The Kept

The Kept by James Scott is a dark, desolate, atmospheric, and extraordinarily well written novel. I very highly recommended The Kept.

The opening establishes the tone for the remainder of this notable debut novel set in 1897:
"Elspeth Howell was a sinner. The thought passed over her like a shadow as she washed her face or caught her reflection in a window or disembarked from a train after months away from home. Whenever she saw a church or her husband quoted verse or she touched the simple cross around her neck while she fetched her bags, her transgressions lay in the hollow of her chest, hard and heavy as stone. " Her sins, she tells us, castigating herself as she approaches her home, are anger, covetousness and thievery. Of her husband show more she notes, "It was as if he had turned piety into a contest and Elspeth lagged far behind."

But as Elspeth nears her home after being gone for months, she realizes that something is amiss. "It was then that the fear that had been tugging at her identified itself: It was nothing. No smell of a winter fire; no whoops from the boys rounding up the sheep or herding the cows; no welcoming light." (pg. 5) There should be noise from Jorah, her husband, and their five children: Amos, fourteen, Caleb, twelve, Jesse, ten, Mary, fifteen, and Emma, six. The ominous quiet portends the unthinkable disaster that awaits her. Her whole family has been slaughtered. Before she can fully process what has happened, her middle son, Caleb, who was hiding in the pantry, mistakenly thinks the killers have returned and accidentally shoots her.

After Caleb tends to her wounds, Elspeth survives and the two take an awful trek over frozen land and through blizzards to try and find the three men Caleb saw who killed their family. The brutal weather is as much a character as the brutal men they are seeking to find as they head toward Watersbridge, a lawless town beside Lake Erie.

Both Caleb and Elspeth are fueled by their need for revenge, but at first only Elspeth knows that there may have been a reason for the seemingly senseless slaughter. Their quest marks the end of innocence and his childhood for Caleb, but is fueled by other emotions for Elspeth. While you learn to care for Caleb and try to understand Elspeth, it is also clear that nothing good is going to come from their search. Clearly it examines how actions always have consequences and vengeance is best left to the Lord.

In The Kept by James Scott, we are presented with historical fiction in a literary novel with writing that transcends the ordinary. This is truly an extraordinarily well written novel.
But it is also a dark, violent, and hopeless tragedy. I'll be the first to admit that it might not appeal to some readers. The tension is palatable and the dread steadily increases without relief. It is a relief to finish The Kept, if only to release the tension and melancholy that will threaten to overtake you, but it is a novel that will stay with you for a long, long time.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes. show less

Dark, bleak and icy, sympathetic nature more than reflects the mood of this story: set in upstate New York in the late 1890s, The Kept is a Bildungsroman in which the 12-year old Caleb searches for revenge and finds the truth.

Caleb and his mother Elspeth are the only survivors when their family is slain and together they track the killers through snowy barrens to a rough lake-side settlement which holds the secret of their past history.

James Scott’s debut novel is starkly beautiful, a Gothic literary delight, but also thrillingly mysterious as questions are posed and answered, affording the reader growing insight into the otherness at the heart of both the characters.

The nature and meaning of family and relationships, right and show more wrong, kindness and cruelty and ultimate forgiveness are explored with exquisite delicacy as Caleb discovers what was Kept show less

The kept is a very different, very sad kind of novel. Not the same kind of novel I am usually reading, and that is a wonderful surprise. But the bleakness inherent in this novel made me WANT to struggle through to the end, to see if our main characters could create the type of closure they so desperately needed. The desolate landscapes and hopeless resolve created an atmosphere I was finding difficult to leave, to get some of my own rest. The dreary isolation, & pain follow the main characters out of the solitary, snow-blocked farm and into a busy western town, and while they both try to regain their composure, their wits, and their balance, neither character feels anything but alone and ghost-ridden.

This novel reminded me of Cormac show more McCarthy, and Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. A coming-of-age story with plenty of vengeance, this debut novel by Scott is morally blurry in all the right places, and totally fascinating. Its weighty subject matter hides some HUGE surprises, who's reveals hit you like a gut-punch - low, and brutal, with lots of strength behind it. The characters themselves win you over, regardless of their reasoning for their "sins", and have you rooting for their much needed vengeance at the end. But the novel's merciless nature is ruined in the end by an ambiguous ending that leaves you not exactly knowing what has happened, and that's not fair..... A western/hauntingly & grimly beautiful vengeance story like this deserves much, much more. (I found this novel at my library's free online service, wilbor.libraryreserve.com)
3.5 stars, because of the ending. show less

Upon the book’s opening sentences, readers know that The Kept is not going to be a cheery novel with its talk of mysterious sin flooding into the horrific scene Elspeth finds upon her return home. The guilt both Elspeth and Caleb carry with them as they hunt down the perpetrators is a physical presence within the book, manifesting itself in the dread and foreboding a reader feels about the likelihood of their success.

