I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Evie of the Deepthorn is a strange tale so nonlinear that it becomes convoluted and confusing.

1 out of 5 stars. Do not recommend.

"Evie of the Deepthorn" started off ok but things changed along the way and it didn't really hold my attention. I really struggled to finish it. I just did not connect with the story or the characters.

I’m not clear about what I just read... not only a little confused but after the first 20% (which was interesting) the story flipped entirely. It just wasn’t for me...

*Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Just as I was starting to get into one storyline, the perspective changed.

It tells the stories of teenagers who are all interconnected. It deals with loss, family issues, poor friendships, bullying dynamics and peer pressure.

<b>Evie of the Deepthorn</b> is a novel of three interconnected stories. All of the narrators are touched by Evie of the Deepthorn in different ways. For Kent Evie of the Deepthorn is a cult classic movie. For Sarah it is a book of her own creation and for Reza it is his lover's poem. In all three of these renditions Evie is young girl who loses her parents to tragedy then finds her strength in the wilderness. Yet she means different things to each of them. Another thread that holds the three characters together is the small town of Durham. In a way the town is its own character inflicting its will on all of them.

Young Kent is a high school senior who is living with the loss of his older brother Jeff. Although Jeff was always one edge and teetering on the brink of anger, he still represented safety for Kent. Things that he would never attempt alone he could do with Jeff at his side. Kent sees himself as Evie as he must embark on this dangerous journey known as adulthood. But he doesn't see himself as determined or prepared for battle as the protagonist of his favorite movie. He is unsure of himself and wary of what his future holds.

Sarah is a depressed young woman who writes as a cathartic experience. Fiction for her represents a <i>"scrubbed clean reality"</i> that one can escape too and hide from the demons that haunt them. For her fiction is the only place <i>"where real triumph can be found."</i> As her story takes place over a number of years her character matures and is able to accept a duality in her presence. Evie and the wicked witch Llor represent two sides of a coin. Llor is the lonlieness and anger that has driven a wedge between her family. She is regret for the wrongs Sarah has done and for the things she has said that she cannot take back. Evie is her hope at redemption and overcoming her own shortfalls.

Reza's story is the shortest of the three. You don't get to spend too much time with him but what you learn is how much Jeff's death and Ken't's life has affected him. You learn how much poetry can resound with one's heart and speak to the pain that resides within.

One of the quotes that stands out in this book was one where Jeff and Kent are arguing the point of art as perspective. I feel as if Babyn could also be talking about Durham and how where we live and the people we live among shapes us and in part determines how we see ourselves.
<blockquote><i>"Everything in that picture is paint. It's all paint," I said. "The angel is the same as everyone fighting in the background. She's the same because she could be them and they could be here. Every inch of that canvas carries the potential to be anything else. You can't just . . . separate an object from itself like that. They're all constructed together. One allows the other to exist, even if it seems like they don't fit together or they exist on different planes . . . ."</i></blockquote>

The premise behind this book seemed interesting enough but I struggled to find my way through. I enjoyed the references to books and art as a form of release but I found title and the blurb is misleading with Evie of the Deepthorn as an overarching thread being tenuous at best.

<i>Special thanks to NetGalley, Dundurn Press and Andre Babyn for advanced access to this book.</i>

It’s a cult Canadian movie that Kent looks to for inspiration as he struggles to understand the death of his brother in Durham, a small town light-years from Toronto. It’s a fantasy novel that Sarah wrestles with as she navigates a traumatic childhood and comes to terms with her failures as an adult. It’s a poem that motivates Reza to go on a pilgrimage from which he will not return unscathed.

I was a little confused the first part of the novel and it wasn't until about the halfway point that I really began t make sense of things and connect with the story and characters. Even with that hurdle- maybe im just dumb- I ended up really enjoying it and would definitely recommend it to others.

I finally saw what the author was going for with about 15% of the book remaining, but any resolution found in this disjointed and uncomfortable book was, frankly, too little, too late.

A preview of the novel was kindly sent me from the publishing house in exchange for an honest review. I'm very grateful to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read a novel that has delighted me. I find it an enormous privilege to receive novels of such good quality and to be able to talk about them, first of all because I find that getting to know valuable books that risk going unnoticed is really a wonderful possibility.
The premise is that this book is not an immediately accessible novel. Although the style is not an artifact, it is not very smooth and the narrative itself is not very quick. The book requires a certain concentration and also the willingness to wait for the story to unfold to its full potential. The plot itself, in my view, is original up to a certain point, but the book is not intended to be original, but rather to dig systematically into the human soul. In this sense, the writer succeeds fully in his intention: his characters are not only likely to be true, but they are deepened with care and sensitivity. Each of them has to deal with a cumbersome past, with discomforts accumulated over the years, of demons that persecute them and that, as a result, end up being haunted even for the reader. The author makes part of the events that have led the characters to live in a certain way unclear to us, which leads us to continue reading with growing interest.
The greatest merit of the book is the meticulous work on the language conducted by the author. Each word seems to be the result of a very calibrated reflection, which is by no means taken for granted when it comes to a beginner. The sentences are composed with extreme care and through them we perceive even more clearly the dramas, anxieties and vulnerability of the characters. In conclusion, it's a novel with a great evocative poenizal: the three characters are more than credible, the plot, although not very original, is captivating, and the style really improves the quality of the book.

