Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Devil House: A Novel by John Darnielle

30 reviews

sourcherrysyrup's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

A story about stories, abour urban myths, and abour the people behind them. Who gets the sympathy in a true story, who deserves it? Who decides?

This book kept changing, the back cover said it would but I didn’t realize to what extent. I love John Darnielle’s music and both his songwriting and prose has a haunting quality that is just itching to tell you about the deeper theme in the work. His care and his voice bleeds through all he does, resulting in a tense and fragile feeling. He is incredible at creating worlds, at drawing you into them, and snapping the strings that hold them up, dropping you into the void. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

doctadri44's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

swivelhead's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Bullying

directorpurry's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Murder

kthealey's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Sexism, Xenophobia, and Vomit

rystonlentil43's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I started reading in digital format and I'd already passed the section in the different font before switching to the paperback, but it does look like it would've been pretty hard to make out in that font. That aside, its presence exemplifies what I love about this book (and is crucial to the themes!). There's such a variety of textures working together to build strong, interesting ideas. (I see from the other reviews that this was misleadingly marketed as horror, like Universal Harvester... I wish that would stop happening. It's sad that people are disappointed by these great books because they were expecting something different.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Domestic abuse

alicroz34's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Favourite line: Jesse has a fear of consequences whose constant presence at the periphery of his consciousness is a sort of tribute to his father. 

Well written! The first half or so really had me. Definitely not what I expected despite being warned it's not a horror book - but it's also not really a crime novel either in a way. It more... explores what crime media is without delivering on the crime aspect. The fourth time we were suddenly in the perspective of a peripheral character, later & later in the book, I really became impatient waiting for the answers that never caaaaame. This is the second book in the last year that has some almost fourth-wall-breaking commentary from the author on their own work. In the last few pages of the book, we read his account of a true crime novel that is not routed in fact, that has no momentum, and leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied. So, I know he knows he made that. But I still feel that way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Not horror but not bad. Decent writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

yrioona's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jo_schmo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Forced institutionalization