[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Iowa Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Woods releases on November 10

This was a collection of short stories from characters that all live in a small town in Vermont, that is surrounded by untamed woods.
The common theme between characters and stories seemed to be finding solace with whatever their current situation may have been — whether that be dealing with grief, sibling dynamics, parenthood, marriage, or career changes.
Each story either had a character that was a professor, writer, knew a writer, or mentioned this towns elusive poet.
This was set during + mentions pandemic life, which I wasn’t expecting to be part of the plot.
Overall, I would have hoped for this novel to be a bit more eerie and atmospheric, or to focus more on the actual woods.
There were also quite a few typos — enough for it to be mentioned even though this wasn’t a final copy.