The Cabin at the End of the World audiobook

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH AND ALSO FATHER'S DAY!!oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for best horror 2018! what will happen?what. the. fuck. was. that?here’s the thing, ever since paul tremblay wrote A Head Full of Ghosts and slipped in a character named “karen brissette” whose voice sounded an awful lot like the inside of my own (ghostless) head, i’ve been pestering him with, “am i gonna be in the next book, huh?? huh?? huh?? am i??" but i am so glad to not be in this one because YEESH.i don’t even know how to review it. it’s pretty telling that the synopsis on here and the back-cover copy of the ARC is basically, “here are many specific details about what happens in the very very beginning, including pull quotes, which is never done, followed by a vague mini-paragraph about the rest of the book. enjoy!”because going any further into trying to describe the plot will a) make the reviewer sound insane and b) ruin the thrill of discovery for the reader. i think the whole point of this book is to make the reader squirm. not with excess gore or violence or anything like that. but with anticipation. it’s a held-breath kind of book, where you need to know how it’s going to resolve more than anything, but you must resist flipping ahead, cheater! it's page after page of stubborn standoff and escalating tension and raising of stakes and questioning what's real and what's not and how does something like this end for anyone involved?? it will get under your skin, i promise you that.the plot isn’t the draw, because it’s less traditional plot than it is setting a scenario in motion and letting the characters bounce off its walls. the characters are part of the draw - the happily vacationing family at the center of the situation are eric and andrew and their seven-year-old daughter wen, whom they adopted from china as a baby, and they are as loving and enviable a family as you could possibly want if you were looking to illustrate the “terrible things happening to good people” angle. which is precisely the goal here.in the calm before the storm, when andrew and eric are just being a goofy couple on the back porch - i remember reading that scene and thinking how well and naturally they were written; that their banter read like actual long-term couple banter with years of relationship history bubbling through subtextually, so it was even more effective once things started happening, because relatable characters being put in extraordinary circumstances naturally makes the reader question themselves - what would they do in eric and andrew’s place. me, i would freak the fuck out. period. like so:this one plays it smart by never straying far from the realistic, in terms of character's responses. it sticks pretty close to the realm of ordinary parental bravery, not liam neeson-badassery, which - although wonderfully entertaining, is only an option for people with a very particular set of skills. eric and andrew do not have these skills. but they do their best. wen is also a great character. i don’t usually love kid-characters, but she’s written to be appealing and smart and occasionally bossy, as seven-year-old girls are, and seeing her struggle to process what is even going on and how to react contributes some excellent drama.Maybe she should run like Daddy Andrew said, sprint through the room, dodge the turned-over furniture like a mouse through high grass, then onto the deck and outside and away. She can run fast. Her dads tell her that she is fast, so fast, all the time. And they tell her she is shifty. She knows their races are fixed for her to win, but Wen outlasting the catchers in their catch-me-if-you-can games until Eric and/or Andrew are bent over, hands on knees, gasping for air is legitimate. She is shifty. Wen loves this word. It means hard to catch. It means even better than fast; it’s a smart fast.…She knows she’d make it out of the cabin without getting caught if she was to run, but where would she run to? She doesn’t want to accidentally get lost on the dirt roads that fork and branch away leading to nowhere or to worse places than here, and what if she has to ditch the road for the thick woods surrounding the cabin for miles and miles? Her dads were explicit in saying she could not go into these woods by herself under any circumstances because they might never find her again.and that right there is the draw - moreso than plot or characters is mood. the tension and the shivery feeling that never goes away the whole time you're reading this. what is the right choice when every choice is horrible? you can prepare for a lot of eventualities as a parent, from commonplace to very unlikely, but this one - no one's ever written a pamphlet to get you through this situation. the comparison to In a Dark, Dark Wood is a bit of a stretch. i mean, i guess they’re both kind of “bottle episodes,” so there’s a claustrophobic facet at play, except there’s little to no tension in ddw, and i couldn’t even locate a whiff of the horror or suspense it advertised. and i’m not trying to be a jerk about that book just because she’s never written me into one of her novels - it was okay, it was just a bit predictable and forgettable, while this one is nothing but unpredictable horror and suspense.it's actually much much more like 10 Cloverfield Lane, which is not a book at all, but it definitely explores the same general themes and conflict, where a stranger has a story too outrageous to be true, but oh, man - what if it is? and trust, doubt, and self-preservation shift and rattle and sustain an intense ambiguity for both characters and reader/viewer for the whole damn ride. can't say more, but this one's a nailbiter.*********************************************i got lost on my way to instagram...*********************************************this was in my pagehabit horror box for june. which is sad since i have already read and reviewed it, but at least i got some fun notes from paul tremblay's brain and some adorable booky stickers and a gimble for when my arms need to be amputated!!come to my blog!

