And the Trees Crept In

And the Trees Crept In is a creepy and weird story. Ms. Kurtagich keeps you guessing as to the direction the story is taking, and the unsettling feeling this creates adds to the lingering sense of unease established by the moving trees and other odd occurrences. The language is stunning as Ms. Kurtagich successfully plays with it to establish confusion for Silla and for the reader. Speaking of, Silla is highly sympathetic as she devotes her entire life to keeping her sister safe from harm at the peril of her own sanity. The conclusion takes a surprising turn that helps gather the various plot strings into one cohesive unit and shifts the tone from dread to one of profound sadness. Part horror and part family drama, And the Trees Crept show more In is an atmospheric exploration of the ties that bind family together and the lengths we are willing to go to protect loved ones. show less

"The Creeper Man is watching you
while you think you rest
he sows discord between the two
who love each other best."

Wow, this was a very twisted, confusing, consuming story. It was easy to slide into, the world was quick to get under your skin. The manor and the oddness - and the sudden slowing down.

Then things went upside down and it was a race to turn the pages and see the next horror that Silla would encounter. It's an ugly thing, what people can do to people. it's even more awful what we can do to ourselves. This was a wonderful creepy story that kept me second guessing my gut instinct until the very very end. I enjoyed the ride.

This book is a brilliant nightmare....one of those late night terrors where muscles are paralyzed and there's something lurking in the darkness. A monster comes closer. Dragging steps scrape across the floor, coming up next to the bed. The nightmare feels.like being awake and asleep at the same time, aware of danger but unable to get away. That feeling....remember it? That's how this book will make you feel.

What a wonderful, creepy read!

Silla and Nori come to stay with their aunt, escaping from abusive parents. For awhile, they are happy. But then Silla starts to notice the house is getting darker. There are strange noises. Weird smells. And the trees in the forest -- the forest they have been warned never to enter -- appear to be show more getting closer to the house. The Creeper Man is coming and there is nowhere to run.

Kurtagich's writing is masterful and she shapes this tale using every tool at her disposal. I love the handwritten passages, font changes and word art. It adds to the creepy, horrific atmosphere of this story. The build up and pacing are perfect. The story builds slowly at first and then tumbles down a cliff of WTF to slap the reader right in the face at the end.

The ending is nothing new, but the journey to get there was creative, new and engrossing. So, I didn't bat an eye or mutter "This has been done before.'' This makes an old plot device or two seem new.

Dawn Kurtagich is also the author of The Dead House, another creepy read. I've had it on my TBR for quite awhile....reading it next!

For more information on the author and her books, check out her website: http://www.dawnkurtagich.com show less

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Picked up as a spooky Halloween read, And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich and featured as our bookcast book of the month, this was an amazingly horrifying novel that left you feeling sad and hopeful at the end. It was extremely well written, with amazing characters and a shockingly fantastic plot, the book doubles as a mystery as you try to piece together pieces of information you didn't even realize were clues to begin with.

Silla is our protagonist and she just goes through so much. Trying to protect her family, protect her sister, figure out what is happening to her Aunt Cath, if she can trust mysterious stranger Gowan, if WW3 actually broke out. It is overwhelming the amount of issues show more Silla takes on as her responsibilities and troubles. Knowing there is a food shortage, she physically refuses to eat, giving all the food she finds to younger sister Nori who is disfigured thanks to the abusive household they escaped. I could go on for hours about Silla and all of the characters (and have, just listen to the bookcasts) but the development and complexity of each is amazing. Enough to say that even the characters that had limited lines in the book were well-developed and thought out, leaving me wanting a prequel.

Now, the story itself was amazing. The way Kurtagich thought things through and planned the entire tale from the start to end blew me away. Everything written in the story serves multiple purposes. To creep the reader out, to backup the ending, to move everything in a circular/cyclical manner, all of the devices take on more than one role. The genius of the story, however, is that it leaves you chilled to the bone, scared, and hopefully all at the same time once you reach the ending.

Pacing was amazing. Never was there a spot where I thought this is boring, let me check the internet out. It was the opposite. I was upset when I needed to stop reading for the bookcast because I just wanted to devour the entire book in one go. It was perfectly paced.

If you're looking for a book that will scare you in a creepy way, but will also let you sleep at night once it's over, please do yourself a favor and pick up And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich. Then, come listen to our bookcast on it! show less

This would have made a better movie… but since it’s a book…I have to say that it’s a lot to be taken in. I love horror movies and ghost stories as most of you know. The fun thing for me about reading rather than watching is being able to put my own mental movie together with the help of the author’s words…this one was difficult to do that with. I have to give it high marks for being creepy and it had the ability to give the reader the feeling of “wrongness” long after the final page. The main thing that was “wrong” about it at least for me… was the lack of real development of the characters. So much went into the development of the “Creeper Man”, who was a great character…that the girls and their aunt became show more “second class citizens” of the storyline. The actions of the girls made them seem so much younger than they were supposed to be and the ending was…well, just an ending. The way it was done was almost nonsensical. I don’t think anyone that is a true horror fan is going to be enthralled with it...However If you just want a few hours of being scared…this will do that for you. show less

Kurtagich has a talent for writing creepy passages, which makes for a fast and interesting read when paired with the stylized and somewhat frantic design of this book. It is somewhat heavy-handed and predictable, but it's also sort of wonderfully haunting when absorbed in huge chunks; essentially, it reads like a book which is meant to be absorbed and taken in through images and impressions, more than a single narrative or even a number of narratives.

I have a feeling that, had I really slowed down and tried to understand and take in every piece of this, passage by passage, I wouldn't have enjoyed it. There's a lot of confusion that gets in the way of particular moments, as well as a fair bit of repetition, but as a fast and wandering show more read... well, I found it worthwhile despite those downfalls, and I'm rather glad to have stumbled upon it.

If you want something creepy to sink into, and you don't mind a bit of heavy-handedness when it comes to structure and impression or experimentation, this might be worth your looking it up. show less

This book... it was weird. That said, it was also really good. I loved the way the author wrote it with different fonts and different sizes for the fonts. She even had some pages that looked like they were on a scratch piece of paper or inside of a book. There were times when she had the text going down in a certain way or spaced out to emphasize whatever was going on in that point. It was different from any other kind of book I've read and I loved it.
The story itself was pretty great too. It was bazaar with the trees coming closer and just everything was going on. It left you guessing as to what was happening and why. I didn't really have time for theories because I devoured this book. It was a surprisingly quick read and I read the show more first half before my shift at work the day I started it. Then today when I finished it, I read the last half and had less time then the day before to even read it. It's a normal sized book and I normally spend a few days reading that size when I have work. I dunno what was different but it was such a good book. I oddly didn't have trouble putting it down but I also just wanted to pick it back up and find out what happened.
The ending was a huge surprise. I thought for sure it would all be a dream and Silla would wake up either back in the manor or at home and everything would be normal. That was far from the truth. But the way she ended the book was brilliant. I don't think anyone could have seen it coming.
Gowan was my favorite. I didn't trust him at first and thought he was part of all the weird things going on. But as the book went on, I forgot all about that and he quickly became my favorite character. Some things happened and I doubted him again. But he still remains my favorite. He was so caring and so sweet.
Overall, this book was crazy but I loved it. show less