I'd watch this B-movie. [Wonderland by Zoje Stage]

If Shirley Jackson wrote The Shining, it might look like this "deliciously unsettling" horror novel of a mother who must protect her family from the unnatural forces threatening their life in a rural farmhouse (Layne Fargo, author of Temper).

The Bennett family—artist parents and two precocious children—are leaving their familiar urban surroundings for a new home in far upstate New York. They're an hour from the nearest city, a mile from the nearest house, and everyone has their own room for the very first time. Shaw, the father, even gets his own painting studio now that he and his wife Orla, a retired dancer, have agreed that it's his turn to pursue his passion.

But none of the Bennetts expect what lies waiting in the lovely woods, where secrets run dark and deep. Orla must finally find a way to communicate with—not just resist—this unknown entity that is coming to her family, calling to them from the land, in the earth, beneath the trees . . . and in their minds.

It always surprises me when I have delays in getting into a book, or when it takes forever for a respective read to take off. I feel I have to explain away why it took long on my part, extenuating circumstances and all. But too often I just don't hit a stride until I'm at least a third of the way through. Sometimes later. I don't recall when it was that I hit my stride with Zoje Stage's Wonderland, but it took a while.

Average or above average white urbanite wife moves to a big house in the middle of the woods and has trouble adjusting, is a classic trope. Ooh, the woods are spooky, but wait, no, that's just me projecting my insecurities. And this went on for a while. And I mean a while. During which I was bored and hating our protagonist and her narration. Her family (save the aloof six year old) all started to grate on me? But again, in the most classic way. Could they all act more ridiculous? Could the husband be any more shut up until the wrong moment? Could the growing daughter be any more petulant and headstrong? Classic B-movie horror fare.

And why B-movie? It took a while for us to get around to the supernatural element. When we finally did it was fairly generic in it's explanation. Generic and lacking. The girl and the mother did the obviously stupid still, but in classic supernatural horror movie fashion. The ominous presence remains and is accepted, for the moment. 

In terms of my rating, it just took so long to get going for me. The characters were generally annoying and over the top in their ridiculousness. I'd probably watch this movie and generally enjoy it, but my read was not one that really grabbed my emotions. At least not in an above average. 3 stars from me.

Wonderland was published July 2020.