Dark Matter, Michelle Paver
Despite the year being relatively rubbish for everyone, we tried to get into the spooky spirit by reading a ghost story. This novel was particularly relevant to our time due to its main themes being isolation, dark nights, and fear. That being said, we got dressed up for a Zoom fancy dress competition, which raised the tone of the evening a little.
For a few, they found the spooky element a little hard to relax into, not being in the correct headspace for it. They instead distanced themselves from the novel more than they might have at another time, and they felt that this detracted from their experience of what Paver was trying to achieve because they were not receptive to it. It certainly was a chilling read with those who were engrossed in it; so much so we were left looking over our shoulders, just in case…
Paver has an excellent backlist which you can find here. For younger readers, the ‘Wolf Brother’ series is marvellous, but not all of her work is anywhere near as queer as ‘Dark Matter’. To learn more about her as an author, visit her website.
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