The Farm

I thought this book was going to be dull; the premise, as billed certainly didn't seem that original: a woman alleges a horrible crime. Is she crazy or is it a coverup? Probably one of the most cliche plots. In addition, I tend to avoid literary depictions of "crazy" that don't resemble reality -- for example, highly organized improbable thoughts, being presented calmly and rationally. (I'm biting back a long digression here about the history of psychiatry as a tool to discredit women. By the way, the most coherent psychotic episode I've ever witnessed included a patient telling us how groundhogs were equipped with satellites to spy on her -- they're very rarely calm, realistic and difficult to dissect from reality.)
But the Farm, while show more it skirts that cliched territory, avoids it, rather being something much deeper about people, and their relationships to each other.

I first got drawn in in the first chapter. The (ostensible) narrator, Daniel, notes that he hasn't told his parents that he's gay, even though he considers himself close to them, because they tried so hard to create a happy childhood for them and he doesn't want them to doubt that he was happy. This paragraph, a virtual aside, I found so twisted, so illogical and so compelling that I had to read further to find out if it was intentional. The answer is unequivocally yes: this is the world Smith has created for Daniel. A world where people keep relatively benign, mundane secrets from each other for no good reason, except the desire to keep a completely perfect facade. This is one example of money that will come forth in the book and Smith makes it quite clear: the premise of the book -- where either Daniel's mother has either been completely psychotic for about a year, or where Daniel's father is involved in a conspiracy to commit murder and has been for several months, all the while Daniel thinking that they were happily living on a farm -- is only possible in the context where secrets are habitually kept under the guise of emotional "closeness." I thought this had particular relevance to today's age and facebook culture, where people post a carefully curated life and keep their feelings under close wraps.

The bulk of the book, while still officially narrated by Daniel, is really the exposition of his mother, Tilde, her "evidence" for the conspiracy and her story of what has happened. Far from being an over-the-top portrayal of psychosis or the depiction of a completely normal woman taken for insane for no clear reason, Smith's depiction here is nuanced: it's impossible to get through this section without believing that Tilde is extrapolating quite a lot from quite a little and, conversely, without believing that there are at least some goings-on that are not totally on the up-and-up. I found out after I read the book that it is based on an autobiographical episode, wherein Smith's mother, who had been living on a farm in Sweden, flew to see him, alleging that his father was involved in a conspiracy, and was declared psychotic. I think the experience and the realism really shows through, here. I loved little touches like the episode where Tilde is mushroom picking and realizes she's got a basket full of leaves instead, and by that point it's so clear she's been hallucinating, but she instead confabulates a story about being gaslit. It's so clear to the reader and so, so sad.

The other thing that I'll note, is in the genre of Shocking Family Secrets! which I usually avoid, because it's usually one of three secrets anyway (affair! homosexuality! abuse!) The Farm built up this shocking secret, about how Tilde, while she claims to lime and respect her parents, ran away and hasn't spoken to them since she was sixteen. And I was convinced that it would be a canonical secret, and it wasn't and indeed, I was shocked: Tilde had a best friend, Freja, who believed in trolls, and they tried to run away together, but it failed and afterwards Freja denied she'd ever been friends with Tilde, and then died under suspicious circumstances. And Tilde ran away because she knew that her parents believed that she killed Freja, even though she didn't. I finished this section and it was chilling -- this idea of "they don't believe me, I'm going to run away from the country forever and never look back" was so beyond the norm and so beyond what I expected, and it really established the tone for the stakes of Tilde's narrative. If I could nest spoilers I would, because once I worked through the matryoshka doll of this secret to find a classic family secret at the middle (Tilde's narrative, in which nests the imputed murder of Freja/Tilde's first psychotic break, in which nests Tilde's father's first story about Freja being imaginary, in which nests Tilde's abuse at her father's hands) I was already sufficiently impressed with the delicate psychology that Smith worked to be impressed show less

I loved Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 when I read it years ago so I was very excited to get a copy of the Farm from an LT friend! When I sat down to look through the first chapter, the thing I love most happened...which is I just kept reading it until I finished it last night. What would you do if your father called you up and told you that your mother was psychotic and had been committed to a psych ward and then your next phone call was from your mother telling you not to believe anything your father said and she was on her way to you for help. Yikes! Who do you believe? The fact that Smith's mother had a psychotic breakdown (which she recovered from) makes this book even more interesting to me. Highly recommended.

This psychological crime thriller is a great summer read.

Tilde, Daniel’s Swedish mother, and Chris, his English father, have left London and retired to an isolated farm in Sweden. A few months later, Daniel learns that his mother is a patient in a psychiatric facility. Before he has a chance to fly to Sweden, his mother arrives in London full of accusations against Chris and other men of the district in which they had taken up residence. She claims that her husband was involved in a conspiracy which led to the disappearance of a teenage girl.

The majority of the novel is Daniel’s listening to his mother’s version of events in Sweden. Throughout her narration, she takes out items from a satchel she has brought with her, items she show more claims are evidence against Chris and other powerful men in the community. Daniel remains confused throughout; parts of his mother’s story are credible but at other times she seems paranoid. Is she sane or does she require psychiatric treatment? The reader shares Daniel’s uncertainty, and therein lies the novel’s interest. It is clear that Tilde is not an entirely reliable narrator, but it is difficult to dismiss her totally.

Besides just providing a suspenseful read, the novel does examine some serious issues. One theme is that we often do not really know the members of our family. Chris and Tilde have kept secrets from their son, and he has kept secrets from them. At one point Daniel admits, “I’d mistaken familiarity for insight and equated hours spent together as a measure of understanding” (133). People may keep secrets and tell falsehoods to others and sometimes people tell themselves stories to make their lives easier; there are several instances of this latter type of behaviour.

