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Hemlock Grove #1
Hemlock Grove
An exhilarating reinvention of the gothic novel, inspired by the iconic characters of our greatest myths and nightmares.
The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for.
Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel—where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf. Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.
At once a riveting mystery and a fascinating revelation of the grotesque and the darkness in us all, Hemlock Grove has the architecture and energy to become a classic in its own right—and Brian McGreevy the talent and ambition to enthrall us for years to come.
The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for.
Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel—where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf. Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.
At once a riveting mystery and a fascinating revelation of the grotesque and the darkness in us all, Hemlock Grove has the architecture and energy to become a classic in its own right—and Brian McGreevy the talent and ambition to enthrall us for years to come.
319 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,025 reviews
November 21, 2014
DO NOT read reviews of this book. Except maybe this one because I am not going to say ANYTHING.
There's a standard question people ask in interviews: "What book would you most like to read again for the first time?" My answer always has been Love & Rockets because I was so totally unprepared for a comic book to turn out to be an actual novel, and because I fell in love with the characters, and falling in love is always a wonderful experience.
Now I think I'd have to say Hemlock Grove, because I was so COMPLETELY unprepared for... everything it threw at me. I had no idea this book was going to go most of the places that it went, and I failed to catch even the giant broad hints it threw at me. And even this might be saying too much.
It is so wonderful to be surprised so thoroughly, I do not want to mess that up for anyone.
Paradoxically, although I want to read this book again for the first time, I also want to read it again for the second time, knowing what I now know.
The book invites comparison, and comparison might be the only safe way to sell it without blowing it for the reader: you could think Twin Peaks and you'd be in the Hemlock Grove neighborhood. A few rather twisted graphic novels come to mind. And Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania is kind of like Forks, Washington, or it is like a version of Forks in which Bella and Jacob and whatshisname aren't such a bunch of saps. You may not fall in love with Brian McGreevy's characters - not all of them anyway - but they are complex and likable and hateable and maddening and fascinating all the same.
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/201...
http://somethingwickedcomesofage.tumb...
There's a standard question people ask in interviews: "What book would you most like to read again for the first time?" My answer always has been Love & Rockets because I was so totally unprepared for a comic book to turn out to be an actual novel, and because I fell in love with the characters, and falling in love is always a wonderful experience.
Now I think I'd have to say Hemlock Grove, because I was so COMPLETELY unprepared for... everything it threw at me. I had no idea this book was going to go most of the places that it went, and I failed to catch even the giant broad hints it threw at me. And even this might be saying too much.
It is so wonderful to be surprised so thoroughly, I do not want to mess that up for anyone.
Paradoxically, although I want to read this book again for the first time, I also want to read it again for the second time, knowing what I now know.
The book invites comparison, and comparison might be the only safe way to sell it without blowing it for the reader: you could think Twin Peaks and you'd be in the Hemlock Grove neighborhood. A few rather twisted graphic novels come to mind. And Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania is kind of like Forks, Washington, or it is like a version of Forks in which Bella and Jacob and whatshisname aren't such a bunch of saps. You may not fall in love with Brian McGreevy's characters - not all of them anyway - but they are complex and likable and hateable and maddening and fascinating all the same.
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/201...
http://somethingwickedcomesofage.tumb...
May 1, 2013
I'm glad other reviewers have pointed out the problems with basic rules of punctuation and point of view in this novel. They are so often frustrating and distracting that it robs the novel of whatever interest it might have.
Two things recommend it: a great werewolf transformation scene, and lots of kinky sex scenes that seem designed to push it out of the Twilight demographic.
Other than that, it's confusing, it has characters that do stuff for no reason that's ever clear, it reeks from the odor of thousands of red herrings, and just when things tend to get interesting, the chapter will seem to skip like scratched DVD and you'll be left wondering what the heck is going on.
The thing strains plausibility from the get-go, and that's not always a problem in this genre, but when you set your Gothic horror in a "normal small town in Pennsylvania," you have to have a few regular humans respond to the horrific goings-on. For example, the "Frankenstein's Monster" character (named Shelley, heh heh) is seven feet tall, glows in the dark, is mute, has gray skin, and walks around with her feet in clear plastic cubes filled with potting soil (I know, right?). But she goes to high school every day, pulled in a wagon behind her brother's Jaguar. No "muggle" character in the novel seems to think any of this is unusual. Wouldn't you?
I had high hopes for this novel, and I did feel compelled to finish it just to see what happens at the end, but it seems designed to be a miniseries and not a novel.
Ah well. Go read Salem's Lot instead--a better treatment of this sort of thing.
Two things recommend it: a great werewolf transformation scene, and lots of kinky sex scenes that seem designed to push it out of the Twilight demographic.
Other than that, it's confusing, it has characters that do stuff for no reason that's ever clear, it reeks from the odor of thousands of red herrings, and just when things tend to get interesting, the chapter will seem to skip like scratched DVD and you'll be left wondering what the heck is going on.
The thing strains plausibility from the get-go, and that's not always a problem in this genre, but when you set your Gothic horror in a "normal small town in Pennsylvania," you have to have a few regular humans respond to the horrific goings-on. For example, the "Frankenstein's Monster" character (named Shelley, heh heh) is seven feet tall, glows in the dark, is mute, has gray skin, and walks around with her feet in clear plastic cubes filled with potting soil (I know, right?). But she goes to high school every day, pulled in a wagon behind her brother's Jaguar. No "muggle" character in the novel seems to think any of this is unusual. Wouldn't you?
I had high hopes for this novel, and I did feel compelled to finish it just to see what happens at the end, but it seems designed to be a miniseries and not a novel.
Ah well. Go read Salem's Lot instead--a better treatment of this sort of thing.
April 17, 2021
What a mess this book was. The only thing I found interesting at all was the reluctant friendship between Peter and Roman that eventually turned into a real frienship. The idea that werewolves know about upirs and vice versa (a certain kinship exists between them) was an interesting idea that I wish had been explored more. Instead we have a dubious plot, terrible dialogue, underdeveloped characters, a rape scene, and casual slurs flung about throughout the book.
The book starts off with a young 13 year old girl named Christina Wendall who has a crush on Peter Rumancek who older and who we find out fairly early in the book is a werewolf. Christina quizzes Peter is he a werewolf since the first two fingers of his hand are equal in length which makes him a werewolf (I have never heard of this before) and from there rumors are fueled by Christina telling everyone that Peter is a werewolf after a young girl's mutilated body is found.
Roman Godfrey who has a whole mess of problems, finds himself growing more fascinated with Peter. He has heard the rumors about him and then just asks him is he behind the girl being found dead. Peter admits to being a werewolf (he seriously just tells everyone he meets it seems) but says he didn't do it, and instead thought that Roman had did it.
The not so dynamic duo investigate (poorly) and end up getting into more trouble.
There are other characters in this book that we don't delve into much at all.
We have Roman's mother Olivia and his sister Shelley. Shelley is 7 feet tall, has gray skin, and has her feet in cubes that have soil in them. Yeah I don't know either. The fact that she goes to school and no one blinks at her much didn't so believable to me. Also her backstory was confusing. Roman talks about Shelley being dead and then not dead and I imagine something was done to her, but it's a bunch of allusions thrown around and I got tired of it.
Olivia has the most interesting backstory of all of the characters, we don't find out much about her to the very end of the book. But, I have to say, the way she was connected to some of the other characters in this book though interesting, didn't sound very plausible. And I have to say that once I found out what Olivia was behind was terrible. And it didn't make a lot of sense either.
Roman's cousin Letha is hard to get a sense of I thought. She is pregnant by someone she calls an angel and though she initially doesn't like Peter, finds herself attracted to him, and then decides she loves him. It seriously came out of nowhere.
Peter's mother Lynda doesn't seem to do much but worry about feeding him. And she also doesn't seem to mind being around Roman or Olivia. She was not as developed as she was in the television series which was unfortunate.
The writing was problematic. I just got tired of reading someone calling another person a "faggot" or saying that they were not a "homo". There was a really disturbing rape scene and it made me despise one character for the rest of the book. I don't know why this was even included in the book. Heck I don't know why a lot of things were included in this book. Roman at one point talks about a mythical Order of Dragon that his mother told him about. And we get a look at these people in this book who just seem to be a joke. And once again it is alluded to that most of the order are homosexual and have a need for the patriarchal order. I felt like McGreevy thought everything (even breathing air) was homosexual in nature.
The dialogue between characters (the little there was) was cloaked most of the time and the only time any of it rang true was when Roman and Peter interacted because at least they acted like teenagers.
We have different writing styles (letters/email from one character to another, transcript between one character interviewing another) and flashback format/letter from one character to another. I think at one point I just said, okay then.
The flow wasn't great. I think that jumping around too much and trying to not explain things at all hampered the story. For example, both boys make mention of how weird Hemlock Grove is and that they both feel something in the ground or down below. And that's all we hear about it. I don't know if they are talking about a demon or what. It was just odd.
