Illustrated by Matt Blairstone
155 pages
Published 2024
Read from October 25 to October 27
Rating: 2 out of 5
My partner R recommended this book when I asked for a short horror read I could squeeze in before Halloween. It’s a folk horror piece with vengeful scarecrows and the stirrings of class consciousness. How could I say no?
At times, particularly during the viewpoint chapters of abusive antagonist Steve Calico, Greentree has an unfortunate throwback quality, reminding me of what white dudes wrote in the 1980s and ’90s in the name of “showing life like it is.” In particular, there’s a scene where Steve goes to the “bad” part of town to hire an underage Black sex worker, a whole chapter that is unnecessary to the story (and also written with a white guy’s idea of Black urban dialect). I nearly quit the book at that point. A shitty violent man can be a meaningful choice of perspective, but it can also reveal some of the author’s own unconscious assumptions.
Once we finally get to Greentree, a suspiciously prosperous small town in rural Oregon, the story settles into a solid rhythm. I wouldn’t ever call it an amazing book, even by indie press horror standards, but it does what it sets out to do.
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