Title: Evie of the Deepthorn
Author: Andre Babyn
Pages: 320
Expected publication date: February 8th 2020

I received this book from a Netgalley request for an honest review.

Evie of the Deepthorn is the story of Kent, Sarah, and Reza. For Kent, it is the movie that helps him cope with his brother’s death. For Sarah, it is the book that helps her deal with her broken family and her difficult adulthood. For Reza, it is a poem that helps me take a journey of reconciliation with his past. The book is divided into three sections and each covers the story of each of the three protagonists.
Kent’s story is well-written with a balanced ratio of flashback and present narratives. The flashbacks give the reader an insight into Kent’ relationship with his brother-Jeff, Jeff’s teenage years, and Jeff’s passion for a game called Magic. The present narrative is about how Kent struggles with making a movie for his media class because he is not able to find any topic of interest in his small hometown- Durham. The plot unravels Jeff’s story alongside Kent’s narrative and ends on a good note. The present narrative is concentrated mostly on Kent’s school life, which reflects the limitedness of being part of a small town. The first person narrative also enhances the smallness and insignificance of Durham life. However, these two factors of the plot help focus on Kent’s character development- how he tries understanding his brother’s death, how he grows as a person, and how his movie project helps me define what Durham means to him.

Sarah’s story spans over her teenage life and her adulthood and it is also well-written. Babyn has properly developed Sarah’s struggle with coping with her fighting parents, then the death of her father, and the relationship with her boyfriend. Her struggle is about connecting with the people around her and even though in the first story Durham gives the vibe of a small and lonely town, in this story it acts like a refuge for Sarah. It helps her self-reflect over her life and her relationships, which helps her change perspectives and make some decisions for herself. Durham is not a heart warming refuge for her, but it does allow her an escape from her hectic life for a little while in order to make some life-changing choices. In this story, the first person narrative is effective is depicting Sarah’s struggle with dealing with the things and people around her.

Reza’s story is drearier than the other two and to a big extent it did not make sense at all. All three characters’ stories are connected, but time line introduced in this story just throws you off and you wonder if the author has created three different stories using the same characters. Reza’s journey to Durham does help him reconcile with the loss of the people he knew, but I did not like the way his character was developed in the story- it gives you an insight into what his past was, but you are not sure of the purpose of any of his actions in the present narrative. His struggle is more internal than the other two protagonists, so he deals with it internally, which disconnects him from the other two characters’ stories and does not make his story a good resolution to Evie of the Deepthorn.

I liked Babyn’s writing style in Kent and Sarah’s stories because he properly developed their personalities, their life stories, and their struggles, but with Reza’s story, the character development and plot development was weak. This resolution is dissatisfying and does not enhance the connection between all the characters. Whenever I read stories that are set in small towns, they are mostly dark and I was expecting nothing different when I came across Kent’s description of Durham. Even with addressing the personal growth of characters and their relation with their home towns in a complex light, Babyn did not make the small town of Durham something exceptional to read about. For these reasons, I did not really like Evie of the Deepthorn and it was not the best book to end my year with.

Evie of the Deepthorn by André Babyn is a standlone novel, a read that deals with dark and heavy subjects. This is a new to me author and I'm happy to report I'm glad I gave his book a try.
Evie of the Deepthorn is written in the rare male pov and I was intrigued by the title and the synopsis.
I started reading and it took me some time to get into my flow and to get in to the story. The book had me in knots and I find it difficult to write a review that does the book justice.
I really, really tried, and I tried a bit more and then I tried harder to like the story and the characters, but I have to confess this isn't my favorite read.
But, yes there's always a but. The story is well written and maybe it's a wrong time wrong place thing with Evie and I. 3,5 Stars.

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley.

Overall, I think this book was well written. The writing style was good, and the flow was nice. The story itself (told from different POVs/perspectives) is a bit dark, isolated, and lonely for each individual. Each person had their own sense of disconnectedness from something in their life, which lead them to a central idea and location in Canada.

I liked the way the book was written, but I just didn't feel a deep connection or pull from the story itself. I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone for this reason alone (I can't really describe what the story was or how I really felt about it).

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley..

This was my first book by this author.
The blurb for this book was honestly extremely confusing, and I wasn't sure what I was about to read.
The book itself.... was okay. the writing style is unique, but also a tad confusing and difficult to follow at times.

