“A woman always thinks it takes two to keep a secret, but I’m here to say I think it takes one.”

I wanted to love this one. For at least the first 200 pages, I was completely wrapped in the story: small town, a whole family relocated there, the eerie setting and the obsession with the corn. The writing was good, the family believable and I loved the slow build up of the mystery of what was going on. As Ned was confused, I was confused and completely focused on what he was.

But once the mystery started to unravel, I just wasn't as pulled in. Some of the situations near the end were awful - hard to read and I didn't think added to the story. The turn it took was not where I thought and it was a let down. I wish I'd loved it more. ( )

Some books have such compelling action that I get completely sucked in, reading to find out what’s next, what’s going to happen on that next page. This is not that kind of book. Instead, it is a slow burning, wonderfully atmospheric story that sucked me into the mysterious events and curious characters, so that I kept reading because I wanted to know more, to mine the hints and subtleties to find out *why* people were doing and saying and events and stories were not matching up. I am not a fast reader, and with baseball games having started, I’m slower than ever, which is why it’s significant that I finished a 400 page hardcover in only four days. And that’s literally all I can think of to say without spoiling the whole plot.

This novel is not without its problems. It is certainly dated, but I wouldn’t say that it hasn’t aged well. More that it is an excellent snapshot of the cultural issues and fascinations of early 1970’s mainstream America. Although I have never studied the history of feminism, I am willing to bet that a modern feminist scholar would find a lot to dissect here.

One last thought. I first read this book when I was not quite a preteen, because it was all the rage at the time and my parents never noticed when I snuck their adult fiction off the shelf after they were done with it. They never would have let me read the novel equivalent of an R rated movie. So I didn’t have the maturity or the base knowledge to understand a lot of it (no internet in the 70’s and children were much more naïve then), and I’d forgotten most of the plot, so in some ways I was coming to this book unspoiled. And I’m glad of it. This book had been left on my parents’ bookshelves for 40 years, until I found it mixed into a box of my grandmother’s books, when my mother chose to give them to me as keepsakes rather than throwing them out. I was delighted to find it, and now I’m even more delighted after having reread it as an adult.

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Pg 50: http://sheric.booklikes.com/post/1540577/harvest-home-progress-50-401-pg
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This is another vintage classic I found from Grady Hendrix paperbacks from hell book. A true horror classic! Small town oddities and twisted religious ideals galore. A truly scary setting and vibe. This is a definite must read......and will definitely be a reread for me! ( )

I think this is going up there as an all time favorite. The writing is brilliant with an eye for artistic details and the story will sit you back down in your seat and make you wonder where the he’ll you’ve been for the last 379 pages.

I watched this film 45 years ago and it terrified me. For nearly 50 years it has stuck with me and planted dark slithering things in my mind. I was only five years old and worked the fields with my family and that association with those evil people has never left. The book is an incredibly well measured and put together story. A slow...very slow build up of something that you know is going to come not out of the dark, but out of the very souls of those surrounding you. I do not want to give away the plot by any means, but if someone tells you to mind your own business...guess what? DO IT. The characters are real and well written, The main character Ned, really seems like a good guy but he has not he common sense to just shut his mouth. The story will draw you in and the inhabitants of the village will make sure you stay there. ( )