Through the Woods

Horror

Justification:

I chose this title on a recommendation from a librarian as I was having difficulty finding a YA horror book I wanted to read. Suffice it to say horror is probably my least favorite genre and my curiosity was piqued when presented by this book. The images are hauntingly beautiful. Carroll gently takes you by the hand and leads you down a path fraught with well-paced tension and terror. Her tales are masterfully creepy and redolent of fairy tales gone awry. There is something familiar the reader chases after and yet there is always a terror-filled twist revealing an unexpected outcome. I enjoyed this aspect of the Carroll's work; I liked being "tricked", if you will. I think readers will enjoy her plot twists, too.

Reader's Response:

I am generally not a fan of the horror genre so I selected this graphic novel on the recommendation of one of the librarians at my library. I naively thought a graphic novel would be easier to swallow in terms of the 'scary factor' (I mean, just how bad can a comic be?). Emily Carroll proved me wrong with her delightfully creepy gothic horror tales. I don't recommend reading this book in bed with a night light (which I tried the first go around). In fact, Carroll's spectral imagery stays with you long after reading.

The book is comprised of gorgeous, rich, dark renderings and is truly a work of art. The images hold up on their own even without the aid of the additional layer of creepy text. Carroll writes much like she draws, dancing around shadows, darkness, and light. She teases the reader in her tales, taking them down one seemingly innocuous path (or into the woods) and then revealing another more sinister outcome. She masterfully plays with suspense and the pacing of her novel is exemplary.

I don't watch scary movies and I don't enjoy gore for gore's sake. There are several images (see below) that are both horrifying and grotesque in this horror graphic. In A Lady's Hands Are Cold, a new bride discovers her husband brutally murdered his first wife by decapitation and amputation of all of her appendages. She assembles them all back together to present to him one night. And the tale doesn't end there...

Conclusion:

If Angela Carter, Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey all got together and had a party in Carroll's head, the result would look a lot like Through the Woods. Carter's magical realism, Gorey's creepy caricatures and Poe's suspense are all woven into Carroll's tales. Ultimately, Through the Woods opened my eyes to a new type of horror: one that both evokes unexpected terror and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. This text is a perfect fit for a more mature student who enjoys graphic novels and is seeking horror in a different modality.

APA Style Reference: Carroll, E. (2014). Through the Woods. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books.