The book also examines mental illness. Certainly a correlation is indicated between isolation and mental health. There is also discussion of the stigma attached to mental illness. Tilde mentions that, “Once you’ve been checked into an asylum your credibility is destroyed. It doesn’t matter if you’re released the next day. It doesn’t matter if the doctors declare your mind okay” (283 – 284).

I love the use of trolls in the novel. They appear everywhere. Daniel remembers a collection of Swedish troll stories from his childhood; his mother read him the gruesome stories rather than the sanitized child-friendly versions: “It was a contradiction that she’d always shielded me from trauma, yet when it came to fairy tales she’d wilfully sought out more disturbing stories” (50). Is she now telling him another one of these grim tales or are there trolls hidden and ready to pounce on unsuspecting people?

The book is fast-paced with many short chapters ending in cliff hangers. It will keep you interested and guessing until the end when the truth is revealed. The ending may be a surprise but it reveals a great deal about the workings of the human mind. show less

I loved Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 trilogy and I loved The Farm. The writing is stunning. I liked the experimental formatting of the mother's narrative: not only did it make it clear where the information was coming from, but it gave this artistic rendering of the distance between her and all other people.

Great mystery, but great writing to accompany it -- that's rare. Recommended.

Daniel believes that his parents are happily enjoying retired life in Sweden until the day he gets a call from his father telling him his mother has had a mental breakdown, been admitted to a mental hospital, and escaped. And then his mother calls him, telling him that everything his father has told him is a lie and to meet her at the airport. And so begins his mother’s struggle to convince him of a town-wide cover-up of the murder of a teen girl and a conspiracy against her for trying to uncover the truth.

A really well-done plot with great pacing and some clever twists. Tilda’s story is at all times equal parts convincing and suspicious, and it keeps you guessing right up to the end.

There has been a glut of books in recent months in which the narrator may or may not be psychologically disturbed. The Farm takes this trend one step further. As The Farm is a story within a story, readers get the chance to see and hear a potentially unreliable narrator through another set of eyes. This one-step removal from the possible unreliable narrator creates an intriguing dynamic within the story. Instead of wrestling with one person’s point of view, readers must now judge both narrators for credibility and bias. As such, it requires a level of engagement on the part of the reader that most psychological novels do not entail and provides a rewarding experience for those patient readers who work through the confusion, blatant show more contradictions, and other misdirection.

Tilde’s story that she tells Daniel is one of secrets and betrayals. Because neither Daniel nor the reader have been to their farm in Sweden and met any of the personages she references, one can only take her word that a neighbor was acting suspiciously or someone’s behavior was a cry for help. That Tilde is suffering from a psychological trauma is evident from her very nature. Just how far that trauma goes in affecting her reasoning is left for Daniel and readers to determine. Daniel certain throws out his own doubts, as readers are privy to his thought process as he listens to his mother’s rantings. However, his desire to please his mother and obtain a measure of closeness directly contradicts his disbelief that his father is capable of the deception of which Tilde accuses him. It is an emotional see-saw with readers along for the ride.

Mr. Smith fills The Farm with a vivid cast of characters. Even through Tilde’s second-hand narration, her neighbors become larger than life as their distinct personalities prevent them from ever being one-dimensional. Interestingly enough, Daniel is one of the weaker characters to exist within the story. However, Mr. Smith utilizes Daniel’s passivity to not only tell a story but to provide context to Tilde’s, When Daniel meets some of Tilde’s foes firsthand, one gets a true sense of the force of personalities she faced and how easily it was for her to become caught up in situations she never had a chance to completely understand.

Mr. Smith also takes great care to establish a crystal-clear background against which the action unfolds. The remote setting of the farm is essential to understanding Tilde’s frame of mind throughout her narrative. The isolation, the harshness of the elements, and even their poverty all become minor characters that directly impact Tilde and, later, Daniel. To accomplish this, Mr. Smith carefully crafts all descriptive narrative for maximum effectiveness to the point where a reader who has never seen a picture of a remote Swedish farm will be able to picture Tilde’s new home and surrounding countryside. His inclusion of traditional customs and cultural quirks rounds out the picture so that one feels as if one is just a step away from the action.

The main plot of The Farm is ultimately less compelling than the roiling emotions that fill every page. Tilde’s story to Daniel is interesting but not as interesting as her obvious agitation and the hidden reasons for her distress. Similarly, Daniel’s own story is not quite as captivating as his fears for or on behalf of his parents and his partner. There is action and a true mystery, the resolution of which will all but break a reader’s heart. However, they become secondary to this palpably emotional story with its gorgeous imagery and intricate details. show less

Daniel's father tells him that his mother has had a psychotic breakdown. Then Daniel's mother tells him that his father is dangerous. What follows is a four- out of five-star book. And that's generous; I considered three stars.

Most of THE FARM, that is, more than 3/4 of it, is Daniel's mother's story since she and his father retired in Sweden, as she perceives it. Page after page Daniel patiently listens to her paranoia. She is so obviously paranoid, even to the point of believing she knew what people were thinking, that I didn't believe a word of it. Daniel does, though.

The last bit of this book is the part I liked best, no more paranoid story. Something really happens. The story is such a surprise that I gave it four rather than three show more stars.


Don't think that THE FARM is the book that finally measures up to Tom Rob Smith's first one, CHILD 44. Not that THE FARM is bad. Maybe it's that CHILD 44 is so excellent that we expect too much. show less