When the end is near will you know it? Will signs appear to show it? And what sort of end will it be? Ice or fire? Conflagration? Land consumed by an angry sea? And what if there’s uncertainty? What if this is not the result of that, but just the way things are, under no one’s control to cause or prevent? And if there is no control, what is the role of those who speak on behalf of an unseen power? Do they suffer from confusion, perhaps delusion? Can we take them at their word? What if they insist we go along with their intrusion, even though we’ve reached a very different conclusion? Lines are drawn when the mad demand our subjugation. What sort of god could allow such things and still insist on adoration? Paul Tremblay - image from Litreactor.com Wenling (Wen) will be eight years old in a few days. She and her two daddies, Eric and Andrew, are away from it all, up from Cambridge, at a cabin in northern New Hampshire, near the Canadian border. Her dads chose this place because there would be no Wi-fi or cell reception so they could unplug and it would be just the three of them hanging out, swimming, talking, playing cards or board games without any digital distractions. Peace and quiet, no nearby neighbors, plenty of grasshoppers. Wen is outside collecting some in a jar, to study. She is even giving them names, and making sure to pick smaller ones that will not damage themselves on the jagged edges of the air holes she’s poked in the metal lid. Out of nowhere a very large man appears, Leonard. He might be taller than anyone she has ever met, and he’s as wide as a couple of tree trunks pushed together. He is soft spoken and seems kind, even helps her collect some specimens. But Leonard is (like the Blues Brothers) on a mission from god. He has three other people with him. Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen, but they have to. Tell them they have to. We are not here to hurt you. We need your help to save the world. Please. Well, in that case, sure, come on in…or not. Wen, alarmed, runs to tell her dads. The four insist on entering. The dads are determined to keep them out, and the siege is on.Image from ZD NetAn apocalypse is coming and these four are both heralds and, potentially, agents of prevention. Were the voices they all heard some common mental illness, an alien intrusion, or truly a sign from you-know-who? That the world seems to be going to hell quickly in a dramatically large handbasket lends them some credence, but what they are asking is unthinkable. Kristin Cui as Wen in the film Knock at the Cabin - image from Horror ObsessiveTremblay has written detective novels, scores of short stories and a few horror books, all while keeping his day job, schoolteacher. Perhaps because of having to deal with adolescents at work and at home, he is fond of horror story tropes. In A Head Full of Ghosts he became one with the demonic possession tale. For a later work, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, he considered what sort of things would most terrify him personally. And the winner was missing child, every parent’s nightmare. This time he took on another favorite source of terror. ‘How would I do a home invasion novel I’d like to read?’ I guarantee you have not read one like this one before.Image from JoeCruzMM.files.wordpress.comThe intent doesn’t matter much if you do not care about those in the home being invaded. No problem. Wen is edible, and her daddies are a very human couple, with affection and edges reasonably distributed. Details of their lives make you care for them more and more. And you will have cause for concern, as they are facing very real, very existential immediate peril. Abby Quinn as Sabrina, Nikki Asuka-Bird as Adrienne, Dave Bautista as Leonard, and Rupert Grint as Redmond in the film Knock at the Cabin - image from IMDBThere are plenty of elements in common with the usual home invasion horrors. Wondering if your invaders are nuts, fearing for your life and the lives of your loved ones, trying to figure out ways to get the better of the baddies. What is different is that the home invaders do not seem to be evil people, despite the most definitely evil-looking scythe-like weaponry they tote. (When the going gets seriously tough, the seriously tough get going to FourHorsemenOutfitters.com, your goto provider for your end-times needs. Tribulation-free ordering guaranteed) Leonard, the leader, seems particularly reasonable, a gentle giant, nice even. They might be insane, but what if they are not? There are reasons offered to consider the latter possibility. The other three are definitely equipped with good sides too, but a bit less manifestly than their leader. Study for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 19th century - by John Martinimage from the Indiana University Art Museum Provenance ProjectAny fine meal is composed of a range of ingredients. Here we have the terror of the invaded, the unexpected facets of the invaders and a big, overarching scare. Is it real or not? But there are other items spicing up this read. There is consideration of faith, religion, and how far one will go in service of one’s beliefs. It is tough not to see the four horsemen imagery in the four invaders, but there are other, more subtle spices at play. A motif of sevens permeates. There are sundry references to other novels that offer some food for thought. Tim O’Brien’s Lake of the Woods is one. There are others. Do we believe what we see or see what we believe?Image from Sleepyhollow.wikia.comThis book will keep you guessing. Is this the end of the world? Or maybe just a potential end for some. Tremblay offers an explanation, but can we accept it? The ambiguity provides a constant tension from the first encounter to the last page. There may not be a mysterious voice telling you to get your hands on this one as soon as you can, and read it as quickly as possible. But whether you hear one or not, this will be one of the best reads of the summer and you do not really know how much time you have left. Review first posted – 3/16/18Publication date – 6/26/18 =============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pagesHe has a story collection coming out in 2019, and his next novel in 2020.An excerpt - from Entertainment WeeklyI sure hope Tremblay doesn’t take a shovel to my review. But if he does, I hope he tapes it. Interviews-----In this video interview put out by his publisher, Morrow, Tremblay talks mostly about two earlier novels, but gets into how this one came about, offering insight into his approach – 27:50-----Providence College – an audio interview at his alma mater - From Fractions to Fiction - 42:15-----Excerpts from a Locus Magazine interview – print - Paul Tremblay: Aftermath-----Audio interview – Friday Morning Coffee – June 16, 2017 – with Daniel Ford – 21:01-----Print interview at LitReactor.com - 10 Questions with Paul Tremblay - 6/2/15 – by Keith RawsonOther----- Book Studio 16 is a Harper department that produces a video series in which someone whose opinion I value above all speaks about a handful of (usually) upcoming books. At -24.19 to -18:18, the queen of the show talks about The Cabin at the End of the World, but I suggest you watch the entire vid. (about 34 minutes) You might find even more books to add to your ever-growing TBR.The Harper Book Queen included a bit on this book in her TBR Tuesdays FB live broadcast from 7/31/18 - at 9:50-----Trailer for Knock at the Cabin, which is a really dumb renaming of the book - directed by M. Night Shyamalan - release date Feb 3, 2023