The setting of Hemlock Grove is a fictional small town in Pennsylvania. I really wish that the author actually included some things besides the stupid White Tower he kept mentioning and the old mill. I needed more details. Also just randomly discussing the Steelers does not equal Pennsylvania. And at once point McGreevy mentions Roman I think going to Shadyside and how it was a quick trip. That gave me a hard pause because I then wondered how small could this town be if it was that close to Shadyside. Also why in the world would the FBI not be there after the first two murders. I just had a lot of questions with no real answers to anything.
The ending was a mess. I don't even know what to say. I know that McGreevy apparently doesn't plan on writing a sequel to this book and I would have to say thank goodness. Especially if his books were going to follow seasons 2 and 3 of Hemlock Grove which actually went from bad to worse.
The book starts off with a young 13 year old girl named Christina Wendall who has a crush on Peter Rumancek who older and who we find out fairly early in the book is a werewolf. Christina quizzes Peter is he a werewolf since the first two fingers of his hand are equal in length which makes him a werewolf (I have never heard of this before) and from there rumors are fueled by Christina telling everyone that Peter is a werewolf after a young girl's mutilated body is found.
Roman Godfrey who has a whole mess of problems, finds himself growing more fascinated with Peter. He has heard the rumors about him and then just asks him is he behind the girl being found dead. Peter admits to being a werewolf (he seriously just tells everyone he meets it seems) but says he didn't do it, and instead thought that Roman had did it.
The not so dynamic duo investigate (poorly) and end up getting into more trouble.
There are other characters in this book that we don't delve into much at all.
We have Roman's mother Olivia and his sister Shelley. Shelley is 7 feet tall, has gray skin, and has her feet in cubes that have soil in them. Yeah I don't know either. The fact that she goes to school and no one blinks at her much didn't so believable to me. Also her backstory was confusing. Roman talks about Shelley being dead and then not dead and I imagine something was done to her, but it's a bunch of allusions thrown around and I got tired of it.
Olivia has the most interesting backstory of all of the characters, we don't find out much about her to the very end of the book. But, I have to say, the way she was connected to some of the other characters in this book though interesting, didn't sound very plausible. And I have to say that once I found out what Olivia was behind was terrible. And it didn't make a lot of sense either.
Roman's cousin Letha is hard to get a sense of I thought. She is pregnant by someone she calls an angel and though she initially doesn't like Peter, finds herself attracted to him, and then decides she loves him. It seriously came out of nowhere.
Peter's mother Lynda doesn't seem to do much but worry about feeding him. And she also doesn't seem to mind being around Roman or Olivia. She was not as developed as she was in the television series which was unfortunate.
The writing was problematic. I just got tired of reading someone calling another person a "faggot" or saying that they were not a "homo". There was a really disturbing rape scene and it made me despise one character for the rest of the book. I don't know why this was even included in the book. Heck I don't know why a lot of things were included in this book. Roman at one point talks about a mythical Order of Dragon that his mother told him about. And we get a look at these people in this book who just seem to be a joke. And once again it is alluded to that most of the order are homosexual and have a need for the patriarchal order. I felt like McGreevy thought everything (even breathing air) was homosexual in nature.
The dialogue between characters (the little there was) was cloaked most of the time and the only time any of it rang true was when Roman and Peter interacted because at least they acted like teenagers.
We have different writing styles (letters/email from one character to another, transcript between one character interviewing another) and flashback format/letter from one character to another. I think at one point I just said, okay then.
The flow wasn't great. I think that jumping around too much and trying to not explain things at all hampered the story. For example, both boys make mention of how weird Hemlock Grove is and that they both feel something in the ground or down below. And that's all we hear about it. I don't know if they are talking about a demon or what. It was just odd.
The setting of Hemlock Grove is a fictional small town in Pennsylvania. I really wish that the author actually included some things besides the stupid White Tower he kept mentioning and the old mill. I needed more details. Also just randomly discussing the Steelers does not equal Pennsylvania. And at once point McGreevy mentions Roman I think going to Shadyside and how it was a quick trip. That gave me a hard pause because I then wondered how small could this town be if it was that close to Shadyside. Also why in the world would the FBI not be there after the first two murders. I just had a lot of questions with no real answers to anything.
The ending was a mess. I don't even know what to say. I know that McGreevy apparently doesn't plan on writing a sequel to this book and I would have to say thank goodness. Especially if his books were going to follow seasons 2 and 3 of Hemlock Grove which actually went from bad to worse.
May 8, 2013
I started reading this yesterday because I enjoyed the show on Netflix. WOW. This writer should be grateful that someone more talented at subtlety, character creation and storytelling saw the value in his work. I can't believe they made such a captivating television show out of this piece of garbage.
I was shocked how badly it is written and what poor language is used in the book sometimes. For example when Peter sees the prayer group in school he thinks to himself "Oh. Gay." WTF? Why? That did not come across in any way to me in the show (thankfully) and I would have hated Peter as a lead character if I knew what an awful internal monologue he had.
I decided to stop reading it so that I wouldn't ruin the show or characters any further for myself. If you were a fan of the show before reading it I highly suggest not reading this. The only reason I didn't give it 1 star is because I know that it is a layered and interesting story, I just can't force myself to get past the awful writing to find it in this book.
I was shocked how badly it is written and what poor language is used in the book sometimes. For example when Peter sees the prayer group in school he thinks to himself "Oh. Gay." WTF? Why? That did not come across in any way to me in the show (thankfully) and I would have hated Peter as a lead character if I knew what an awful internal monologue he had.
I decided to stop reading it so that I wouldn't ruin the show or characters any further for myself. If you were a fan of the show before reading it I highly suggest not reading this. The only reason I didn't give it 1 star is because I know that it is a layered and interesting story, I just can't force myself to get past the awful writing to find it in this book.
December 19, 2022
The book was very readable and got rad rather fast. But unfortunately the story wasn't a winner for me. Just wasn't the intriguing story I wanted
March 31, 2013
Apparently I was excited enough about Eli Roth's adaptation of Hemlock Grove, soon to air in its entirety on Netflix, to devour Brian McGreevy’s novel in the space of less than two days. Yeah, that’s right, I sped my way through an entire book instead of babysitting it like I always do (even the ones I legitimately love, which, by the way, is not how I feel about McGreevy’s creation).
The basic premise is that when the bodies of young women are found brutally mauled in the fictional town of Hemlock Grove, two seventeen year old boys - Peter Rumancek and Roman Godfrey - become prime suspects for their murders. They partner up to discover who the true killer is. There are werewolves, upir (a vampire of Russian folklore), and a lot of other hijinks going on throughout the novel while they do their sleuthing.
What McGreevy’s got going for him is that Hemlock Grove is a pretty easy and relatively fun read. He knows how to write amusing dialogue, and he’s got a good grasp on his characters’ different voices.
He gives us a pretty big cast of characters, but it was Shelley and Letha Godfrey - Roman's sister and cousin, respectively - and in some respects, Peter Rumancek, that kept me reading. Their characterizations and personalities are by far the best: layered and endearing, at times even hilarious.
But oh, how this book dripped with pretentiousness. McGreevy is very, very fond of stringing together long winded sentences to airily describe something that probably could have been summed up in two lines or less.
He also overdid it with the “symbolism” (read: random endless insertions of the same three or four symbols over and over and over again). Yeah dude, we get it, the book is set in Pennsylvania, but not everyone and their dragons has to walk around in a Steelers jersey. I caught that Ouroboros represents a big theme in the book being the cyclicality of life and rebirth and all that the first time you mentioned it, and there’s only so much of “It was a picture of a snake… a snake eating its own tail,” that a reader can take.
For the most part, the book reads like it’s in third person, and then a sentence structured in first person here and there would remind you that it’s actually being narrated by an unknown person who is somehow omniscient but still involved with and interacting with the other characters. Every time one of these sentences came along, it was so jarring that I was thrown out of the world he was building.
And then there were asides like “The women of the audience may want to close their eyes now,” right before a supposedly violent scene, which is just plain rude. Really dude? There’s hardly a gruesome scene on screen that can even get me to avert my eyes anymore, and if there was anything that could, your halfassed paragraph-sized description of minimal violence definitely ain’t it. Way to alienate a good portion of your audience with your blatant sexism, McGreevy.
Speaking of sexism, there’s heaps of it here, though it’s infrequent enough that I could power through and onto the better parts of the novel. There’s also racism sprinkled throughout; McGreevy casually describes people being “as baffled as a Chinaman,” among other things.
Though I guess the argument could be made that such descriptions were made not by the author himself, but by the unknown, unreliable, and somehow omniscient narrator, that distiction wasn’t made clear enough for me to give the guy a pass.
Speaking strictly in terms of genre and style of writing, however, Hemlock Grove is a bit of a failure. The mystery itself was alright. I didn’t think it was too obvious who the killer was, and though hints were sprinkled liberally enough that I pieced it together by the end of the first third of the book, there was still enough doubt for me to be surprised (and super accomplished) when I was right. Seriously, there was fist pumping involved.
There was nothing remotely horrifying presented, except for the werewolf transformation,which was admittedly pretty cool. The rest of McGreevy’s attempts at horror-esque overtones seemed more like afterthoughts rather than an integral part of the story; the execution didn’t live up to the potential that his plot line presented.
