Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Devil House: A Novel by John Darnielle

6 reviews

swivelhead's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No

5.0

I LOVE this book! Most of the negative reviews for this seem to be from folks who were expecting a straight true crime story, which this book is not. This is more a meta-commentary about storytelling using the fictional investigation of a true crime author as the conceit to drive things forward.

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yrioona's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Weighed down a bit by metanarrative, deliberate repetition, and high concept touches (really could've done without the barely-relevant medieval interlude in fake gothic font), and treading some overly familiar ground as far as JD's themes and settings, but still really compelling and complex. It has a skillfully done puzzle-box/labyrinth structure that leads you through without spelling things out too much, teasing a straightforward narrative about troubled teens resorting to violence, but then gradually zooming out to reveal  
a kind of class-conscious existential horror story about what happens when you apply compassion and imagination to the true crime genre. I picked this up because I'm a mountain goats fan and WIWV was pretty ok, but this is a huge step up from WIWV and it made me look forward to what's next. Pretty incredible what this guy can do! Wish he would write some more interesting women characters.

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m_e_ruzak's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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zw_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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Incredibly dull and keeps jumping between 3 different stories

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vixenreader's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This novel reads more like a textbook than anything. 

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