4.5 starsWhen I first started reading this book, I thought if the horror films "The Strangers" and "The Cabin in the woods" had a baby - it would be this book! Of course, there are major differences (and plots) but still....A getaway to a cabin sounds like a perfect time away for Wen and her two dads. They are going to relax, she wants to catch some grasshoppers and they plan to enjoy the lake. But one day a man approaches Wen while she is busy catching her grasshoppers and tells her "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". and "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they must. We need your help to save the world."So, what would you do? Four strangers show up on your doorstep, telling you to let them inside. They won’t hurt you, but you must let them in. Do you? Do you believe their stories about the apocalypse? Sounds crazy right? Who are these people? Why should you believe them? Would you let them in? To say that I thought this book was fantastic is an understatement. I loved the family. Wen is adorable and inquisitive. She wants to study grasshoppers, so she can save them if they get sick. She loves her Dads and has a wonderful home life with them. Andrew and Eric love Wen. They are affectionate and extremely likable. Tremblay has the reader caring so much for their characters that of course, we don't want those four-people coming into their lives and into their cabin. Our feelings for them make this book more powerful. I was invested in what happened to them individually and as a family. Tremblay sets the perfect mood for a home invasion book. The reader will care about this family. But wait! What about Leonard and his companions message? What is this save the world business? Why should the reader care about what the four-people invading this home have to say?I would have given this book 5 stars had it not been for the ending. That is not to say that the ending is bad or goes off the rails, I just wanted more. I felt as if I was left hanging -but then again, I feel as if that is how the characters in the book felt. They were faced with uncertainty, so the reader was left with the same emotion.I loved the tension in this book. I read most of it in one day. I had to keep turning the pages as I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters I cared about. I also wanted to know if what the home invaders said was going to occur would occur. Were they telling the truth? Is this all real? So many questions!What does one call this book? Horror with a heart is what I will go with. I thought this book was very well-written. It evokes emotion and has a sense of dread and tension throughout. Highly recommend. I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and William Morrow books in exchange for an honest review.See more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com