An emotionally heavy and intense book, there is little in the way to lighten its tone. The story’s serious tones complement the serious subject matter and uncomfortable scenes that occur specifically because of their searches. To add levity to the story would be to undo the solemnity that is vital to understanding show more Elspeth’s mindset and Caleb’s willingness to go against every lesson of forgiveness he learned.

Unfortunately, the stark, gorgeous narrative cannot overcome certain negatives within the story proper. For one, Elspeth’s baby obsession remains odd in that Scott does not explain her desires as thoroughly as he does other elements of the story. Similarly, her thoughts of her husband raise more questions than answers. It makes for a rather frustrating read at times as one feels that the answers to Elspeth’s unusual marriage arrangements are key to understanding her motivation and determination.

Extremely dark, The Kept is a story of innocence lost. Caleb’s ruthless entry into the adult world is shocking not only for the acts themselves but because of the complete lack of emotion in which they occur. Even more dreadful is the truth revealed about his birthright and the lasting consequences of Elspeth’s actions. The gut-wrenching final scenes sum up this grim novel about revenge, sacrifice, greed, and resilience and leave readers with a resounding sense of loss at what was as well as what could have been for all involved parties. show less

On finishing The Kept, I felt as if I had just witnessed horror, trudged an incomprehensible distance against crippling weather, endured the unendurable and collapsed. Scott writes so vividly that you feel you are taking every step of this journey with Caleb and Elspeth, and the scenes are painted so well that every wound seems to pierce at your skin and prick at your eyes. It had the makings of a great novel and yet at the end it had turned into only a good one for me.

I will not discuss the ending outside the spoiler, except to say that I found it unsatisfactory. I am not against ambiguous endings or even dropping the curtain before the last scene is played and letting the audience decide. Those are legitimate devices that surely show more have their place. In this case, however, it felt like a cheat. We have followed Caleb all this distance to see justice done or revenge taken and to have him simply left in the clutches of the ruthless murderers (who are totally inhuman throughout the book and then given some kind of adolescent, playing in the snow, humanity at the end) is frustrating. None of what these characters endure means anything if it ends here and evil truly triumphs.

I leave this novel a little bemused by what I might be expected to take away from it. Life is cruel, but should there not be redemption? People make mistakes, but some are not correctable, and if a mistake cannot be corrected is it then unforgivable? For that matter, if we are consciously choosing what we do is it a "mistake" or something much greater than that? Aren't we then responsible for every ripple that proceeds from that action? And finally, what makes us a family? What makes a mother or a father or a sister or a brother? Scott addresses some very profound issues, but I am not sure I had any more insight into them after the novel was finished than I did before it was begun. show less

For some people, the fever never breaks and they wander through the world of God with a piece of the Devil burning a hole through their brain, whispering into their ears. Page 121

Elspeth Howell, a midwife comes home to her isolated farm from one her numerous and extended trips to the city to find her family shot, murdered, dead. With the sole surviving member of the massacre, her twelve year old son Caleb, Elspeth will now set off in search of retribution and revenge. Alone in each of their own world of guilt, memories, and torment, mother and son will come to face the sins of the past and together they walk towards a future that is no bleaker than what they've left behind.

Scott's debut novel is not one of hope or of silver linings. He show more sets the tone of the entire book with the gruesome discovery of an entire family murdered in a home that is so enclosed in the wilderness that it could only have been the result of cold, calculated intent. What starts off with a heart wrenching opening sort of stalls at about the halfway point of the story as both mother and son are caught up in their individual journeys. Elspeth will come to terms with the secrets that has brought this destruction upon her entire family, and Caleb, forced to be the man he is not ready to become, obsesses over discovering the identity of the murderers. Both stranded in their respective islands, orbiting, but untouching. Despite lagging at moments, the final climax and resolution wraps up the story fittingly. Dark and dreary. Slow burning, and memorable. Recommended. show less

This debut novel is a powerhouse of a time and place that shows very little mercy to anyone. The frozen land is just as much of a character as is 11 year old Caleb, who has to grow up much too quickly in absolutely horrible circumstances. He heard and/or watched the murder of his father and his four siblings, surviving by hiding in the barn. He gets a glimpse of the three men who did this, and he knows it is up to him to find them and get frontier justice for their horrible deeds. While trying to figure out what to do, he hears someone crunching through the snow. As the door opens, once gentle Caleb shoots the intruder. Unfortunately, it was no stranger. It was his mother, coming back from an extended midwife trip. Nursing her as much show more as possible, plus dealing with the bodies of the rest of his family, he becomes a man with a mission. Soon, his mother is (barely) able to travel, and both begin to track the killers. Everyone in this book has some sort of secret, even the dead. And slowly, as the hidden comes to light, the action and tension increase throughout this book until the very last standoff. It is hard to believe that this is a first novel--the writing is absolutely stunning. James Scott is truly a new voice to pay attention to. show less