Through the Woods

by Emily Carroll

Other authorsEmily Carroll (Illustrator)
Paperback, 2014

Status

Checked out

Publication

Margaret K. McElderry Books (2014), 208 pages

Description

"A collection of five spine-tingling short stories"--

User reviews

LibraryThing member elenchus
Carroll's short stories don't share characters or feature the same town or region, at least none that is named, but there are suggestions each inhabits the same world. The oppressive atmosphere, for one thing, in which locales are simultaneously claustrophobic and wide open (panels often have no
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drawn borders, forests extend without end, beds sit in rooms without walls). For another, an infestation of horror which first burns red on cheeks and later erupts in red corpuscles and blindly-reaching worms.

Carroll's plots and descriptive prose are as unsettling as her stylised images. I'm reminded of a Victorian ghost story, the type which affects to relate a yet-older tale, and both images and imagery reinforce this: manor houses, huntsmen, woodcutters, wells and buckets. At the same time, there is a subtle hint of time passing: the early stories ("Our Neighbor's House" and "A Lady's Hands Are Cold") seem set in the 1800s, the last one ("The Nesting Place") could be a dark stepchild of Daisy and Gatsby. This last story also layers in an effective dose of psychology, where previous stories derived their menace wholly from supernatural or primeval forces.

Glossy paper in some way fits the illustrations: the bright colours are slick, almost wet. But in other ways, distracting in the way of a marketing glossy. My library copy had a glassine jacket protector, somewhat obscuring the dust jacket's textured design.

Not something to share with R anytime soon.
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LibraryThing member fundevogel
Not long ago I read an interesting article about what complementary bedfellows horror and beauty make. Of course I'm not sure where I read it, but the gist of it was that each makes the other more palatable, as both may be hard to digest on their own. Horror for its obvious distasteful elements and
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beautiful for its own tendency to go too far and choke on its own saccharine extravagance. But paired they can acheive a beautiful balance. The surreal and extreme nature of horror can create a landscape that not only accomodates the liberties of artistic beauty, but justifies and embraces them. Emily Carroll's work exemplifies such a union.

You are not likely to find a collection of ghost stories as beautifully crafted both in word and image as Through the Woods. Carroll's reticent prose and chillingly beautiful images capture the pacing and tone of told ghost stories. It almost isn't fair to call the images illustrations as their partnership with the text is so complete that they add as much to the story as the words, a virtue rarely so fully realized in graphic storytelling. And true to form the stories themselves have the certain familiarity while remaining innovative and mysterious.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll is a graphic novel that contains a collection of horror stories. These stories are both spine-chilling and macabre, vividly drawn and illustrated in bright colors, with lots of red and black being used to good effect.

Although I thought each story was good, there
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were a couple that were stronger than the others, I particularly liked “A Lady’s Hands Are Cold” and ‘Our Neighbour’s House”. From the first lines in the book, “It came from the woods. Most strange things do.” the reader knows that this book is going to take one on a dark journey and, indeed, the author excels in delivering a nightmarish quality to both the stories and the illustrations.
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LibraryThing member CarrieWuj
Just in time for Halloween. This graphic short story is super-creepy -- and not for kids, but YA is ok. Through predominantly black and white images, with ominous shades of red, the author conveys 5 original spooky tales that have some connection to the primordial fear of the dark forest. "It came
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from the woods. Most strange things do." There are both interior and exterior threats portrayed, but like all good ghost stories that linger, there is some examination of self and character flaws to confront. And in all instances, things are not what they seem. The art is the most engaging part of the book and the author/illustrator does a fantastic job of conveying the horror, terror, fear, doubt and dismay of these simple stories. Keep the light on!
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LibraryThing member TadAD
I wasn't sure I'd like a graphic novel qua novel; I was afraid it would be too much of a comic book experience. However, count me in as yet another big fan of Through the Woods. In it you'll find five original, and delightfully creepy, tales plus a tiny riff on "Little Red Riding Hood" at the end.
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In particular, "Our Neighbor's House" had that feel of a timeless story passed on from grandparent to grandchild.

Rather than being a distraction, the drawings make the stories so much more vivid. Carroll has slight variations of style in her illustrations and each seems to fit the story they accompany. Occasionally they remind me somewhat of Charles Addams' work...if you take out all the humor and inject a large amount of the macabre...and, at other times, Frank Miller's "Sin City" panels comes to mind.