I give it three stars for entertaining me during what would have been otherwise been a boring weekend, but with the weakness of the writing and the obvious need for the novel to have gone through several editing processes before publishing, I can’t give it any higher a rating than that.
- Christine
***I'M A BLOGGER AT POP INSOMNIACS***
The basic premise is that when the bodies of young women are found brutally mauled in the fictional town of Hemlock Grove, two seventeen year old boys - Peter Rumancek and Roman Godfrey - become prime suspects for their murders. They partner up to discover who the true killer is. There are werewolves, upir (a vampire of Russian folklore), and a lot of other hijinks going on throughout the novel while they do their sleuthing.
What McGreevy’s got going for him is that Hemlock Grove is a pretty easy and relatively fun read. He knows how to write amusing dialogue, and he’s got a good grasp on his characters’ different voices.
He gives us a pretty big cast of characters, but it was Shelley and Letha Godfrey - Roman's sister and cousin, respectively - and in some respects, Peter Rumancek, that kept me reading. Their characterizations and personalities are by far the best: layered and endearing, at times even hilarious.
But oh, how this book dripped with pretentiousness. McGreevy is very, very fond of stringing together long winded sentences to airily describe something that probably could have been summed up in two lines or less.
He also overdid it with the “symbolism” (read: random endless insertions of the same three or four symbols over and over and over again). Yeah dude, we get it, the book is set in Pennsylvania, but not everyone and their dragons has to walk around in a Steelers jersey. I caught that Ouroboros represents a big theme in the book being the cyclicality of life and rebirth and all that the first time you mentioned it, and there’s only so much of “It was a picture of a snake… a snake eating its own tail,” that a reader can take.
For the most part, the book reads like it’s in third person, and then a sentence structured in first person here and there would remind you that it’s actually being narrated by an unknown person who is somehow omniscient but still involved with and interacting with the other characters. Every time one of these sentences came along, it was so jarring that I was thrown out of the world he was building.
And then there were asides like “The women of the audience may want to close their eyes now,” right before a supposedly violent scene, which is just plain rude. Really dude? There’s hardly a gruesome scene on screen that can even get me to avert my eyes anymore, and if there was anything that could, your halfassed paragraph-sized description of minimal violence definitely ain’t it. Way to alienate a good portion of your audience with your blatant sexism, McGreevy.
Speaking of sexism, there’s heaps of it here, though it’s infrequent enough that I could power through and onto the better parts of the novel. There’s also racism sprinkled throughout; McGreevy casually describes people being “as baffled as a Chinaman,” among other things.
Though I guess the argument could be made that such descriptions were made not by the author himself, but by the unknown, unreliable, and somehow omniscient narrator, that distiction wasn’t made clear enough for me to give the guy a pass.
Speaking strictly in terms of genre and style of writing, however, Hemlock Grove is a bit of a failure. The mystery itself was alright. I didn’t think it was too obvious who the killer was, and though hints were sprinkled liberally enough that I pieced it together by the end of the first third of the book, there was still enough doubt for me to be surprised (and super accomplished) when I was right. Seriously, there was fist pumping involved.
There was nothing remotely horrifying presented, except for the werewolf transformation,which was admittedly pretty cool. The rest of McGreevy’s attempts at horror-esque overtones seemed more like afterthoughts rather than an integral part of the story; the execution didn’t live up to the potential that his plot line presented.
I give it three stars for entertaining me during what would have been otherwise been a boring weekend, but with the weakness of the writing and the obvious need for the novel to have gone through several editing processes before publishing, I can’t give it any higher a rating than that.
- Christine
***I'M A BLOGGER AT POP INSOMNIACS***
August 31, 2023
I really loved the TV show….but the book dragged a bit much. I give it 2.5 stars. It was close to the tv show and I love the character Roman Godfrey.
September 15, 2013
All right, let me get one thing out of the way: Yes, I read this book because of the Netflix series. I have a sick compulsion to read books that movies or television shows are based on so I can understand the source material and supposedly have a greater appreciation for the adaptation. Note the use of the word “supposedly.”
Now for a second disclosure: I have not finished watching the Netflix series yet. I'm about halfway through it at the time of this writing. While the Netflix show seems relatively faithful to the source material...well, that's not necessarily a good thing. I've delayed writing this review because I've had trouble figuring out a nice way to describe how much I disliked this book (for example, I was going to mention how this book is on par with Twilight but with homosexual undertones, but saying this book has undertones would be giving it too much credit for subtlety) . I wouldn't go so far as to simply rewrite Roger Ebert's infamous review of “North,” but this book is still pretty bad.
Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy primarily follows Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy teenager who has recently moved to the town of Hemlock Grove (and the novel's resident werewolf) and meets rich kid Roman Godfrey, who Peter identifies as an upir. While there's no direct explanation what an upir is until the end, it doesn't take much work to figure it out. After some gruesome murders of local teenage girls, the two decide that it's up to them to find out who is responsible. Why them and not the police? Because we wouldn't have much of a story then, would we?
This where things begin to fall apart and fast. These two teenagers are actually stupid enough to think that it's up to them to solve these murders. Aside from the supernatural element that they detect, why them? It doesn't help that these characters are never made out to be smart in any other respect. Roman is a pompous, self-centered rich kid and the only person he cares about other than himself is his sister, Shelley, who has her own mysteries, and his cousin Letha, to a lesser extent. Peter has some street smarts. Some. But he doesn't have much else other than his werewolf sense powers.
A big problem with this novel is that it doesn't take much work to figure anything out. The references to classic monsters of horror are numerous, and pretty much slap you in the face (Shelley is a blatant reference to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein ). While I am ragging on it, this is probably the most clever part of the book. The author also drenches the prose in symbolism. You can't get away from it, but it doesn't add anything to the book. It adds no mystery, and is nothing but a distraction without any real payoff. It becomes obvious very quickly who the killer is. As for other side stories, these don't provide much mystery or payoff, either.
Now, I've seen mysteries that aren't really mysteries before, and these tend to be used as character vehicles, so while we don't get attached to the story, we still want to follow the characters. But with Hemlock Grove, I didn't want to follow the characters, either. They're just so stupid and unlikable. Roman is a spoiled rich brat, Peter is rather two-dimensional, Olivia Godfrey is just a nasty control-freak, Letha is a ditz, and Dr. Pryce (guess who he's a reference to) is a creep. The most interesting and sympathetic character is Shelley, because she's the only one that shows any real character development. And she doesn't even talk.
Overall, Hemlock Grove is a bloody mess. While there are a couple of minor elements that could be called clever, the characters and story are so dumb and predictable that I would have to say this book should be skipped. Don't fall prey to my problem. You don't need (or should even want) to read the source material if you're only interested in the Netflix series. Move along, and avoid this one.
Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy earns 1 Ouroboros out of 5.
Now for a second disclosure: I have not finished watching the Netflix series yet. I'm about halfway through it at the time of this writing. While the Netflix show seems relatively faithful to the source material...well, that's not necessarily a good thing. I've delayed writing this review because I've had trouble figuring out a nice way to describe how much I disliked this book (for example, I was going to mention how this book is on par with Twilight but with homosexual undertones, but saying this book has undertones would be giving it too much credit for subtlety) . I wouldn't go so far as to simply rewrite Roger Ebert's infamous review of “North,” but this book is still pretty bad.
Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy primarily follows Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy teenager who has recently moved to the town of Hemlock Grove (and the novel's resident werewolf) and meets rich kid Roman Godfrey, who Peter identifies as an upir. While there's no direct explanation what an upir is until the end, it doesn't take much work to figure it out. After some gruesome murders of local teenage girls, the two decide that it's up to them to find out who is responsible. Why them and not the police? Because we wouldn't have much of a story then, would we?
This where things begin to fall apart and fast. These two teenagers are actually stupid enough to think that it's up to them to solve these murders. Aside from the supernatural element that they detect, why them? It doesn't help that these characters are never made out to be smart in any other respect. Roman is a pompous, self-centered rich kid and the only person he cares about other than himself is his sister, Shelley, who has her own mysteries, and his cousin Letha, to a lesser extent. Peter has some street smarts. Some. But he doesn't have much else other than his werewolf sense powers.
A big problem with this novel is that it doesn't take much work to figure anything out. The references to classic monsters of horror are numerous, and pretty much slap you in the face (Shelley is a blatant reference to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein ). While I am ragging on it, this is probably the most clever part of the book. The author also drenches the prose in symbolism. You can't get away from it, but it doesn't add anything to the book. It adds no mystery, and is nothing but a distraction without any real payoff. It becomes obvious very quickly who the killer is. As for other side stories, these don't provide much mystery or payoff, either.
Now, I've seen mysteries that aren't really mysteries before, and these tend to be used as character vehicles, so while we don't get attached to the story, we still want to follow the characters. But with Hemlock Grove, I didn't want to follow the characters, either. They're just so stupid and unlikable. Roman is a spoiled rich brat, Peter is rather two-dimensional, Olivia Godfrey is just a nasty control-freak, Letha is a ditz, and Dr. Pryce (guess who he's a reference to) is a creep. The most interesting and sympathetic character is Shelley, because she's the only one that shows any real character development. And she doesn't even talk.
