The Hanging Woods | 
 enlarge | Author: Scott Loring Sanders
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $5.90
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 363490
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0618881255
EAN: 9780618881253
ASIN: 0618881255
Publication Date: March 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
What Walter reads that day changes him. Not in any way someone would really notice. He still goes to school, hangs out with his friends Jimmy and Mothball, and tries to avoid the Troll, the town recluse.
But something in him has changed. It's as if he can feel a part of him growing--the part that can stand by and watch a house burn down or the life flow out of a fox, without doing anything to stop either. He knows he could--should--do something to help. But some part of him keeps him glued in place, watching with fascination and curiosity.
Maybe it would have been better if Walter had never found out the things he did. Maybe he didn't really want to know.
But then again, maybe he did.
Richly atmospheric, The Hanging Woods is at times disturbing, but it is always riveting. It's a tale of deception, delusion, and the dark places a troubled mind can go.
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| Customer Reviews:
A Gripping Must Read July 2, 2008
Drawn in by impeccable writing, engaging characters and rich (sometimes outright bizarre)images/scenes, I found myself immediately engrossed with the book. The story turned in several unforseen directions and filled me with equal parts hysterics, nostalgia and horror. Be prepared to fall into a world that is both remarkably comfortable and hideously unsettling. The spectrum of emotions you'll feel is astounding.
Great Read April 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although this book is marketed as a young adult fiction it is by far the best book I have read this year and I am in my mid 40's. I read a lot, a book every few days, but this one stands out. It has action, intrigue and a great plot with twist that kept me reading till I finished it in one setting. I highly recommend it to any and all.
A Modern, and More Real, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' April 6, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm not saying that this debut novel is destined to endure like the Harper Lee classic, but there are some similiarities: 3 kids on the verge of trouble, a mystery man in a small Alabama town, a heated trial. In one way, though, this book will resonate in a way Mockingbird can't. These kids are real. They aren't angels. And they come from deeply flawed families. Kids today might have a hard time relating to Scout Finch, but they may see themselves in Walter Sithol.
And although the book is clearly a YA novel, its sharp edges and dark side will keep a more mature reader engaged right to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Full Review:
On the one hand, The Hanging Woods, the debut novel from Scott Loring Sanders, seems unmistakably to be in the "young-adult" genre. It is about early teen boys, and its language and situations are clearly geared for young people. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a darker story, or a protagonist as flawed as young Walter Sithol. And that leads me to wonder what young readers think of this boy, which also leads me to doubt my initial certainty that this book is solely for teenagers. While I believe they can handle it and learn from it, I also think that the adult reader will appreciate the complexities that emerge in the three central characters and enjoy the awful story that unfolds.
Walter is a typical boy in a small Alabama town in the mid-70s. His father is tough on him and his mother is over-protective. He hangs out with Jimmy and Raymond, known as Mothball, and they swim and fish and hang out together and occasionally get on each others' nerves. Walter carries a secret, though, and it may mildly annoy the reader that he refers to having seen his mother's diary without disclosing to the reader what he has read there. In any case, for various reasons tension builds between Walter and the other boys. Sanders renders these three boys with care, so that they are utterly distinct: Jimmy, the ringleader and troublemaker; Mothball, the chubby one, afraid of everything; and Walter, the smart one, the one who seems to have a firmer sense of right and wrong.
Then there is "the Troll," a Vietnam veteran who lives under a bridge and becomes both a legend and a mystery to the boys, a town oddity for them to taunt and an easy scapegoat when things go wrong. The more the Troll is revealed in this story, the more the whole book seems to be following the model of To Kill a Mockingbird. The three kids in some ways even resemble Scout, Jem, and Dill; the Troll seems very much like Boo Radley; and eventually there is even a trial scene that echoes the one in the Harper Lee classic. There's nothing wrong with imitating a masterpiece, but what's ingenious here is that just at the point where the reader is convinced that Mockingbird is the template, Sanders has young Walter read that novel and learn from it. And it is from that point on that The Hanging Woods diverges and becomes its own terrifying story.
It is, I think, risky to place a boy such as Walter at the center of a novel, particularly one aimed at young people. And yet, the author trusts the reader of any age to see Walter's flaws, and to keep reading despite them. It's a gamble that pays off.
This is a very good read. Highly recommended.
This is one creepy book (in the very best way)! March 26, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is tagged as YA, and that's appropriate: it's a terrific book for older kids who don't need to be spoonfed pablumized literature, and who want the real thing.
It's also a great and compelling read for adult lovers of good lit as well. Smart, frightening, often (starkly) hilarious, plotty, full of twists and turns. A book that catches up the reader in its dark passages.
In short: This guy can write!
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