Definitely recommended.
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LibraryThing member emren
This is the book I've been looking for!

I love horror and I've been looking for something legitimately creepy for a while. I was absolutely thrilled when I opened this and realized that it was a graphic novel of horror short stories! I had a conversation on twitter a while back with Alyssa from
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Books Take you Places about how we both used to love the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. Half of the charm of those books were the creepy and terrifying illustrations. I can still picture them exactly when I think about those books. They were memorable. Through the Woods is a lot like that!
Originally seen on Emily Reads Everything

Through the Woods is a graphic novel of 5 short stories. A few of the stories are fairytale/folklore retellings, but not the sweet, edited Disney versions. These tales are the cousins of Grimm's originals. Bluebeard's story would be right at home in these pages. I loved Emily Carroll's use of color. These are graphic novels, so the pictures tell much of the story. Her art isn't monochrome at all but she uses bright red at appropriate points to really make her intentions clear. Its just gorgeous and also very very creepy.

I loved all of the stories. I can't choose a favorite, but I'd definitely say His Face All Red is in the top 5! (Let me be clear, there were only 5 stories). This story is available to read for free online. If you are on the fence at all, definitely check it out. If you like it, you are sure to like the other stories in this collection. Every single one is completely different in the same beautiful style.
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LibraryThing member EKAnderson
There are beautiful books, and then there's THROUGH THE WOODS by Emily Carroll.

I haven't read anything like this before, and perhaps this is because I don't read as many books in graphic format as I used to, but it could also be that THROUGH THE WOODS is breaking ground. It's a collection of short
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stories told in a combination of illustration and text. It has the look and feel of a graphic novel, but there's also a but more text than you'd find in a typical comic. So, I'm going to think of it as a hybrid. A beautiful, beautiful hybrid.

In THROUGH THE WOODS, Emily Carroll explores some serious spooky folklore. I'm pretty sure that there's a death in every single one of the shorts. Her use of color -- and limited palette -- is stunning and evocative. And, because she's using the folktale/fable trope, you do see a bit of a "moral" to every story. But often that moral ends up going awry, which is absolutely delicious.

If you're the type of reader who flocks to fairytale retellings but who is also often disappointed by these retellings' lack of teeth and bones and bumps in the night, I am throwing this book at you. THROWING IT. Because you must read it. With the light off, under the covers, with a flashlight. Just do it. And thank me later.
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LibraryThing member pussreboots
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll is a collection of short stories that are in the tradition of the uncensored brothers Grimm. Most specifically, they are drawn from the Little Red Riding Hood tale because: "the WOLF only needs enough luck to find you ONCE."

These stories, though, are not about
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young, beautiful women being captured or devoured by monsters. These women, though in the path of danger, are dangerous themselves, and capable of calling on their inner strengths to rescue themselves and those around them.

My favorite example from the book is the story of a brother taking his bookish sister to the lake house of his financée's family. The girlfriend tries to befriend the sister but she can see right through the ruse, seeing through to the monster that lies beneath.
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LibraryThing member sszkutak
I have been seeing this book at my local library for a while now and every time for one reason or another passed it up. This week though I decided it was time and picked it up. I have seen it on various blogs that I follow and the cover is vivid and captivating although I wasn't sure what the story
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was about. Much to my surprise it is a collection of short tales in graphic novel form and I love that!

This book was creepy, there is no other way to put it. The stories were interesting and the endings were unpredictable and the macabre feeling of it all was wonderful. I loved it so much.

The tales themselves were a variety of things, some about sisters, some about ghosts, some about monsters - all of them were strange and unusual and very very creepy. There is no other way to describe it. The images were also very dark and spooky feelings, I really enjoyed this whole package.
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LibraryThing member jsheilas
Carroll’s Through the Woods is a collection of short stories, all of which I would describe as dark fairy tales taking place in different historical periods. These are stories about things lurking in the woods, dysfunctional relationships, ghosts, madness, betrayal, and murder. No one is going to
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help in the end and, in fact, other people are most likely actively plotting to destroy you. Assuming, of course, that they are actually human.

