If you like: Imperfect heroines, The 10th Kingdom, gritty fairy tales, stories within stories, Neil Gaiman, Naomi Novik.
“I’ve had anger issues all my life, which [my mom] treated with meditation tapes, low-rent Reiki therapy she taught herself from a book, and the mouth guard I was supposed to wear but couldn’t stand. During the day, I bit back every nasty thing I thought about my stepfather. At night, I took it out on my teeth.”
One of my favorite things about The Hazel Wood is that the main protagonist, Alice, is angry.
It isn’t in Alice’s nature to be nice. She has to count to ten, breathe out the bad and in the good. Being cruel gives her a flush of dark satisfaction throughout most of the book. I love that Alice’s anger is a volatile, all-consuming thing, but she tries and tries and tries to reel it in and better herself.
I had the privilege of reading an ARC of this book by working as a bookseller. YA ARCs that are sent to my store range from inconsequential to entertaining, but The Hazel Wood is the first one that has smacked me in the face before nestling close to my heart.
I am enamored with Melissa Albert’s writing style. The story is vibrant, palpable. New York City is gritty and grimy and dirty, while the fairy-tale world of the Hinterland is earthy and raw. Though the two settings are very different, there are threads of beautiful descriptions that seemingly tie the two worlds together. Albert’s words take root and make Alice’s journey visceral.
The Hazel Wood has a dark gravity akin to Grimm fairy tales, except that in the Hinterland, there are no themes, or lessons. Bad and good things happen in a chaos that only magic can cause. Alice knows that. Alice is smart, fierce, persevering and doesn’t scrabble for things like meaning or reason while searching for her mother.
In one part of the book, Alice’s companion Finch says, “No, I mean, even if we wanted to. It’s like…we have no choice but to keep going.”
To which Alice replies, “What? Yes we do. We have a choice and we’re choosing it. This isn’t fate, Finch, this is getting bullied by supernatural assholes.”
Except for one small part of the book, Alice fights for and maintains her own sense of agency. Yeah, she’s in a messed up situation in a messed up world, but that doesn’t stop her from taking control of her life—the choices that lead her to where she is, and where she’s going.
The Hazel Wood is a standalone. I honestly feel a little cheated that Albert created an interesting, intricate world in the Hinterland, but I was only able to spend a short amount of time there as a reader. I understand that it’s better to leave people wanting more than dragging a story on and on (and on and on, like, three or four books more), but DAMN. I still love the ending. The final sorting of relationships is satisfying. Nothing felt contrived, or out of place while I gripped the book and read the very last sentence.
If you love fairy tales, beautiful writing, and the question of what is inside us versus what we choose to be, The Hazel Wood is a must-read.
"The Hazel Wood" by Melissa Albert; Macmillan; January 2018.
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