User:*Yseut229*/The Witch Elm

The Witch (Wych) Elm is a 2018 novel written by Tana French. It is French's seventh book and the first stand-alone title that breaks away from her previous crime thriller series Dublin Murder Squad.

Plot
Handsome protagonist Toby Hennessey has a successful career in a Dublin art gallery. With a charmed life and a beautiful girlfriend, Toby has rarely encountered adversity. Toby attributes this to his qualities and talents. A friend tells him he is just lucky. Toby's charmed life come to an abrupt end when one night when he returns home to find burglars in his apartment. Toby is beaten, nearly to death, and suffers brain damage. Detectives Martin and Bannon of the Dublin Police fail to catch the assailants. Toby lives in constant fear a being attacked again. Later, Toby and his girlfriend Melissa move in with Toby's bachelor Uncle Hugo, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. They live in his vacation home, known as Ivy House. Toby had spent his childhood summers at Ivy House with his cousins Susanna and Leon. Initially, Toby is content at Ivy House, able to find peace for the first time since his near-fatal attack. He helps his uncle in his efforts to trace the ancestral roots of a mysterious woman named Amelia Wozniak. The peace of the house is disrupted when Susanna's son Zach finds a human skull in the wych elm tree behind the house. After razing the garden, investigators discover the remains of Dominic Ganly, one of Toby's former classmates. Later, Detective Rafferty identifies Toby as their top suspect after determining that the tie from a hooded sweatshirt belonging to Toby was used to strangle the victim. Shocked and overwhelmed, Toby begins to question his own sanity and obsess on the details of the murder. As the truth unfolds, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past actions may not be what he actually remembers. He may not be the lucky good guy after all. Tempers flare as Toby accuses Leon of having hired the burglars to kill him. At this moment, an owl descends as if to attack, frightening both of them. Later that evening, Melissa realizes that Toby has left Ivy House without saying goodbye. The Witch Elm asks readers to consider the concept of truth as it is known versus what it may actually be.

Characters
Toby: Toby Hennessy, protagonist, is a 28 year old who works in PR for an art gallery.

Melissa: Toby's girlfriend

Uncle Hugo:

Susanna:

Leon:

Major Themes
Luck or privilege?

Sin/lie by omission?

Style
Although most commonly classified as a mystery/detective novel, The Witch Elm also fits into the narrative psychological genre. There is significant devotion to the emotional and psychological evolution of the characters as the story follows their episodic journeys from youth to present day. The heavily weighted psychological elements of the novel lead many reviewers to claim the novel transcends the simple genre of mystery/detective novel and earns a place in serious literary fiction.

The novel is told through narration by the primary character (Toby Hennessy); however, Toby's brain injury makes him an unreliable narrator. The narration swerves erratically as Toby's fractured thoughts and memories morph along with his emotions while dealing with recovered facts which do not support the good image of himself that he desperately clings to. French asks readers to consider the novel as a long monologue rather than a narration told from a distance. She wants readers to hear Toby's imperfect and emotional responses as he attempts to regain his memories and re-experience his past actions.

Reception
Bethanne Patrick of NPR praised the novel's compelling dialogue, which "will keep you reading, reading, reading ," but notes the disorienting lead-up to the final 100 pages, which sees Toby Hennessy alone and devastated. To Patrick, this grim finale represents "a fierce comment on contemporary Western culture " that serves as a compelling herald for French's future publications.

On the other hand, Leo Robson of The New Statesman provides a harshly critical review of the novel by describing the reflections and revelations of the plot as befuddling, and the use of genre tropes by the writer as narrowly self-interested.