Wow, this book was an absolute highlight of horror and suspense. What a modern horror classic! The book starts with a gay couple, Andrew and Eric and their adopted Chinese Girl named Wen. They are on vacation at a far-off area, living in a remote cabin. All of a sudden Leonard and three others turn up. From then on the quiet days at the cabin turn into an apocalyptic nightmare. What do the four strangers want from them? What is their talking about the end of the world about? The reference to a pandemic bird flu is strikingly up to date! The characters are brilliantly crafted and throughout the whole book you're hanging on the edge of your seat with suspense. Is there a connection to the Biblical Four Horsemen? What happens to Wen? I can highly recommend to delve into that extremely intriguing novel. Up to the last page everything can happen, everything is possible. The ending isn't predictable. It's a mixture of kidnapping drama and cult members gone out of control. Is there more behind? Find out. This is a must read!

Review first appeared in the September/October 2018 issue of Scream Magazine!UPDATE: July 2nd, 2019 Congratulations to Paul for winning the Locus Award and the Stoker Award for achievement in a novel.https://www.tor.com/2019/06/29/announ...http://horror.org/2018-bram-stoker-aw...So this book, The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay is going to be my new ‘go-to’ recommendation for any reader that still thinks horror is only “blood & guts and scary stuff”. But hang in there with me a little bit while I explain why.Being a ferocious fan of horror, I’m regularly faced with genre stereotypes. For example, a friend was looking at my personal collection and she says, “So much Stephen King.”I said, “Well, he’s been my favorite author since I was like thirteen.”She scrunches up her nose and says, “Ugh! Why? He only writes scary stuff right?”I try not to take offense to these sort of ignorant statements (I say ignorant not to be insulting but truly because they just don’t know). I can’t fault them for what they don’t know. But it’s the same sort of ignorance I find in bookstores EVERYWHERE, among people who should actually know better.Horror authors are usually shelved in general fiction. If you’re lucky, a bookstore might stuff some mainstream horror in with SciFi and Fantasy. On the off chance there is a horror section, it’s usually a whole bookcase with King and Koontz because, well, they have a lot of books and they write in the same genre so...voila! A horror section!But horror is so much more than King and Koontz and “bloody, scary stuff.”Take Paul Tremblay’s books for instance. A Head Full of Ghosts, at face value, is a demon possession book? “Scary stuff” as contemporary fiction readers would say. But it’s so much more. It breaks down lots of horror stereotypes. Tremblay expertly tells his tale with young, female protagonist narratives and short, punchy chapter breaks. He also weaves in some pop culture influences that add an urgent relevancy that will still read fresh and modern in years to come.I was so pleased that this sort of “out of the box” storytelling seems to be a lasting trend for Paul Tremblay. The Cabin at the End of the World lives right on the edge of a familiar plot trope, A small family are ‘unplugging’ in a remote location when their peace and quiet is interrupted by an unexpected visitor with a strange, threatening message.But this description is really where all the familiarity ends.Tremblay’s family in crisis is a beautiful snapshot of what a family in today’s America looks like. The subject matter, the horror that shows up at their door is the catalyst or the vehicle per se, for our harrowing story but its Paul’s lovingly crafted family and their relationships tested under duress that make this book so successful.We, the reader are emotionally invested from the moment we catch grasshoppers in the weeds with seven year old Wen all the way through to the book’s final scene. And this is exactly what Paul Tremblay intends to do with his writing. He’s not just out to exploit your fears (although he does that too!) he’s really after that lump of flesh in your chest we try so hard to protect--your heart. Fans of Tremblay’s work will already know this after reading, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. You already know these words are designed by a master to punch you in the guts and leave you hollowed out with a nasty book hangover. So it’s my recommendation to fully embrace horror for what it really is: A full resignation of all your emotions. Paul Tremblay invites you to go all in with this one and it is pretty uncomfortable but worth every sigh and every tear.Five stars/Skulls Sadie Hartmann aka Mother Horror on Instagram & Twitter