Overall, Hemlock Grove is a bloody mess. While there are a couple of minor elements that could be called clever, the characters and story are so dumb and predictable that I would have to say this book should be skipped. Don't fall prey to my problem. You don't need (or should even want) to read the source material if you're only interested in the Netflix series. Move along, and avoid this one.
Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy earns 1 Ouroboros out of 5.
Shelved as 'could-not-finish'
May 6, 2013I can't tell if the author thinks that this is actually how teenagers speak or if it's some literary tool that I'm not catching on too. But "go suck an egg" is not a thing.
February 7, 2012
I really tried to finish this book. It is pretty rare that I don't finish a book, no matter how terrible it is, because I can usually find at least one redeeming character or plot point to capture my curiousity. Unfortunately, this book did not even manage to provide me with that much. I made it to the 185th page - more than halfway through, and I just couldn't force myself to read another page. And this was actually the third try I made to get into the book past the first 20 pages.... When I first received my ARC, it was the selection I was the most excited for because of the premise, and the other rave reviews. It didn't grab me, and I set it aside for another book. A week or so later, I picked it up again, only to promptly return it to the shelf. This time, I really forced myself to read it - bringing it as the only book for a day-trip. So while I was desperate enough to make it that far, now that I am back with other choices of books to read, I won't be finishing it.
The "action" skips around too much, the narrative is an odd blend of showy telling, and the constantly shifting format leaves a book that is simply too "slick" to actually be able to sink into. Not one character was fully drawn out, and the "mystery" simply wasn't one that I cared too much about. If you want to read a werewolf book with a real edge, this is not one I would recommend.
The "action" skips around too much, the narrative is an odd blend of showy telling, and the constantly shifting format leaves a book that is simply too "slick" to actually be able to sink into. Not one character was fully drawn out, and the "mystery" simply wasn't one that I cared too much about. If you want to read a werewolf book with a real edge, this is not one I would recommend.
Read
June 8, 2017If your index finger and your middle finger are the same length, you’re probably a werewolf. Hemlock Grove is a town full of secrets. Someone-or something-has been murdering young girls. Peter thinks it’s Roman. Roman thinks it’s Peter. An unlikely friendship between a vampire and a werewolf draws all kinds of negative attention in a small town. You’d better stick to your curfew in this place, because there’s a high likelihood of being devoured.
McGreevy’s characterizations and luminescent sentences are like something out of a dream world. This is a gorgeous literary horror novel with an excellent sense of humor. You may be familiar with the Netflix series of the same name. Turns out McGreevy wrote the TV version as well, and it’s deliciously close to the novel. I highly recommend reading the book and then binging on the TV show. Just as long as you’re not binging on human flesh.
— Jan Rosenberg
from The Best Books We Read In March 2017: http://bookriot.com/2017/04/04/riot-r...
McGreevy’s characterizations and luminescent sentences are like something out of a dream world. This is a gorgeous literary horror novel with an excellent sense of humor. You may be familiar with the Netflix series of the same name. Turns out McGreevy wrote the TV version as well, and it’s deliciously close to the novel. I highly recommend reading the book and then binging on the TV show. Just as long as you’re not binging on human flesh.
— Jan Rosenberg
from The Best Books We Read In March 2017: http://bookriot.com/2017/04/04/riot-r...
April 28, 2013
My review can also be seen here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R14JPY9S...
Please note: Read in Feb. 2012, just copying the review here.
Trigger Warning: Scene with a cat that will be distressing to sensitive readers.
Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the Amazon.com Vine program in exchange for an honest review.
My Synopsis: Hemlock Grove is filled with interesting characters and facilities. There is the newly-arrived Peter Rumancek, a half-breed gypsy and werewolf. There is Roman Godfrey, scion of the powerful Godfrey family, who formerly owned the metalworks and whom now own the mental health facility. There is his sister, Shelley, a giant who wears boxes full of soil on her feet. There is Dr. Pryce, who runs the biomedical facility - who is either a sociopath or autistic, and who is super-humanly strong. And there is someone - or something - that is horribly killing young girls.
My Review: I liked this book just fine, until way toward the end, where - OK, I'll admit it, I'm going to give you a spoiler, but if you, like I, love cats, you might thank me for it. There is an incident with a cat. And it's not a happy thing. You have been warned.
Nevertheless, overall, I liked this book, although the writing does tend toward stream-of-consciousness and it is sometimes difficult to understand what is being said. Some of that might have been corrected for the final version, however - since some of the problem was the uncorrected nature of the ARC I was reading. However, the writing is also witty and the cast of quirky characters is wonderful - I would have liked to have seen them a bit better developed in some cases, as they often seemed to be defined by their appearance more than anything, but as the book went on, some of them were developed pretty well. This is listed as being a gothic book, and that is quite true. I laughed a lot, but at the end, there isn't a lot to laugh about. Not a sad ending, per se, but not a happy one, either. Not a book I would recommend for sensitive readers. However, people who like werewolves should love this book. People who enjoyed Frankenstein will love this book. A lot of people will love this book. Don't be afraid - go ahead and give it a read. Just be aware that there are moments that are somewhat difficult to bear.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R14JPY9S...
Please note: Read in Feb. 2012, just copying the review here.
Trigger Warning: Scene with a cat that will be distressing to sensitive readers.
Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the Amazon.com Vine program in exchange for an honest review.
My Synopsis: Hemlock Grove is filled with interesting characters and facilities. There is the newly-arrived Peter Rumancek, a half-breed gypsy and werewolf. There is Roman Godfrey, scion of the powerful Godfrey family, who formerly owned the metalworks and whom now own the mental health facility. There is his sister, Shelley, a giant who wears boxes full of soil on her feet. There is Dr. Pryce, who runs the biomedical facility - who is either a sociopath or autistic, and who is super-humanly strong. And there is someone - or something - that is horribly killing young girls.
My Review: I liked this book just fine, until way toward the end, where - OK, I'll admit it, I'm going to give you a spoiler, but if you, like I, love cats, you might thank me for it. There is an incident with a cat. And it's not a happy thing. You have been warned.
Nevertheless, overall, I liked this book, although the writing does tend toward stream-of-consciousness and it is sometimes difficult to understand what is being said. Some of that might have been corrected for the final version, however - since some of the problem was the uncorrected nature of the ARC I was reading. However, the writing is also witty and the cast of quirky characters is wonderful - I would have liked to have seen them a bit better developed in some cases, as they often seemed to be defined by their appearance more than anything, but as the book went on, some of them were developed pretty well. This is listed as being a gothic book, and that is quite true. I laughed a lot, but at the end, there isn't a lot to laugh about. Not a sad ending, per se, but not a happy one, either. Not a book I would recommend for sensitive readers. However, people who like werewolves should love this book. People who enjoyed Frankenstein will love this book. A lot of people will love this book. Don't be afraid - go ahead and give it a read. Just be aware that there are moments that are somewhat difficult to bear.
July 15, 2016
Well, I'd like those 4 hours of my life back. A friend of mine made me suffer through the TV series promising me that at some point it would get awesome. It did not. I saw the potential for a good story in the show. I told myself it wasn't fully realized because Hollywood rapes good books and turns them into schlock. So I decided to read the book. WHAT THE FUCK did I just read? I don't know much about the author, but he appears to be quite convinced of his own genius. So much so in fact, that he doesn't need his characters to have proper motivations, interesting dialogue, or even a coherent plot. Things occur that have no reasonable explanation and there are things that get played up as important, only to go nowhere. (A Bacon grease facial, and THE AXE!) Good god! The character names are atrocious as well. A werewolf hunter named "Dr. Chasseur"?!?!!? Chasseur is french for "hunter" if you don't know. "Doctor Hunter?" Give me a break! Not to mention the frankenstein's monster girl named "Shelly". As in Mary Shelly? HOW CLEVER!! None of the characters are likeable, particularly Roman. They alternate between speaking at a level of language far beyond the ken of any teenager I've ever met and a semi retarded mishmash of colloquial teenage slang. It makes the discussions feel completely unnatural, especially the conversations between the two male leads. Sentence structure and word choice are meant to come across as lyrical and intelligent but really just feel pretentious and poorly executed. There were several instances where the sentence just didn't make proper sense. The so called "plot twists" were predictable and weak. The author actually has the audacity to market this as "A modern reinventing of the classic gothic novel". I would disagree. I would categorize this more as "A hackneyed, disorganized, pretentious mess that somebody is passing off as high art." If you have any sense, any taste, or any self respect, avoid this bucket of suck. On the off chance that you are a self hating masochist, by all means throw on your nipple clamps and torture yourself with this mess.
