![]() ![]() It is as though we did not see the full picture initially, and we slowly unravel fragments of someone’s lost memory. The puzzle is interesting at the start, and we slowly uncover things and details that initially did not make much sense to us. Ann, Wade’s second wife, now has to deal with the consequences of this still unsolved mystery. The book’s rural setting gives it some otherworldly quality, and Idaho starts well, intriguingly, alluding to some mystery at the heart of the plot – a crime which happened in the woods some time previously while the Mitchell family was collecting firewood. ![]() Though her attempt is admirable, the book is also very problematic: if the beginning is promising, the book soon morphs into a frustrating read, and the ending borders on pointlessness. Idaho is an almost experimental novel, in which the author uses the evocative language to shed light on the nature of memory, loss, grief and guilt. ![]() If this sounds vague and confusing, it is because it is supposed to. Years after the incident, Wade suffers from memory loss, and it is up to his new wife Ann “to retrace the memory steps”. Jumping timelines, Ruskovich paints an unsettling picture of one family broken apart. That accident involved a family of four: Wade, Jenny and their two daughters, May and June. Idaho alludes to some accident which happened sometime in the past in the woods of Idaho. Emily Ruskovich’s debut is a strange book. ![]()
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