{"id":29612,"date":"2022-03-14T12:04:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T16:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=29612"},"modified":"2022-03-14T12:04:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T16:04:16","slug":"zach-williams-wood-sorrel-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2022\/03\/14\/zach-williams-wood-sorrel-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Williams: “Wood Sorrel House”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Wood Sorrel House”<\/strong><\/span>
\nby Zach Williams<\/span>
\nfrom the March 21, 2022 issue of\u00a0The\u00a0<\/i>New Yorker<\/i><\/span><\/p><\/h3><\/div>

\"\"T<\/span>his is, I believe, Zach Williams’s first published story. At least, it is stated as much in his interview with Deborah Treisman, who does not say “first story published in\u00a0The New Yorker<\/em>,” and I cannot find any other instance (please let me know if this is incorrect). It’s exciting to get to know a brand new author!<\/p>\n

This story takes a couple, Ronna and Jacob, to an out-of-the-way summer rental. The story begins with this paragraph about this “idyllic” place, though it sounds ominous.<\/p>\n

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It was a modest summer rental, the kind Ronna recalled from girlhood trips to Maine or Vermont or the Finger Lakes, set in a small clearing on a thickly wooded mountainside, peacefully out of sight of roads or neighbors\u00a0or anything else. Jacob opened all the doors, came back downstairs, and remarked a little sternly that the cottage needed updates: the range wobbled, the mattress caved in the middle, the woolly plaid sofas were from another era. Still, there was something idyllic about the place.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The couple is raising a toddler named Max, and it sounds like things get quite . . . strange. In his interview, he says he was reading Shirley Jackson and Joy Williams at the time. Sounds exciting!<\/p>\n

What did you think of the story? Does it make you want to read whatever Williams comes out with next? I look forward to reading your thoughts below!<\/p>\n