The writing was stilted and the characters are shallow and uninteresting. No one grows or develops into a better person. There was a smidge of interesting info on the Oneida community- the only redeeming value in this novel. There was potential here that was not pursued. Maybe next time...

Thank you to Random House Publishing and the author for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have to admit I had higher expectations for this book having read a previous book by this author. Yet, this one just wasn't as gripping as I had hoped. There was some mystery to it, but nothing that added or took away from the story, so when the reveal came about, I didn't care anymore about it.
This story is about a group of young adults who decide to go out into the wilderness to live off of the land by their own means. Interesting premise, yet it fell short for anything really interesting within the story. I kept waiting for something to "happen" but it was simply a story to be told. In all honesty , it moved very slowly for me and I found myself picking it up to read just because I was determined to finish it. I'm sure my low opinion of what the kids were trying to accomplish didn't help either, but I kept an open mind.
Recommended for the younger generation who are trying to change the world for the best, and what they might soon realize can go wrong.

I had high hopes going into We Went to the Woods but it fell short for me. I think I’m simply not the target audience for this one.

To me there just wasn’t a whole lot going on in this book. Story revolving around five spoiled millennials that move onto an old farm they called the Homestead. Maybe their version of living their best lives “living off the land”. Honestly, I DNF. Too slow and not much of anything going on that kept me interested to finish the book.

I read this book because it was shared with me by a publisher who has sent some fantastic novels and they included a recommendation from an author that I have very much enjoyed. However, this book was not in any way a psychological thriller like the books written by that author and I found it kind of boring and pretentious.

There were definitely intriguing plot lines that could have been explored further, but the story never went into what I would have found to be interesting and instead remained on the surface. For the most part, it just took a lot of effort to finish this book because I kept falling asleep and the end was pretty anticlimactic.

This was a very slow-moving book for me and I had a hard time caring what happened. I didn't like any of the characters - they seemed like pretentious, entitled hippie-wannabes playing a game.

The writing is decent but it takes so long for anything interesting or exciting to happen that I had lost interest by the time it did.

If you like character studies, more than plot driven novels you may like this book. It has a few merits, as I was hoping to read something different than what was on the pages. Because I enjoyed Dead Letters, I thought I would like this sophomore novel by this author but In struggled with the pace, the story about communes being interesting if it went in another direction. I would have liked to know more about the narrator's background and what happened before getting a good way into the book.

While I did finish this book it was hard. This was just not the book for me. I found it very slow and uneventful. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A modern twist on commune living. I was waiting for a good “Aha” moment but it never came. A good story nonetheless.

This is my second Dolan-Leach novel this year and I can confidently say that she is a must read author for me. She is so incredibly talented at writing characters and compelling stories. We Went to the Woods is a story about a group of five friends who decide live off the grid and start their own commune. Two members of the group are hardcore environmentalists who are against anything unnatural happening to the earth. The other members of the commune are just interested in their friendship group and commune living. The group also has a close friendship with some members of another commune living nearby. This story is told all from the perspective of Mack who has a shady past involving a reality show and another commune and who is extremely interested in the past history of the other communes who live/lived in and around their property.

Over time I found myself really invested in the members of the group and where their story was heading. From the very beginning the author lets the reader know that something bad happened to the group and Mack is telling us the story of how the group came to be and all the events that lead up to the terrible thing that happened. I was also happily surprised to see that some characters from the Dolan-Leach’s first book popped up in this story. It adds another level of excitement for me when it comes to her third book because I can’t wait to see if there is further overlap in her stories.

If you love character driven books I really think you would enjoy this. Also for anyone, like me, who is interested in cults you will really like the different perspectives this book gives for them. It is more of a background of how cults get started and innocuous they can start off. There is also a side story where Mack is investigating a commune (or better referred to as a cult) that existed a hundred years ago. We get glimpses into that group and what led to their downfall. For me, I find cults so fascinating because I don’t understand what draws people to them and this book really opened my eyes to how harmless and ordinary they can start off as/ be.

Ever wonder what would happen if a group of modern-day friends started a '60s style commune? This the book for you! I felt like the motives were at time muddy and the prose dragged a bit but I liked the look into friends and communal living.

2 stars
Okay. This is nothing like The Secret History! I did not enjoy this book at all. I didn’t like the writhing style. I didn’t care about any of the characters....I actually disliked them all very much. This book was not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for my free copy for review.

I was looking forward to this read because I find the idea of communal living interesting and horrifying. I'm a person who has a deep concern for the environment. I'm a passionate gardener and buy organic vegetables from a local farm, but I'd never dream of giving up my privacy, to be honest. Parts of this book were really intriguing. I loved all the little details about planting, growing, and preparing food. What I didn't love, however, was how flat all the characters seemed. Our main character, Mack, is kind of dull. She's a shell of a person, and that's how everyone felt. I wanted more from these characters who are living in such close quarters. Perhaps that's the point, that they're far away from one another even as they live so close together, but it made for a bit of a slow read. The historical bits didn't add much to the story for me. I found myself skimming through those portions. Altogether, this book piqued my interest and lost it rather quickly. Just fine, IMHO. Maybe not my cup of tea.

This was a strange book, as strange as the mission of its characters, I suppose. It is intriguing but meanders a lot, and the ending is a bit anticlimactic. Everything changed but nothing changes.

3.5, rounded up because I think this book is likely to be met with unfair disdain.

A few things to address:

1) this is literary fiction, not a thriller. It's a slow burn.
2) This book follows the lives of millennials, behaving in a very self-centered, stereotypical "millennial manner". If that is going to offend or annoy you, don't read it.

