Like What We Did In The Dark this is a book that lots of my Scot Lit friends raved about so I thought I would have a look and see what all the fuss was about.
It was about a girl who lived in a small Highland village with her father, her mother having mysteriously disappeared ten years previously.
She lives in a dilapidated house (why? her father is an expert carpenter who makes kitchens and furniture for a living) on the border of a pine forest, hence presumably the name of the book.
I wasn't too suited with this. It felt like the author had lots of good ideas about character and atmosphere (although not plot) and threw them all in with the result that the novel was, for me, a very unsatisfying hodge podge.
I can't see why people raved about this and honestly I'm beginning to think that I've got too picky to enjoy books any more, but possibly the thing to do is to stay away from 'literary fiction' and stick to genres/ authors which I know I enjoy.
I’m inclined to agree. So many times, “everyone” raving about a book has become a signal for me not to try it!
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