously disappeared is discovered alive in the bog and two of the children decide to return to the earth with her. I finished it, but can't recommend it. I gave it a 3 because I liked the writing style.
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Patricia L. (Seward, AK)
Dysfunction and more
Weena has been summoned to come home because her father is dying. Not an unusual circumstance for most people, yet consequential for the Haddesley family and their ancestral cranberry bog.
The impending death means an ancient ritual must be performed that will insure survival for her siblings and the family compound. Weena is the only one of four children who has "gone over the property line" to experience life away from the bog and she is not coming back willingly.
The Bog Wife could easily have been a family drama about children denied access to 'real world' experiences with the consequent denial, rebellion and retribution. Chronister mixes in a supernatural element of an ancient compact that if unheeded (or disbelieved) could result in desolation of both family and land. Weena and her siblings navigate through their family history both real and imagined, striving to find their individual ways with varied results. Recommended for fans of dysfunctional family sagas exacerbated by supernatural forces.
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Eileen B. (Vero Beach, FL)
Creepy and haunting
The book was set in the Appalachian area where folktales and superstitions are prevalent. I did find the storyline a bit confusing in the beginning until I was able to figure out all of the characters and their position in the family. I did have to reread some of the prose to keep track of the plot because it was a bit wordy at times. Overall, I did enjoy the book but I found it to be a bit creepy, weird, haunting, and unpredictable. This may have not been the genre for me but if you love the supernatural and the gothic this is the book for you.
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Bre D.
Title is deceptive.
There is frequent mention of the "bog wife" but for the first 7/8 of the book it reads as a tremendously disfunctional family with personality disorders. Near the end of the book the wife, who has been dead for eleven years, suddenly comes to semi life as a bog entity. The book is a great example of how delusional parents can permanently destroy any chance their children have at a happy, fulfilled life.
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