May 22, 2012
A very odd book to read, which is not a complaint. The story unspools like a Dark Shadows arc played out by a gallery of modern adolescent malcontents, maybe the cast of Skins. Solid, muscular writing, if a little too eager to impress in places. Unusually, and happily, there is no normal, bland reader-identification figure in the cast; every one of these characters is eccentric at best, distressing/disgusting at worst, and finding out who these people were kept me reading as intently as the desire to see what would happen next. Other readers have noted a Twin Peaks effect, and with respect to the characters they're not wrong. Good use is made of the bleakness of the western Pennsylvania setting; having given us the films of George Romero and the political career of Rick Santorum, the area has produced its share of horrors.
Only stumbling block for me: the narrative plate is a little too full, and when the book should be twisting down into some kind of conclusion (setup for sequels or no), everything sort of falls to the ground at once. One or two of the gothic horror tropes could have been left out, perhaps. In this one book we have werewolves, gypsies, vampires, government agents, family secrets, dark rituals, immaculate conceptions, illicit affairs, homoerotic tension, drug abuse, shady medical experiments, a sinister asylum, and a glow-in-the-dark teenage giantess who writes emails in the style of Jonathan Harker. Sort of a dizzying array, but we apparently have at least two more installments on the way, and I guess all that setup has to go somewhere. There's a bit of sex, and more than a bit of gore (these werewolves are the kind that have to rip their way out of human skin to transform). This is already being turned into a series for Netflix, but there's still plenty of time to read it in advance... which you should probably do if even one of those plot elements in the above list gets you going. Recommended.
Only stumbling block for me: the narrative plate is a little too full, and when the book should be twisting down into some kind of conclusion (setup for sequels or no), everything sort of falls to the ground at once. One or two of the gothic horror tropes could have been left out, perhaps. In this one book we have werewolves, gypsies, vampires, government agents, family secrets, dark rituals, immaculate conceptions, illicit affairs, homoerotic tension, drug abuse, shady medical experiments, a sinister asylum, and a glow-in-the-dark teenage giantess who writes emails in the style of Jonathan Harker. Sort of a dizzying array, but we apparently have at least two more installments on the way, and I guess all that setup has to go somewhere. There's a bit of sex, and more than a bit of gore (these werewolves are the kind that have to rip their way out of human skin to transform). This is already being turned into a series for Netflix, but there's still plenty of time to read it in advance... which you should probably do if even one of those plot elements in the above list gets you going. Recommended.
October 13, 2017
I liked this book very much. the writing was so pretty. it almost seemed old fashioned in places and at times. oh be still my heart! I have not seen the Netflix series. These kids don't act or talk much like high schoolers but I can go with it. i don't read many werewolf books so this was all new to me, the transformation and such. i loved that Peter kept calling is skin his man coat. !! I'd say read this!
June 12, 2013
This one I’m going to do a little different. I watched the series before I read the book. The series is an actual visual representation of the novel. It’s like they filmed the book. There are few difference but they are minor, and the series changes made the story more interesting, in my opinion.
Hemlock Grove is an example of where staying faithful actually worked in its favor. The series is definitely a nod to reader. Reading the novel makes you appreciate the series more. For those who asks: why read the novel, if the series is just the same? Because you get information in the novel, that don’t get in the series. Plus reading is fundamental.
Hemlock Grove is weird, twisted, and throws out normal conventions. You better understand the characters, in the series, if you read the book. That transformation scene was superbly written, but it was a visually a work of art. It’s the most gruesome and visceral werewolf transformation I have ever watched. It’s perfection on film, that one scene made it worth watching.
Hemlock Grove is an example of where staying faithful actually worked in its favor. The series is definitely a nod to reader. Reading the novel makes you appreciate the series more. For those who asks: why read the novel, if the series is just the same? Because you get information in the novel, that don’t get in the series. Plus reading is fundamental.
Hemlock Grove is weird, twisted, and throws out normal conventions. You better understand the characters, in the series, if you read the book. That transformation scene was superbly written, but it was a visually a work of art. It’s the most gruesome and visceral werewolf transformation I have ever watched. It’s perfection on film, that one scene made it worth watching.
January 19, 2014
I finished the book yesterday, and I have been waffling between giving it 4 and 5 stars, ultimately deciding on 5 (even though I almost never give a 5), for the following reasons: when I finished it, the first thing I wanted to do was read it again, so I could catch more of the symbolism and clues to the mystery; also upon finishing the book, I felt compelled to re-read all of the interviews with the author, to get his take on the novel; I dog-eared many pages to mark unfamiliar words; and I cared enough about the story to actually look up those unfamiliar words.
The main thing that was tugging me toward a 4 was that this is not my favorite genre--I tend to prefer realism.
Speaking of genre, I suspect that some of the people who gave this book a low rating just didn't know what they were in for. This is not necessarily a "beach read." While it is a page-turner, the content is so thought-provoking that the pace of page-turning is a little slower. The vampire (upir), werewolf, and other characters are painted much more a la Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley than Stephenie Meyer, but with modern, accessible language.
There is a lot of absurdity and dark humor in Hemlock Grove. There is also humanity and compassion, as illustrated in my favorite quote from the book:
"I am ugly, Uncle. There is no other way to put it. But that does not mean I am without pride, without joy, without the same entitlement to feel deserving of love from those not obligated by blood to give it. I may be ugly, but I can hardly imagine a reason to act like it."
Soon, filming will being on a Netflix TV series based on Hemlock Grove. It is sure to be faithful to the book, as McGreevy is both writing the screenplay and acting as executive producer. Yes, I will watch it. But watching film is a very different process from reading. Read the book--you'll want to experience all that this young, talented writer has to offer.
[Below is what I wrote after the first 20 pages of the novel.]
My first impression: What does this author have against commas? Right away, I needed to re-read several sentences, in order to make sense of them. I worried that the burden of mentally inserting commas would detract from my enjoyment of the novel. I quickly grew accustomed to McGreevy's style, however, and it didn't take long for me to follow the character development and plot with ease and interest.
McGreevy has done his homework; he sprinkles a few Romani words and sophisticated vampire terms here and there, leading me to do my homework, thus enriching my word-power. I sometimes give an extra star in the rating for that!
The first mystery in the plot--a gruesome murder--is revealed in the synopsis found on the back of the book, and in several reviews accessible on the internet. Already, in the first 20 pages, I'm curious about a second mystery: Who is the narrator? First-person pronouns appear from time to time, leading me to strongly suspect that the narrator will eventually be revealed as a character that's integral to the story. Hmmm.
The main thing that was tugging me toward a 4 was that this is not my favorite genre--I tend to prefer realism.
Speaking of genre, I suspect that some of the people who gave this book a low rating just didn't know what they were in for. This is not necessarily a "beach read." While it is a page-turner, the content is so thought-provoking that the pace of page-turning is a little slower. The vampire (upir), werewolf, and other characters are painted much more a la Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley than Stephenie Meyer, but with modern, accessible language.
There is a lot of absurdity and dark humor in Hemlock Grove. There is also humanity and compassion, as illustrated in my favorite quote from the book:
"I am ugly, Uncle. There is no other way to put it. But that does not mean I am without pride, without joy, without the same entitlement to feel deserving of love from those not obligated by blood to give it. I may be ugly, but I can hardly imagine a reason to act like it."
Soon, filming will being on a Netflix TV series based on Hemlock Grove. It is sure to be faithful to the book, as McGreevy is both writing the screenplay and acting as executive producer. Yes, I will watch it. But watching film is a very different process from reading. Read the book--you'll want to experience all that this young, talented writer has to offer.
[Below is what I wrote after the first 20 pages of the novel.]
My first impression: What does this author have against commas? Right away, I needed to re-read several sentences, in order to make sense of them. I worried that the burden of mentally inserting commas would detract from my enjoyment of the novel. I quickly grew accustomed to McGreevy's style, however, and it didn't take long for me to follow the character development and plot with ease and interest.
McGreevy has done his homework; he sprinkles a few Romani words and sophisticated vampire terms here and there, leading me to do my homework, thus enriching my word-power. I sometimes give an extra star in the rating for that!
The first mystery in the plot--a gruesome murder--is revealed in the synopsis found on the back of the book, and in several reviews accessible on the internet. Already, in the first 20 pages, I'm curious about a second mystery: Who is the narrator? First-person pronouns appear from time to time, leading me to strongly suspect that the narrator will eventually be revealed as a character that's integral to the story. Hmmm.
June 17, 2020
2020-
I felt exactly the same way upon reread (I listened this time), but will say that hearing it aloud was a bit better. It made me miss seeing these "boys", so I may need to rewatch the show.
2015 -
I wanted to give this five stars, I really did. I absolutely gave the series, on Netflix, the highest rating, but this is one of the cases where the series/film did the story more credit than the author. Rare, but it happens. McGreevy had a great tale in mind, but the manner in which he wrote it leaves a lot to be desired. The biggest problem for me are the occasional asides that break the fourth wall. The book is NOT an intimate, first person narrative, but he peppers a few instances of “The faint of heart may want to look away...” and such that just pulled me out of the story.
This is an entire book of what-the-fuckery. Every time something funky happens you just have to roll with it, because more funk is on the way and that becomes apparent about 10 pages in. McGreevy seems to write with the assumption that his readers either know a lot about Gypsies and/or Upir. I didn’t when I started the show, but I read up on both and so entered the book with a pretty good understanding. Had I read the book first, I may not have gone on to watch the show.