It seems like fiction about cults is very 'in', but, as with all of the others I've read, it seems plotting and development is rather difficult in these sorts of novels. The same communal breakdowns occur, with characters dealing with relationships developing and then causing strife, the harsh realities of living an agrarian lifestyle, and political activism. I fully expected to DNF We Went to the Woods, but surprisingly, it kept my attention. I think that's due to it starting with the end, so I wanted to know exactly what led to the dissolution of the community, and how Mack ended up being the only one left to relay the story.
Many of the reviews slight the book because the characters aren't "likable"-- I feel like they're all very realistic and seem like many of the liberal-minded people I've encountered online and in my own life. Sure, they're privileged, but it's pretty much the same sort of privilege any college student in the US possesses. And most friend groups contain a figure or two who has more than the others (a la Louisa). But beyond that, they're disappointed with the society in which they've found themselves. They're attempting to reject their own privilege, though the irony is that they're unable to do so without relying on it, to some extent. Nevertheless, they're not trying communal living to 'be cool', but rather to explore another, simpler way of life. Sure, it's idealistic, and sure, they're not prepared, but that's the point. It's interesting, and sort of a sad commentary on our own lives; no matter how much we might like to reject what we perceive as unfairness or injustice, we are essentially unable to escape it, and unable to change it.
Whether you like the characters, their behaviors, or their motivations, Dolan-Leach's book is well written and thought provoking as it confronts modern society and its bleak alternatives.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was not a book I normally would have picked as it is about a group of people who decide to lead a hippie life in upstate NY at a commune. However, this was a mesmerizing read. The characters are well drawn and the language is poetic. I was not surprised to learn that Caite Dolan-Leach is a literary translator. The pacing was a bit slow at times, but in a good way as this allowed me to really connect with the characters, the prose and the language rather than just turing the pages for an unexpected plot twist… Having said that, there were plenty of twists, but the character development was more prominent.

I will be recommending this book to friends and family for when they are in the mood for something different, yet interesting.

I tried to get into this, but I struggled, from beginning to end. The writing itself was excellent -- descriptive and well executed. However, the story line and the characters fell flat for me. I couldn't relate to a single character. The mystery I kept expecting was a part of the book was really nonexistent. The horror genre I thought it might be based on the first chapter, turned out it wasn't. So I just ended up confused and wondering where on earth the plot was going. It was very political, very sexual (without actually describing any sex, just strong innuendos), and all-in-all seemed to go nowhere. Even the historical mystery that Mack finds in the journals and then the library, she never solves about William and his "family" trying to start their own alternative community in the same area. Honestly, no one in the book is likable, except for Argos, the dog. I wish I'd liked the story better because, again, the author's writing style, narrative, descriptions, etc. were just so much better than the plot and the characters. I'd rate the story itself probably 1.5-2 stars, but the writing is 4-4.5 stars, so I averaged my overall rating to a 3.

Content: Sex innuendos (free love/communal/open relationships, both heterosexual and homosexual; however, nothing overtly described, just mainly mentioned and implied), as well as constant, consistent, and way overuse of the F word.

After being publicly vilified from an incident on a reality television show, Mack runs home to hide at her parents house.
While working as a caterer at a party, she meets Louisa, who tells her of her plan to live off grid on some land her family owns. She introduces Mack to her friends Beau, Chloe and Jack who make up the group ready to begin their experience in sustainable living.
Eager to escape her shame and disgrace, Mack joins them at their compound Homestead. With little practical farming experience, they struggle to provide for themselves. A secretive bunch, who swap sexual partners, entangling emotional relationships.
Making things more problematic as they befriend a neighboring commune with more radical political beliefs.
As winter begins to darken their days, conflicts erupt.
A dark, brooding tale, with a menacing edge.
Though I enjoyed the writing style, the characters were inherently unlikable and the slow pace was slightly boring. At its best when describing how they made their way living off the land, it ultimately was a disappointing read for me and I didn't find the politics of it very interesting.
Thank you for the e-ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mackenzie, who unknown to the other characters in the story, participated in a reality project living off the grid a short while prior to the story's beginning. As part of a PhD project, she joins up with another group of young adults to establish a self-sufficient/self sustaining farm called the Homestead. She hopes to redeem herself after the previous attempt ended in personal disgrace. The narrative describes farming with its ups and downs, as well as immature young adult behavior including gossip, tangled relationships, sexual promiscuity, interaction and competition with similar.self-sufficient communities. I found myself skipping sections out of boredom, ready for the story to be done.

Louisa, Beau, Jack, Cloe and Mackenzie decide to go against society. They go to the woods where a group of small cabins and a larger one are situated on 100 acres of mostly woods and neglected fields. Here they will live off the land. They will chop wood, plant a huge garden and haul water. They have no electricity or running water. The bathroom is an outdoor facility and they will bathe in a pond with cloudy water. They will learn the art of planting and eating organic. The only alcohol beverages are what they can distill themselves. Most of all the will be honest and open with each other about everything.
Through the months they are at the Homestezd they learn a lot about each other. They're like and dislikes. Mack, especially learns that they all harbor secrets. One of those secrets may be their undoing. Putting everything they have worked hard for in jeopardy and maybe even taking their lives.
Intriguing, deep characterizations.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book ARC.

So, I was really excited to request this novel and envisaged something like Donna Tartt's 1992 The Secret History. However, as I raced through each page, I was eagerly anticipating a suspenseful story to develop. After about 70% in to the novel on my Kindle Oasis, I realized that the story for me have peaked already and wouldn't recover.

I would have liked to have seen a couple of the characters be fleshed out a bit more and become more meaty, especially Beau, but it didn't materialize. Most of the characters were rather unlikeable, and even the protagonist seemed a bit wooden and underdeveloped.

However, the grammar, vocabulary and literary style were well-developed.

I submitted a review on Amazon and am waiting for it to be posted. As soon as it is, I'll paste the link below.