Ehhhhh I' don't know what I just read. It made no sense. It was choppy. The writing style was horrid. I was left with so many questions.

Evie covers some heavy and serious ground - death, loss, grief, small town syndrome, struggling to cope with anxieties, struggling to fit in.

Yet it does this in an easy to read style. It's eloquently written that makes it effortless and absorbing to read.

It's written from three perspectives. Firstly, Kent. The recounting of his brother's death is really moving, it's told in a series of flashbacks yet you don't get the full details of what happened i.e. how old he was but you can feel the after effects through Kent's perspective.

The second perspective is Sarah's, about eight years later. They were at school together but never met until Sarah returns to Durham. The story gets a bit surreal towards the end, the perspective changes between Sarah and Kent with Evie putting in an appearance.

The third perspective, Reza's is where it starts to get very surreal. I had to re-read earlier chapters and this section several times, I felt I missed a whole chunk of the story. This part is set a few years after Sarah's. Reza talks about how he was Jeff's boyfriend, had a cat called Carl and goes looking for Kent Adler the poet - who initially comes looking for him in a dream but initially is only known as 'Adler' but there's no connection that he's Jeff's brother. Kent Adler was born in 1952 and died in 1976. This means he died probably before Sarah was born. The implication is that Jeff was young when he died which contradicts with Reza's account of being in Jeff's apartment and receiving an email a few weeks before. His relationship with Sarah is quite unusual, strained, very similar to Sarah and Kent's.

Kent's perspective gives no indication of time frame, however, given that he was using a video recorder, Sarah's perspective is about 8 years later and mentions Facebook suggests it was at least 1990s, probably 2000s. Reza's perspective is a few years after this.

This surreal element seems to transcend time, perspectives merge, the narrative changes but it does this seamlessly so you question whether you misunderstood something or missed a vital part of the story. Yet for me, rather than confusing or detracting from the story, it added to the mystery and really makes you think about the possibilities that the author is writing about.

The characters are very honest with their accounts, you feel like you get to know them intimately. I certainly didn't question the reliability of their accounts, it's almost like the central themes of Evie, the forest and the clearing suggest some kind of fantasy, echoes of the past or future like some kind of ghost story or alternate realities.

Evie of the Deepthorn takes place in a suburb of Toronto. The first part introduces us to Kent. Kent’s brother Jeff died a tragic death when Kent was just a young boy. Kent found him battered in the woods. It’s just Kent and his mom now. Kent isn’t entirely happy and sometimes wishes that it had been he instead of Jeff that died.

The second part is voiced by Sarah. Sarah is in her mid-twenties and has ventured home to Durham to watch her cat and her mom’s house while the mom & Sarah’s stepfather travel to Cuba. Sarah lives with a man named Tom, but it’s not a dream relationship, it’s just sort of there. Being home in Durham brings up memories and issues that Sarah hasn’t really ever confronted before.

Lastly we meet Reza. Reza has traveled to Durham to find the grave, and maybe some answers, of his favorite poet. He has just walked away from a somewhat tortured relationship with a man named Jeff. He’s not sure what he’s looking for in Durham, but what he finds, isn’t what he expected.

While this book was incredibly well written, it was a very dark book that took me some time to finish. How the characters all intertwine and relate to the title is the most solid part of the story. I tended to get confused as to what was happening throughout the novel. It is a really sad story in the end, and there isn’t much closure for any of the characters.

I have to say I’m not sorry I read it, however, it wasn’t one of my favorite novels of late.


3.5 stars


This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 17 February 2020 .

'When I watch Evie I feel like my brain is expanding, like I am ready to be dispersed into space and to become a part of all the possibility that I see before me.'

Evie of the Deepthorn is ‘a cult movie that Kent looks to for inspiration as he struggles to understand the death of his brother’. Jeff is like a living ghost, as the dead often are, and Kent sees him everywhere. Jeff is present when he closes his eyes, when he walks around the family living room ( where there are pictures of his big brother), the essence of him is always there, even if the physical is gone. His brother seems to live even in Kent’s own face, as family does, but the stark difference is that his brother is in the ground, and he is not. Death is a strange companion, particularly when your mother is still in pain, you feel like an alien in school, and you still don’t fully understand the changes in your brother, the grasping for magic, before his final departure. A video camera, a cult movie, will it lend him any clarity into his own complicated life?