I absolutely love the relationship between Gypsy Peter and Upir Roman. They are just so perfect together, but I can’t say if that’s because I pictured the actors as I read or because McGreevy wrote them well. They are so obviously in love with each other while both being very, very straight at the same time. They give a whole new meaning to the term “Bromance.” If you like that kind of story (I wasn’t aware I did until this book!) Read this! It’s full of romantic angst and weirdness that if taken with a grain of salt is very, very entertaining.
This book and the show reminded me a bit of the old serial Dark Shadows. Trust me, that’s a good thing!
I felt exactly the same way upon reread (I listened this time), but will say that hearing it aloud was a bit better. It made me miss seeing these "boys", so I may need to rewatch the show.
2015 -
I wanted to give this five stars, I really did. I absolutely gave the series, on Netflix, the highest rating, but this is one of the cases where the series/film did the story more credit than the author. Rare, but it happens. McGreevy had a great tale in mind, but the manner in which he wrote it leaves a lot to be desired. The biggest problem for me are the occasional asides that break the fourth wall. The book is NOT an intimate, first person narrative, but he peppers a few instances of “The faint of heart may want to look away...” and such that just pulled me out of the story.
This is an entire book of what-the-fuckery. Every time something funky happens you just have to roll with it, because more funk is on the way and that becomes apparent about 10 pages in. McGreevy seems to write with the assumption that his readers either know a lot about Gypsies and/or Upir. I didn’t when I started the show, but I read up on both and so entered the book with a pretty good understanding. Had I read the book first, I may not have gone on to watch the show.
I absolutely love the relationship between Gypsy Peter and Upir Roman. They are just so perfect together, but I can’t say if that’s because I pictured the actors as I read or because McGreevy wrote them well. They are so obviously in love with each other while both being very, very straight at the same time. They give a whole new meaning to the term “Bromance.” If you like that kind of story (I wasn’t aware I did until this book!) Read this! It’s full of romantic angst and weirdness that if taken with a grain of salt is very, very entertaining.
This book and the show reminded me a bit of the old serial Dark Shadows. Trust me, that’s a good thing!
September 17, 2014
On a scale of 1 to 5, internally rate how much you love the following:
Terrible sentence structure and a complete disregard for the use of commas.
A self referential writer/ narrator.
Frequent use of the word “retard.”
ESP tied to the testicles of a main character.
Plot developments seemingly placed entirely for shock value.
Incest/ rape.
Giant gaps in the storyline with no explanation.
Major unanswered questions.
A conclusion that makes little or no sense.
If you gave a “5” to more than one of the above listed book-travesties, Hemlock Grove may be for you. I hesitate to think that it really may be for anyone at all, but a bunch of people on Goodreads gave it 5 stars, so there’s that. There are also a lot of people who really enjoy the show on Netflix, but I have never seen it and I can’t compare it to the book. If they are anything alike, I don’t see a binge-watch in my future.
The story is essentially built around the characters of a gypsy named Peter and an upir named Roman. What is an upir, you ask? You find out at the very end. (You’re not supposed to know. Don’t Google it or the reveal falls flat.) Anyway, Peter is a werewolf and an outcast in his new town. His other nature is a secret, except apparently, to the other supernaturals and a teenage neighbor who seems to have some very potent reading material on the occult.
Someone is killing girls in the neighborhood in a grisly manner. At first, Peter and Roman suspect one another, but then eventually work together to find the killer. There are also other things going on like secret research at the nearby biomedical institute; Roman’s giant 7-foot sister who can’t speak and walks with her feet encased in giant milk crates full of soil; an immaculate conception for Roman’s cousin; some weird maybe brainwashing thing that has to do with prime numbers?; the list goes on. So does my list of things that make no sense or were thrown in for shock value: like the character who smears himself with grease so a wolf can eat his face. Like what in the fresh hell is Roman’s mother? Like the seriously bizarre explanation of Roman’s birth. Like how a dead character came back to life. Like how the killer became a werewolf. Or like how the doctor was building a body for “his best girl.”
There are so very many things that are baffling that I can’t even pretend to be shocked by the ending which is a bizarre combination of disgusting, lame, and soaked in WTF-ery. Plot threads dangle. I honestly don’t even care.
I had to read passages over and over again, because the phrasing was so awkward and the punctuation is so bad. And then, not long after the narrator/ writer of the story is revealed… s/he dies. So WHO WROTE THE REST OF THE STORY? It’s not even consistent with its own premise.
I kept waiting for it all to come together in some awesome –or at least interesting– way. After all, they made a show out of this book and there is going to be a second season. But it never happened. This is just a hot mess.
Rating: D-/F
*Book provided by publisher for review
Terrible sentence structure and a complete disregard for the use of commas.
A self referential writer/ narrator.
Frequent use of the word “retard.”
ESP tied to the testicles of a main character.
Plot developments seemingly placed entirely for shock value.
Incest/ rape.
Giant gaps in the storyline with no explanation.
Major unanswered questions.
A conclusion that makes little or no sense.
If you gave a “5” to more than one of the above listed book-travesties, Hemlock Grove may be for you. I hesitate to think that it really may be for anyone at all, but a bunch of people on Goodreads gave it 5 stars, so there’s that. There are also a lot of people who really enjoy the show on Netflix, but I have never seen it and I can’t compare it to the book. If they are anything alike, I don’t see a binge-watch in my future.
The story is essentially built around the characters of a gypsy named Peter and an upir named Roman. What is an upir, you ask? You find out at the very end. (You’re not supposed to know. Don’t Google it or the reveal falls flat.) Anyway, Peter is a werewolf and an outcast in his new town. His other nature is a secret, except apparently, to the other supernaturals and a teenage neighbor who seems to have some very potent reading material on the occult.
Someone is killing girls in the neighborhood in a grisly manner. At first, Peter and Roman suspect one another, but then eventually work together to find the killer. There are also other things going on like secret research at the nearby biomedical institute; Roman’s giant 7-foot sister who can’t speak and walks with her feet encased in giant milk crates full of soil; an immaculate conception for Roman’s cousin; some weird maybe brainwashing thing that has to do with prime numbers?; the list goes on. So does my list of things that make no sense or were thrown in for shock value: like the character who smears himself with grease so a wolf can eat his face. Like what in the fresh hell is Roman’s mother? Like the seriously bizarre explanation of Roman’s birth. Like how a dead character came back to life. Like how the killer became a werewolf. Or like how the doctor was building a body for “his best girl.”
There are so very many things that are baffling that I can’t even pretend to be shocked by the ending which is a bizarre combination of disgusting, lame, and soaked in WTF-ery. Plot threads dangle. I honestly don’t even care.
I had to read passages over and over again, because the phrasing was so awkward and the punctuation is so bad. And then, not long after the narrator/ writer of the story is revealed… s/he dies. So WHO WROTE THE REST OF THE STORY? It’s not even consistent with its own premise.
I kept waiting for it all to come together in some awesome –or at least interesting– way. After all, they made a show out of this book and there is going to be a second season. But it never happened. This is just a hot mess.
Rating: D-/F
*Book provided by publisher for review
October 20, 2013
"The flesh is as sacred as it is profane."
"I cannot tell how it mounts on the winds through the clouds and flies through heaven. Today I have seen the dragon."
This book is not not NOT for the faint of heart.
Now that that warning is out of the way, may I feel free to start gushing about this book?
Excellent.
It's amazing. Most certainly one of the best, if not the best werewolf book I have read in a very long time. I actually haven't picked up any were books recently because I was getting a little tired of the same thing all the time, but this book completely blew the doors off of all my expectations. It was absolutely fabulous.
The writing style and storyline is very raw, very gritty, and very very intriguing. The language and tone seem to contain such a flair of magic and mystery, yet seem really down to earth at the same time.
The most interesting aspect of this book however is the fact that, in my opinion, most if not all of the characters are extremely unlikable. They are all undeniably fucked up, and the amount of sexual deviancy and drug use in this book is just astounding. However you still LOVE these characters to death (espescially Olivia Godfrey, who I have adopted as my spirit animal :P) which I found very confusing. So many times during the course of this book I found myself so drawn up in the story and was utterly surprised to find this occurring. That's what this book does, it takes you by surprise and makes you love despicable yet fascinating characters.
It was amazing and I think I may be reading it again soon!
"I cannot tell how it mounts on the winds through the clouds and flies through heaven. Today I have seen the dragon."
This book is not not NOT for the faint of heart.
Now that that warning is out of the way, may I feel free to start gushing about this book?
Excellent.
It's amazing. Most certainly one of the best, if not the best werewolf book I have read in a very long time. I actually haven't picked up any were books recently because I was getting a little tired of the same thing all the time, but this book completely blew the doors off of all my expectations. It was absolutely fabulous.
The writing style and storyline is very raw, very gritty, and very very intriguing. The language and tone seem to contain such a flair of magic and mystery, yet seem really down to earth at the same time.