So many emotions! There are frustrating stretches and sections of genius and pages that are confusing or seemingly overwritten. In the end, though, this is a book that will haunt me forever. With a story that powerful, awkwardness in the delivery isn't so important.The most impressive achievement, I think, is what's not on the page. The story demands a pondering of our own baggage, what we're willing to believe under strain and, more generally, the psychological impact of bad news. One of the simplest interpretations may be that a diet of cable news, where it seems the world is ending at any given moment, can be a catalyst for all levels of insanity. Certainly that would have been on our minds in 2018, when this was first published, but I think it's become even more relevant since Covid.Of course the book invites more complicated interpretations as well. I particularly admire the way Tremblay uses homophobia--internalized and externalized--as an undercurrent for descent into madness. Every character comes across believable, even the villains. This is astonishing (and terrifying) given the bizarre events in the cabin.Religion, of course, plays a role. It's very delicately handled, however, and once again invites the reader to ponder their own beliefs. This isn't about any one specific religion, or one specific type of conspiracy theory, but is a story that interplays and exists within all of them by being intentionally vague. We all have diehard beliefs, whether they are religious or not. I think this book invites us to wonder if we're willing to actually die for those beliefs, or if it's possible to ever change them based on new information.Furthermore, in a loose way, I think the book is comparable to Pet Sematary for its examination of grief's interplay with insanity.I'm certainly interested in what M. Night Shyamalan will do with it as a movie. Will he add his own twists, perhaps? There's a stirring conversation already happening in the book, but I do think adding extra complexity could improve on the original. This is a rare situation where I actually expect the movie to be better than the book. Unless there's a surprise that they're all Amish or something.UPDATE: So nevermind, the movie was definitely not as good as the book. Only because of the lame ending though.

I don't think I've ever had so much anxiety while reading a book before. I read this book late at night and it gave me so much anxiety I literally jumped all the smallest sound off i the distance. This is a horror/thriller novel about this family who gets attacked in their home. It follows a gay couple Eric and Andrew and their daughter Wen. I loved reading about a LGBT characters in a thriller, because they are so underrepresented in thrillers, and it's amazing to see it being normalized like this. I absolutely adored Andrew and Eric and Wen in this book, which is what made this book so hard to read!The writing in this book is really gorgeous, and really intense! It kept my heart racing the entire time and I couldn't figure out where it was going. I will say some parts with Leonard's dialogue got a little repetitive, which is why I knocked off a star. I also don't really know how I feel about the ending - it was very frustrating to read it but looking back on it I can appreciate it and realize how it only adds to the overall eeriness of the book, but I know some readers are going to absolutely hate this ending the way I did at first, which is another reason I knocked off a star.But I fucking loved this. I love seeing an LGBT couple at the center of a horror/thriller novel, and I wish there were more books like this. I was honestly holding my breath the whole time, this shit was intense and creepy. This story honestly reminded me of the movie The Killing of a Sacred Deer so if you know anything about that movie you could understand how unsettling this book truly is. But I really loved it and I can't wait to read more books from this author!

The Cabin At The End Of The World intrigued me because of how much it seems to have divided opinions. The mystery surrounding the plot really gripped me and made me almost want to race to the conclusion to find out exactly what was going on. I however don’t think the narrative will be for everybody. It is very dialogue heavy in a confined setting.In terms of the plot, I think it is honestly best to go into this one as blind as possible. It revolves around a family of three - Eric and Andrew, who are fathers to a young, adopted daughter Wen.One day Wen is in the front yard catching grasshoppers, where a stranger called Leonard approaches her. Wen is wary of him at first, because her Dads have told her not to talk to strangers. However, Leonard is soon able to sweet talk Wen into some sort of trust. Then he informs her that he is not alone, and he and a small group of people need to enter the cabin where she lives. They are insistent that this is the way things have to be and they need Eric, Andrew and Wen’s help to save the world, as the end of days is apparently nearing...Tremblay does a good job of making Eric, Andrew and Wen a likeable family of characters that you care about as you tentatively flip the pages hoping that no harm will come to either of them. The menacing aura surrounding the group of strangers that have entered their property builds the suspense, as you wonder why they are there and what it all means. The talk of the H719 virus (a bird flu) originating in China really hit home because of our current world situation. The Cabin keeps you on your toes until the very last page, and it doesn’t have a predictable ending.Overall I give this 3.5 Stars, rounded up to 4.