Sarah’s Part: Evie of the Deepthorn is a fantasy novel, “I needed to understand life and death because I was stuck on the book”. Never having any connection with death, how could she possibly relate to how she should feel, how characters should react? Not unlike Jeff, she too moves through the halls of her youth, at school feeling ugly, never able to figure out how to be, what to wear, how to act. Spending so much time in retreat, in her room, that it scares her mother no boys will ever want her. Her family is a sad story, but with Evie she can write a better world, Evie can save a kingdom! But for Sarah, understanding the constant tension, the hum of her mother’s anger and disappointment at her failure of a father is a pain she doesn’t realize she is accessing. Her mother’s rage festers, then explodes, aiming in the direction of the only person left in the room- Sarah. Years later, she carries the damage inside of her, the wounds of her father’s strange sadness, his exit and returning home, rummages through the remains of the past, wishing she wasn’t so ‘wrecked at 26’. She is haunted by a dark shadow, but who or what is it? Is it even real? Sarah and Kent, living parallel lives that never touched in youth… how can that be? Could they really have never been friends?

For Reza, Evie of the Deepthorn is a poem inspiring a ‘pilgrimage’, running from, trying to purge someone who has been inside of him. Picking through the past, lancing his wounds, trying to understand the real story, there he meets a woman who knows the real version of what happened so long ago. Of course, there are so many moments I got confused trying to understand where the story was going, how it would tie, where is the big Evie of the Deepthorn reveal, bursting with clarity and insight? Instead it was a tragic tale about grief, alienation, abandonment, depression and family dysfunction. It was a decent read, but I honestly am not sure I am happy about Kent and Jeff’s tale, that I feel any sort of resolution I was hoping for, or clarity. The conflicting emotions one feels returning to the place of their origins, where all the ghosts reside, the memories, the stink of the past that harbored the hopeful heart of youth, that is what stood out the most. We try so hard to leave ourselves behind, but you can’t. I am conflicted, I liked Sarah’s story but she sinks too. Then Rez’s part was too short and confusing at times. It is a tale for those on the outside of things, trying to make sense of who and what they are, for better or worse. I felt a heavy cloud reading it, waiting for some light to get in, but the sun never seemed to come out. I longed for the connection the characters were meant to have with Evie of the Deepthorn to be… well, deeper. I was invested enough to finish, because I wanted to know why and how Jeff really died, then Sarah, I wanted to see her grow up but I was left feeling I missed something. I am curious what other readers will take away from it.

Publication Date: March 3, 2020

Dundurn Press

So..Evie of the Deepthorn took me a painstaking twenty days to read. By comparison, Rise of Kyoshi and Gods of Jade and Shadow were read in a single afternoon. One reason it took so long is that I’m simply not good with ebooks (I know, I know, horrible choice for Net Galley right?) and the other was that for me, this story could only be consumed in pieces because the narrative gave me the feeling of hearing a ghost story. Not a scary story, but a ghost story, wherein there’s a constant nagging that there’s a piece of something left behind.

Through the entirety of the first section, “Kent,” I was under the impression that I was reading about the suicide of Kent’s brother, Jeff. We find out later that this is not the case and that it was actually a freak accident, but honestly, I felt like it should’ve been a suicide.

I can’t remember the last time I read a story this…gray. It’s not kind, but it’s not cruel. It’s not disturbing, but it’s not welcoming. In fact, the author’s use of language is so precise and calculated that it reminds me of Jealousy by Alain Robbe-Grillet. The use of language in this book and the way that the narrative unfolds works to the novel’s advantage but also hinders its effectiveness.

By far the strongest section is Kent’s and the weakest is Reza because after that first section is over, it’s not necessary to keep revisiting the story of Jeff. Going into the book, I assumed that there would be a separation of sections wherein “Evie of the Deepthorn” took on a different purpose to the protagonists’ life and I was half right. To Kent, “Evie of the Deepthorn” was an old movie, to Sarah it was an unfinished novel and to Reza it was a poem. And if it had just been that, just this random idea (young girl lost in forest surrounded by death) existing in various mediums to different people the story would’ve been much more interesting.

As it stands, I got one contained story about Jeff and Kent and two others about how the lives of Jeff and Kent affected them. Are they what I wanted as a reader? No. Are they what the story needed to be successful? Definitely not. And when I got through to the end, part of me wondered about the novel that could’ve been; three separate, contained stories about the ghost of Evie and the Deepthorn.

(Because the stories end up being linked it also begs to question how no one ever connected “Evie and the Deepthorn” to the movie/poem/novel)

Overall, I give the novel ⭐⭐⭐ out of five stars. This definitely isn’t an afternoon read and won’t be a pleasant reading experience for all, but there’s enough there in concept and execution to make it worth checking out.

While I am a fan of unreliable characters, they have to have some organization. This story was all over the place. It did a lot and nothing all at the same time. I struggled with the plot and had to walk away several times or I would’ve DNF’d

I finished half the book. I have little interest in reading further. The story is told in a way that is supposed to make you want to keep reading to find out what happened, but at this point I just don't care enough to keep going. The connection to the title is flimsy and although the description of the book promised it was an important part of the story, I'm not intrigued enough to find out how - so, this one will remain in the unfinished pile.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this arc. I will be reviewing this book in the near future with an honest rating and review.