The most interesting aspect of this book however is the fact that, in my opinion, most if not all of the characters are extremely unlikable. They are all undeniably fucked up, and the amount of sexual deviancy and drug use in this book is just astounding. However you still LOVE these characters to death (espescially Olivia Godfrey, who I have adopted as my spirit animal :P) which I found very confusing. So many times during the course of this book I found myself so drawn up in the story and was utterly surprised to find this occurring. That's what this book does, it takes you by surprise and makes you love despicable yet fascinating characters.
It was amazing and I think I may be reading it again soon!
June 21, 2012
"Words are thermal energies. These energies were introduced into her system to become kinetic in her thighs and her fingertips and behind her eyelids. States of matter changed. Her heart became a liquid that pooled under her feet and she was a water bug racing on molecules."
-from Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy
How could I not love a book written with that kind of balls-to-the-wall arty self-indulgence? Hemlock Grove is a supernatural psychological mystery thriller that kept my brain working frantically to keep up, to catch all the allusions and bits of humor, and to puzzle through what was really going on despite a possibly unreliable narrator. There are plenty of Hemlock Grove mysteries I still don't know the answers to, but the characters are so fascinating, so filled with yearning and ache, that it's all good. Peter and Roman, the two teenage boys on the cusp of manhood; Christina the would-be writer rushing headlong and carelessly toward experience and danger; and poor Shelley the gigantic malformed freak girl who is both clumsy, and secretly eloquent... And of course some of the characters are werewolves, "upirs," and other more mysterious things. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by this author.
-from Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy
How could I not love a book written with that kind of balls-to-the-wall arty self-indulgence? Hemlock Grove is a supernatural psychological mystery thriller that kept my brain working frantically to keep up, to catch all the allusions and bits of humor, and to puzzle through what was really going on despite a possibly unreliable narrator. There are plenty of Hemlock Grove mysteries I still don't know the answers to, but the characters are so fascinating, so filled with yearning and ache, that it's all good. Peter and Roman, the two teenage boys on the cusp of manhood; Christina the would-be writer rushing headlong and carelessly toward experience and danger; and poor Shelley the gigantic malformed freak girl who is both clumsy, and secretly eloquent... And of course some of the characters are werewolves, "upirs," and other more mysterious things. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by this author.
August 18, 2020
Gorgeous wordlings
simply put it delivers
with the wolves, the Hunter's Moon, with the overwrought prose being just how I like it, with all the monsters, guts, gores, Gothicness, and all the red in between, I love this book. Just perfectly nonsensical.
as AURORA would say ;
There's blood on your lies
The sky's open wide
There is nowhere for you to hide
The hunter's moon is shining
I'm running with the wolves tonight
I'm running with the wolves
I'm running with the wolves tonight
I'm running with the wolves
I'm running with the
November 26, 2017
3.5.........So I’m a little conflicted with this review because I really liked the beginning of this book and how it started out. It even held me until the last chapters --- that’s when it got kinda’ confusing. Lol! I had not seen the show before I read this so I really had no idea what this was about. Just going from the cover of the book I thought, okay…..werewolf-ish, urban fantasy which included upirs (a species of vampire). I noticed from other reviews that people had problems with McGreevy’s writing structure but I actually liked it. His use of “big” words I kind of found refreshing and it made my mind think. Lol! As for the narration, that may have been the difficult part because there were times when I wasn’t sure whose point of view the story was being told. McGreevy doesn’t really spell it all out for you and you kind of question things but that’s okay. I kind of got the feeling this was a set up for another book but there hasn’t been another once since, so I guess I’m wrong. Lol! Either way, I’m now interested in seeing the show so maybe that will explain some of my unanswered questions..
November 19, 2022
3.5 stars
I initially expected this book would be a cheesy urban fantasy story in the vein of twilight. Thankfully it was not. I think this novel is still classified as YA but I found a maturity in the characters and tone that appealed to my adult self. Furthermore, I like the subtle worldbuilding surrounding the supernatural creatures which felt gritty and fresh. The plot was a little simple, but this was a pleasant surprise.
I initially expected this book would be a cheesy urban fantasy story in the vein of twilight. Thankfully it was not. I think this novel is still classified as YA but I found a maturity in the characters and tone that appealed to my adult self. Furthermore, I like the subtle worldbuilding surrounding the supernatural creatures which felt gritty and fresh. The plot was a little simple, but this was a pleasant surprise.
May 26, 2016
I kind of want to give this book zero stars. But even for a book I hated as much as this one, that seems mean. And I did finish it after all. So let's say .5 stars.
Anyway, this book is the definition of throwing a bunch of things against the wall and hoping they stick. But none of it sticks. Just look at the book blurb. It mentions a murder mystery, biological experimentation, a werewolf, and a snobby rich kid thrown into the mix for good measure. That's all there and only some of it works. Most of it is just white noise, empty words thrown onto the page. I don't understand why the biotech company was thrown in there at all, or the snobby rich kid (his name is Roman) or even the murder mystery. Because it all amounts to a whole lot of nothing. Nothing is explained really well either. The g*psy characters throw out terms that are never translated or explained. The characters who work at the biotech firm use terms that are also never explained, leaving entire chapters incomprehensible. Plot threads are dropped and picked up again seemingly at random. On top of all that, the story is buried under bloated prose that reads like someone put the original manuscript through the thesaurus in Microsoft Word a bunch of times. At first glance, the words seem poetic, maybe even meaningful; but once you look closer everything's empty. By the end I started picking sentences apart, removing all the unnecessary words to get to the root of what the author was trying to say at any particular moment. It was much more fun than trying to follow the story that was being told.
Another thing that bugged me were a lot of throw away lines about women that were more than a little offensive. There were also uses of slurs that rubbed me the wrong way that felt thrown in just because. Sometimes I thought maybe these lines and words were supposed to say something about the immaturity of the characters who say them, but as the book wore on I became less and less sure of this original assumption. The female characters in this book are thinly sketched at best. And they fall into two categories for the most part, victim or bitch. When male characters talk derisively about women all the time and then the female characters live up to the dumb things they say, that's troubling to say the least.
The only thing that works is Peter's story. Peter's the new kid in town, the G*psy, the suspected werewolf. Peter feels fully fleshed out, almost like a real teenager. The scenes of him at school, with his mother, hanging out with Roman; they work. When a romance is thrown in, it works too. It makes me wonder if this book started out as a YA novel about Peter and then somewhere down the line the author decided to turn it into something else by throwing in all the other nonsense. Or maybe even a YA novel about all the teens in the strange town of Hemlock Grove, because all of them worked for me as characters on some level. And there was this entire thread about discovery of sexuality that was interesting.
But then again, Roman was a teenage character, and he was the worst. He wasn't so much a character as much as a jumble of characteristics into an unlikable whole. I never understood Roman's motivation for doing anything. I think his selfish and bratty attitude was supposed to explain his irrational behavior, but that can only explain so much. My breaking point was when he did something I found reprehensible about 2/3 through the book that he shows no remorse for and is never mentioned again. I had to put the book down and walk away from it for a few hours, that's how angry the act and the response to it made me.
In the end, Hemlock Grove is bogged down by too many plots, too many trying to be profound but failing miserably moments, and hacky prose. But I read the whole damn thing anyway. It is compulsively readable nonsense. I don't recommend it.
Anyway, this book is the definition of throwing a bunch of things against the wall and hoping they stick. But none of it sticks. Just look at the book blurb. It mentions a murder mystery, biological experimentation, a werewolf, and a snobby rich kid thrown into the mix for good measure. That's all there and only some of it works. Most of it is just white noise, empty words thrown onto the page. I don't understand why the biotech company was thrown in there at all, or the snobby rich kid (his name is Roman) or even the murder mystery. Because it all amounts to a whole lot of nothing. Nothing is explained really well either. The g*psy characters throw out terms that are never translated or explained. The characters who work at the biotech firm use terms that are also never explained, leaving entire chapters incomprehensible. Plot threads are dropped and picked up again seemingly at random. On top of all that, the story is buried under bloated prose that reads like someone put the original manuscript through the thesaurus in Microsoft Word a bunch of times. At first glance, the words seem poetic, maybe even meaningful; but once you look closer everything's empty. By the end I started picking sentences apart, removing all the unnecessary words to get to the root of what the author was trying to say at any particular moment. It was much more fun than trying to follow the story that was being told.
Another thing that bugged me were a lot of throw away lines about women that were more than a little offensive. There were also uses of slurs that rubbed me the wrong way that felt thrown in just because. Sometimes I thought maybe these lines and words were supposed to say something about the immaturity of the characters who say them, but as the book wore on I became less and less sure of this original assumption. The female characters in this book are thinly sketched at best. And they fall into two categories for the most part, victim or bitch. When male characters talk derisively about women all the time and then the female characters live up to the dumb things they say, that's troubling to say the least.