Most of the stories are quite short, and Carroll teases us with some details but ultimately leaves a lot of ambiguity. What is great is that the stories continue to surprise even with the building sense of dread and inevitability. I basically love all of the drawings, but the best/eeriest are black, white, and red. There are several images that will haunt my dreams.

My favorite is the last story, but even the fucking epilogue I love, and when the fuck can you ever say you love an epilogue? The last story is the longest, and I felt I could really sink my teeth into it. It follows Bell, a young woman in the 1920s whose mother has recently passed away. After her year at boarding school ends, she goes to stay with her brother and his fiancée in the country. Bell would like to stay inside and read all summer, but her brother is intolerably cheerful and outdoorsy, encouraging her to spend time outside and to get to know his fiancée. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bell discovers the fiancée has a much darker secret than a cupboard full of overdue library books. All I’m going to say is that you will probably shrink in terror from the next flapper you see (if you regularly encounter flappers).

Carroll’s stories, most of which are about young women encountering sinister, otherworldly creatures, remind me a lot of Libba Bray’s novels, and I would follow that woman into battle. As the epilogue reminds us, “you must be lucky to avoid the wolf every time…but the WOLF…the WOLF only needs enough luck to find you ONCE.” Through the Woods is like that too: full of fragments, stories, and images that are beautifully disquieting. Disquietingly beautiful? Yes. All of the above.
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LibraryThing member starsandscribbles
The artwork is just phenomenal. I absolutely loved the color contrast that was built into the narratives. The stories themselves are reminiscent of ones I would read as a kid, with just the right amount of horror and suspense to leave you wanting more. Great graphic novel!
LibraryThing member thebumblegirl
The most hauntingly beautiful book I have ever seen! The illustrations alone will creep into your brain and burrow in for nightmares to come. The writing and dialogue has a way of whispering right into your ear, giving chills and everlasting goosebumps. I don't think I will ever be able to convey
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into appropriate words how brilliant this graphic novel is. Emily Carroll has upped my fairytale expectations to a point that I will probably never be able to find another novel that will captivate like this.

First, I must gush over the book's cover and its illustrations; the cover effectively sets the tone to the stories and will draw you in whether or not you want to be. The woods are enchanting and inviting, just look at those dead white trees on the cover - they are raised and textured, and if you look closer, you can see claws branching out to grab at you. You will be captivated by each story; and you will probably skim through the whole book needing to see the stories before you can actually bring yourself to actually read them. That's the beauty of this graphic novel, you don't have to read it in order to feel the eeriness. The words, the dialogue, adds to the horror, suspense and thrill.

There are five short stories. But the one that spoke to me the most and will forever give me chills is the second one called A Lady's Hands are Cold... it reminded me of Edgar Allen Poe's short story, The Tell-Tale Heart. A girl's father marries her off and is sent to go live in her groom's ornate home. Her handmaids dress her richly and she only sees her husband at dinner. Every night she goes to her room and hears an eerie voice, a woman's voice singing the saddest tune, throughout the house - the walls, the floors. After a few nights she is overcome by the woman's grief and goes to investigate where it is coming from... now, let your imagination run. It will not compare to what unfolds for this girl.

And then the ending, the 'conclusion' of the entire book, is a story on its own too. It is by far my favorite part of the book since it seems to be an obvious nod to Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Yes, the entire book does have an influence from this fairytale as well, but here, here is where it all starts and ends, and it is truly brilliant!

