Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of The Net Beneath Us by Carol Dunbar.

First of all, Cassandra Campbell can read me the ingredients off of a Hamburger Helper box and I'd be enraptured. I love her, such a great narrator.

Okay, this book. WOW. Feelings all over the place. I got a lot of These is My Words/ The Snow Child vibes, along with other wilderness survival books. But this was as rich as a Ghirardelli sundae.

As determined as she is to adapt to her new life in wilderness with her logger husband, Elsa is struggling. It's much harder than she bargained for and dearly misses modern conveniences like a flushing toilet. But she adores her kids and her husband and she is willing to work hard to also feel married to her new life.

But a terrible accident has happened at work, and Elsa is now looking at a much harsher reality and future. She is angry, constantly in conflict with her inlaws that desperately want to help her, and deeply despondent about her lack of knowledge and resources. Can she actually live this life and be there for her children? Or is it time to pack it all in and return to the comforts of modernity.

I think what I loved most about this novel was how absolutely human everyone was. No villains, no heroes, just raw, grieving, flawed, angry, loving, scared, and determined human beings trying to figure out completely unknown territory. It was messy in a way that I think so many people can relate to. And it was also so full of heart, regret, pain, triumphs, forgiveness and hope. I was deeply immersed in this story, and I highly recommend it.

Wow, wow, wow. Elsa grew up traveling the world in a wealthy family. After she loses her mother, she meets her husband. A logger in Wisconsin. They make their life in the woods, building their home themselves. After her husbands does in a logging accident, Elsa is left flouncing with her two young children. She never quite fit in the the locals and now seems worse than ever without her husband by her side. This is a story of grief, loss, the unique definitions of family, and finding strength after devastation. Author Carol Dunbar does a magical job exploring the complexities of both family and grief. I will be left thinking of this story for years to come. EXCELLENT!!!

** huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

✨Audiobook Review✨

The Net Beneath Us
Carol Dunbar
Pub Date: September 13, 2022

"If you listen to the trees, they tell you things. “Oh really? Like what?" When it's your time to go, don't fall on your young.”

🌲 Synopsis:
In the aftermath of her husband’s logging accident, Elsa has more questions than answers about how to carry on while caring for their two small children in the unfinished house he was building for them in the woods of rural Wisconsin. To cope with the challenges of winter and the near-daily miscommunications from her in-laws, she forges her own relationship with the land, learning from and taking comfort in the trees her husband had so loved. If she wants to stay in their home, she must discover her own capabilities, and accept help from the people and places she least expects.

💭 Thoughts:
First off, congratulations to @carol_dunbar_wi on her debut novel. This book had me running the full gamut of emotions. When Elsa’s husband was injured, I cried. I couldn’t imagine the anguish a person must feel seeing their significant other in a coma knowing their isn’t anything that can be done. Watching your children play, knowing their father will never join them again. Elsa and her daughter, Hester’s grief was so real and emotional. I truly felt for Elsa as she tried to carry on her family’s dream after her husband died. The story really gives a very powerful look at grief, motherhood, and finding yourself again after tragedy.

❄️ Overall, this is a deeply moving book that will have you appreciating everything we often take for granted. I highly recommend reading.

❄️Thank you @netgalley, @carol_dunbar_wi, and @forgereads, and @macmillan.audio for my ALC to review.

I didn't like this -- it felt kind of emotionally manipulative as well as unresolved.


Review copy provided by publisher.

After a logging accident leaves Elsa’s husband in a coma, she’s left to cope with their two young children in an off the grid life. Their home, being built by Elsa’s husband, is nowhere near complete and now winter is fast approaching. With fractious in-laws, a husband on the brink of death and two children to raise in the woods of rural Wisconsin, Elsa must find an inner reserve of strength she doesn’t know she possesses and learn to work with nature, not against it. Based on the author’s own life experiences, this book is full of both joy and despair; an incredibly moving portrait of marriage, motherhood and understanding of the natural world