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay is a tale of horror that doesn’t involve things like ghosts or demons but uses tension and suspense to keep a reader on the edge just waiting to see what will happen. With the threat of an apocalypse and intense need to protect family the fear and anticipation was oozing from the pages. The story begins with seven year old Wen out in front of the cabin that she is staying in with her two dads, Eric and Andrew, just doing what kids should do playing outdoors and trying to catch some grasshoppers. What a lovely scene, right? Well it doesn’t last long because along comes a stranger named Leonard who begins to chat with young Wen and then before you know it he’s joined by three others with weapons.Wen does what any frightened child should and runs to find her parents who in turn do their best to protect her from this group of strangers. Eric and Andrew do their best to protect each other and their daughter from the mysterious strangers who are claiming the end of the world is coming and the fate of every lies in their hands. What can one do in the middle of nowhere when feeling threatened?This story is one that just flies by and leaves you on the edge wondering just what is going to happen and what is real bringing the paranoia off the pages. I loved that the author touched on a different type of family and still showed just how much love was between them. There were also some pretty shocking twists to the story I wouldn’t have expected and if not for a rather abrupt end I may have rated higher, still a good story overall though.I received an advance copy from the publisher via Edelweiss.For more review please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

Este libro es un thriller trepidante con unas primeras 80 páginas que te dejan sin aliento y que después, aunque baja bastante la intensidad, la tensión es constante. Es una historia totalmente imprevisible, el autor escribe sin piedad y puede ocurrir cualquier cosa en cualquier momento. El final del libro es polémico. Es uno de esos finales que polarizan bastante a los lectores de esta novela, y lo entiendo. A mi sí me ha gustado y me ha emocionado.

Sooo good. Not what I expected at all. A true thriller. My full review will be up on my booktube channel at http://YouTube.com/peterlikesbooks

I read a book in one sitting every now and then when the book is short and the circumstances are just right. This book is not that short and the circumstances were not ideal but I could not stop reading it. So be careful when you start this book. If it is night time and you are in bed, when you finally finish it you're going to have a hard time getting to sleep even if you've stayed up to the wee hours.Horror novels and thrillers should, in my opinion, mainly be exercises in creating feelings or moods. You feel unsettled, you feel creeped out, you feel edgy, you feel nervous. A good one will also include smart pacing to keep your feelings tuned at specific intervals for specific lengths of time. Or at least, that's what I've always thought. But now Tremblay has shown me that you can basically ratchet up the tension in the very first chapter, get it all the way up to Maximum in the second chapter, and then sustain that tension for a ridiculously long amount of time. I'm not sure I've ever read anything like it. I should say up front, a lot of people are not going to like this book. It is bleak as hell. There is a supernatural bent to the horror, but only a small one. Mostly this is just straight up, "What is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you?" horror. Movies that I think fall in a similar vein are in that respect are THE STRANGERS and IT COMES AT NIGHT. This is not going to be an entertaining horror novel. It is also not one where you can happily come and go, whistling along the way. I swear my blood pressure rose while I was reading. The setup is simple: a girl and her dads are on vacation at a cabin, a strange man appears who is soon joined by his companions, they say they need help, and after that anything else is saying too much. I liked that despite all the tension Tremblay still gives his characters room to breathe. Wen, Andrew, and Eric are all clear separate characters. They are maybe a little bit too happy, but isn't that how the horror story always starts? Despite its smarts, it does suffer somewhat from 3rd act problems. I don't really blame it, what does one do when one has raised the tension this high? There has to be some way to diffuse it eventually. I felt the ending was true to the book, I also suspect people will HATE it and that makes me like it even more.I will be SHOCKED if this isn't adapted to a movie.