All who love graphic novels, fairytales and/or horror chilling stories will truly appreciate everything about Through the Woods - the quality, the details, the storytelling - these stories will linger on your mind for years to come... a picture book like no other.
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LibraryThing member kivarson
A haunting, beautiful collection of deeply spooky stories. Ms. Carroll varies her graphics with each story; some resonate with strong primary colors, others are filled with warm earth tones and some are more delicately colored, evocative of vaguely unsettled feelings. Set in different times and
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places, with her characters clothed in fabulously period garb, these stories will pull you in.
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LibraryThing member ecataldi
I love the illustrations so much I could just eat them up. They are divine. Every. Single. One.This young adult graphic novel consists of five short illustrated tales, each one more delightful than the next. They're dark and would be especially scary to small children but to teens (and me) they
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have just enough shock appeal to keep you thirsting for more. One cannot describe the awesomeness of this book, one must read it to understand. Seriously, it will take you less than an hour. You have to do it. The stories and pictures are gorgeous, graphic, and gritty. Get on it now. I promise you won't regret it!
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LibraryThing member MirandaR18
Only two words are needed to sum of this book: Hauntingly beautiful. This was one of my favorites this year by far! This collection of short stories was captivating and seemed to flow so seamlessly. And the artwork was so haunting and unexpected, there's nothing I love more than the actual text
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being used through the illustrations. I consider this a modern day, grown-up version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Just wonderful.
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LibraryThing member junerain
Emily Carroll does amazing things with color to create a sense of disquiet from the very beginning. I loved the way that she played with sound and movement in some of her panel-less pages. Her stories have a fairy tale quality to them, so each one feels both familiar and new at the same time.

This
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is a beautiful collection full of eerie and unsettling stories. Great for anyone who misses what it feels like to the Grimm's fairy tales for the first time.
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LibraryThing member Serenity_Tigerlily
As soon as I got this graphic novel home I devoured it; I absolutely loved these stories. The beautiful artwork along with the writing style was captivating. I can't wait to get the rest Carroll's work to add to my personal library.

I recommend everyone who loves graphic novels and creepy short
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stories to pick this up.
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LibraryThing member DanielleMD
This book was more creepy than scary for me, which is not a bad thing. The artwork and typography is spectacular and the artist uses some interesting techniques. The stories are wonderfully written and will definitely creep you out! I'd highly recommend this book.
LibraryThing member LibrarianMaven
These short graphic stories are about as creepy as you can get, made more creepy by atmospheric drawings. The worst, creepiest part however is how most of the endings are left open to interpretation. Highly recommended, though perhaps not late at night alone.
LibraryThing member maggie1944
Wow, this is a seriously creepy book of excellent art, and writing which matches. I loved it! I am not sure which of the kids I want to subject to this book.... I tried it on my housemate and she did not finish it, because it "creeped her out". Yup. Seriously, this is a well done book and the
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author who is also the illustrator deserves much admiration!
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LibraryThing member schatzi
This book was everything that I wanted it to be - beautiful art paired with great stories. The first story even gave me a goosebump or two, something that almost never happens! Recommended.
LibraryThing member mamzel
Extraordinary collection of stories deliciously accompanied by eerie illustrations.
LibraryThing member zenobia158
This is a true horror graphic novel, using pictures and word to create a sense of unease that sticks with you even after you close the covers. There is almost no satisfactory resolution. There doesn't need to be.

This book is great for teens and adults alike. After reading this, I bought this for
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my sister, a high school English teacher. She'll love it.
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LibraryThing member hdcanis
First of all, it's pretty good and worth reading.

However, I can't really be as enthusiastic about it as several others here. Carroll tends to slip too much into the type of "comic" where the author writes a short story and then provides a number of mood pictures related to the story but not really
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adding that much to it. Not the first time I have seen such a thing and it always suggests that narrative techniques are somewhat lacking, text and pictures don't work together but are used to hide each other's weaknesses.

I'd say only the last story, The Nesting Place, gets it right: luckily it's also the longest story of the book. Others are readable.
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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
This graphic novel contains a number of short stories designed to be eerie. Ghosts and monsters populated the edges of every story, although often much was left up to the reader's imagination. Indeed, if you like nicely tied up endings, this collection won't be for you.

Not being a super huge fan of
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the macabre, these stories weren't really my cup of tea. BUT the artwork was absolutely gorgeous. Carroll did an excellent job of balancing just the right amount of splashes of bright color against largely black, white, gray, and brown backdrops. It all added to an atmosphere of gloom, despair, and mystery. The use of panels and the lettering were also beautiful. No story ever noted in the text when it is set, but they were all in the past as was obvious by the illustrations of clothing specific to the Regency era, the Victorian era, and the Jazz Age in different stories.

All in all, this is an interesting and quick read. If you like dark stories about the supernatural that leave things open-ended, you'll be sure to love it. But even if you don't, then you should be able to appreciate the beautiful artwork like I did.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2014-07-15

Physical description

208 p.; 7 inches

ISBN

1442465964 / 9781442465961

Other editions

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