Reviews with content warning for Child death - Devil House: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Devil House: A Novel by John Darnielle

17 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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sheriffrockyraccoon's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

The idea is there, but the execution was lacking. I had really high hopes for this book, having loved the cover and enjoying a good mystery. That isn’t what this book is, though, and I would emphasize to anyone who wants to read it that I would hardly categorize it as crime either.

The book takes a long time to say what it wants to say. It takes WAY too long, like 350 pages too long. So much of the story is spent building up flat characters from an author whose characterization is also nonexistent. When it finally came to the plot twist, it just didn’t have much of an effect on me because there was nothing from the rest of the novel that I was truly holding on to.

I would like to think that maybe I am just so smart I saw Darnielle’s intention from the get go and that this was not a book directed toward me but I don’t think either of us should get too much credit. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.

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kthealey's review against another edition

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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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jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

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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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defeating_my_demons's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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criticalgayze's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as "the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care."

Sorry to start this off like an essay, but it's what a book like this deserves.

Stewardship is really what is at the heart of a book. What does it mean to take care of something? A child, a piece of land, (maybe most especially) a story? Even more specifically, a story you have not been trusted to tell but rather named yourself the teller of.

Throughout the book, Gage Chandler wrestles with this moral quandary. How do you tend to something that may or may not be considered "yours?" Is there a healthy way to do such a thing, or is there only the best way you know how? Are you allowed to do such a thing, and once you've made the choice to do it anyway, what is the best way to validate or redeem your choice?

This book is art. The book is beautiful the whole way throughout, but when Darnielle inverts the reader's understanding in the last 15 pages, it becomes elevated to the realm of the truly spectacular.

Do yourself a favor and read this book.

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br00k3a133n's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

Oh gosh. So I loved the format of this and the twists and turns it took, especially in the end....but the sections with the "olde English" writing was hard for me. On one hand to parse and on the other to physically read. The whole section (that as far as I can tell was an insert to contextualize some of the themes) "Song of Gorbonian", was printed in a near incomprehensible font. I basically ended up having to just skip it and hope for the best.

I want to love this more, but the detrators really were too strong.

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