The only thing that works is Peter's story. Peter's the new kid in town, the G*psy, the suspected werewolf. Peter feels fully fleshed out, almost like a real teenager. The scenes of him at school, with his mother, hanging out with Roman; they work. When a romance is thrown in, it works too. It makes me wonder if this book started out as a YA novel about Peter and then somewhere down the line the author decided to turn it into something else by throwing in all the other nonsense. Or maybe even a YA novel about all the teens in the strange town of Hemlock Grove, because all of them worked for me as characters on some level. And there was this entire thread about discovery of sexuality that was interesting.
But then again, Roman was a teenage character, and he was the worst. He wasn't so much a character as much as a jumble of characteristics into an unlikable whole. I never understood Roman's motivation for doing anything. I think his selfish and bratty attitude was supposed to explain his irrational behavior, but that can only explain so much. My breaking point was when he did something I found reprehensible about 2/3 through the book that he shows no remorse for and is never mentioned again. I had to put the book down and walk away from it for a few hours, that's how angry the act and the response to it made me.
In the end, Hemlock Grove is bogged down by too many plots, too many trying to be profound but failing miserably moments, and hacky prose. But I read the whole damn thing anyway. It is compulsively readable nonsense. I don't recommend it.
November 17, 2023
Reread, 2023: Fourth time reading this; welcome to five stars. The trick of the narrator, the prickly internal view of Peter in particular, and all the scenes with Chasseur; it's not magically less [insert flaw here], I just love it too much to care about flaws.
Reread, 2021: Is this good? often no, because it's hammy and contrived (the writing especially) and just riddled with problematic elements. But the TV adaptation is so faithful that the book often feels like fanfic in the sense of that it provides an interior glimpse of favorite characters & scenes, and boy howdy do I love--these characters, these scenes, these themes, this tone and general tableau. Peter is especially interesting in the book because he's even more stand-offish and young, wanting so hard to live without; and of course fails profoundly. And what's better than the tension of saying one thing and intensely feeling something in conflict, especially when the conflict is, you know, homoeroticism, vampires, werewolves, and "God doesn't want you to be happy; He wants you to be strong"?
& as bad as the writing is, in the sense of "needs an editor," I love Christina so much that the weirdness of the voice becomes endearing.
Original review, 2015: Two strangers are drawn together by the death of a young woman to an apparent animal attack: Peter, Romani, outsider, and perhaps a werewolf, and Roman, heir to Hemlock Grove's medical empire and gifted with strange powers of his own. The Netflix adaptation is surprisingly faithful, so fans of the show will find this familiar. I prefer the show, but only by bare margin. All the best dynamics and lines come directly from the book, the McGreevy's voice is a delight, abrupt in pacing, florid in wording, perfect for the reluctant but intense desires of the cast. I found this absorbing, and while Hemlock Grove carries inherent caveats (for the representation of Romani people, and for its indulgent grotesquery) I recommend it.
Reread, 2021: Is this good? often no, because it's hammy and contrived (the writing especially) and just riddled with problematic elements. But the TV adaptation is so faithful that the book often feels like fanfic in the sense of that it provides an interior glimpse of favorite characters & scenes, and boy howdy do I love--these characters, these scenes, these themes, this tone and general tableau. Peter is especially interesting in the book because he's even more stand-offish and young, wanting so hard to live without; and of course fails profoundly. And what's better than the tension of saying one thing and intensely feeling something in conflict, especially when the conflict is, you know, homoeroticism, vampires, werewolves, and "God doesn't want you to be happy; He wants you to be strong"?
& as bad as the writing is, in the sense of "needs an editor," I love Christina so much that the weirdness of the voice becomes endearing.
Original review, 2015: Two strangers are drawn together by the death of a young woman to an apparent animal attack: Peter, Romani, outsider, and perhaps a werewolf, and Roman, heir to Hemlock Grove's medical empire and gifted with strange powers of his own. The Netflix adaptation is surprisingly faithful, so fans of the show will find this familiar. I prefer the show, but only by bare margin. All the best dynamics and lines come directly from the book, the McGreevy's voice is a delight, abrupt in pacing, florid in wording, perfect for the reluctant but intense desires of the cast. I found this absorbing, and while Hemlock Grove carries inherent caveats (for the representation of Romani people, and for its indulgent grotesquery) I recommend it.
May 23, 2013
Ok, so I watched the series on Netflix before I read the book. I never do that. For some reason I thought maybe I would watch one or two episodes to see if it looked good, and then decide if I wanted to read the book. Fortunately (unfortunately?) I got hooked instantly and finished the series in 2 days. That being said, it's very hard for me to review the book apart from the series. Let's just say the book is good enough that Eli Roth discovered it and had a hand in creating the show.
Most of the dialogue in the series was lifted word for word from the novel, and there are very few differences between the book and the show. If you have access to Netflix, my advice is to go and watch the series now. The choice of actors, the setting, everything is dead on. Episode 2 actually contains one of the best instances of television CGI I have ever seen. If you are like me, then you can go read the book just to enjoy the small differences and McGreevy's excellent prose. If you don't have Netflix but love the horror genre, definitely read the book. McGreevy takes all of the old and even new (and tiring) monster archetypes and turns them on their heads. This is a delightful little nasty page turner.
Most of the dialogue in the series was lifted word for word from the novel, and there are very few differences between the book and the show. If you have access to Netflix, my advice is to go and watch the series now. The choice of actors, the setting, everything is dead on. Episode 2 actually contains one of the best instances of television CGI I have ever seen. If you are like me, then you can go read the book just to enjoy the small differences and McGreevy's excellent prose. If you don't have Netflix but love the horror genre, definitely read the book. McGreevy takes all of the old and even new (and tiring) monster archetypes and turns them on their heads. This is a delightful little nasty page turner.
August 3, 2016
3.5 stars (rounded down.)
I read this book in preparation for viewing the Netflix series.
That said, this book was a realatively fun read, and had an interesting mish-mash of genre concepts, but the.. interesting?.. writing style made it a bit harder to read than it should have been for a book of this type.
That said, I'm curious to see how Netflix adapted this book to a series.
I read this book in preparation for viewing the Netflix series.
That said, this book was a realatively fun read, and had an interesting mish-mash of genre concepts, but the.. interesting?.. writing style made it a bit harder to read than it should have been for a book of this type.
That said, I'm curious to see how Netflix adapted this book to a series.
Read
December 6, 2011I don't even know how to rate this because I have no idea what the hell happened! Damn, perhaps I'm just a dullard
August 12, 2015
ABR's original Hemlock Grove audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Warning: this novel is considered to be Horror –Thriller, and isn’t suitable for those with faint hearts.
This novel talks about crimes happening in Hemlock Grove. People say that the killer is a monster. The main suspect looks to be “rumored werewolf” Peter (who really is a werewolf) as the killer. Peter with the help of his Upir friend, Roman, will work to solve the case. During their sleuthing, we see the secrets unfold in their lives and the lives of the people around them.
This by no means is a simple crime story. One can feel the originality in the style in almost every aspect of the novel which will be described by the most as strange; the suspense will knock you off your feet from the first chapter.
The settings border between reality and paranormal, we see normal people going on with their normal lives, but the main focus here is on the lives of the paranormal creatures. The characters are very well developed leaving the reader invested in them. It is clear the characters are dynamic (even though there were some out of character behaviors) and logical while also being appealing and frightening at the same time.
The events are told through several characters perspectives. Switches in the point of view was done swiftly but were sometimes sudden and strange. The events were never predictable (which is a great aspect in any crime novel) and with just the suitable climactic ending. The plot was fast going, full of twists and turns at every corner, with threads adding up to the basic plot until you feel that the crime is the minor plot of another turn of events.
Sean Runnette did a good job with this one, his voice carried the events in a composed calm manner, you could distinguish most of the characters by voice only, since he gave each of them special volume, and accent suitable for the character.
Production was well done and clear. No issues.
Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.
Warning: this novel is considered to be Horror –Thriller, and isn’t suitable for those with faint hearts.
This novel talks about crimes happening in Hemlock Grove. People say that the killer is a monster. The main suspect looks to be “rumored werewolf” Peter (who really is a werewolf) as the killer. Peter with the help of his Upir friend, Roman, will work to solve the case. During their sleuthing, we see the secrets unfold in their lives and the lives of the people around them.
This by no means is a simple crime story. One can feel the originality in the style in almost every aspect of the novel which will be described by the most as strange; the suspense will knock you off your feet from the first chapter.
The settings border between reality and paranormal, we see normal people going on with their normal lives, but the main focus here is on the lives of the paranormal creatures. The characters are very well developed leaving the reader invested in them. It is clear the characters are dynamic (even though there were some out of character behaviors) and logical while also being appealing and frightening at the same time.
The events are told through several characters perspectives. Switches in the point of view was done swiftly but were sometimes sudden and strange. The events were never predictable (which is a great aspect in any crime novel) and with just the suitable climactic ending. The plot was fast going, full of twists and turns at every corner, with threads adding up to the basic plot until you feel that the crime is the minor plot of another turn of events.
Sean Runnette did a good job with this one, his voice carried the events in a composed calm manner, you could distinguish most of the characters by voice only, since he gave each of them special volume, and accent suitable for the character.
Production was well done and clear. No issues.
Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.
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