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loveallthis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Mass/school shootings and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
savvy999's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Occasionally confounding, and intricately woven, the novel places a deliberate haze over the eyes of the reader, asking them to parse the morality and verity of the prosaic and lyrical content of the novel. Darnielle’s songwriting deeply influences the strength of description and scenario as well as ( I suspect) playing into the game of alternating narration that pervades the book. The novel is ultimately more meditation than horror, asking layered questions about the ethics of true crime and the mythology it creates.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, and Murder
emc13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Minor: Vomit
zw_books's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
cviii's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
julianship's review against another edition
DNF at 42% of the audiobook. I was hoping this book would solve some of the problems I had with Universal Harvester while retaining the evocative moments I enjoyed, but while the structure feels more cohesive, I just didn't like this book!
The first section is interesting, and Gage Chandler's ominous omniscience is an engaging way to tell a story that is partly about storytelling itself, and the ways that stories change based on who tells them. Not groundbreaking, but something I always enjoy.
But once we get to the segments on the White Witch and Derek, the characters move through the book too smoothly, slipping past each other without real emotional impact beyond violence. There's no relationship meat here, just description after description of location and brutality. Those descriptions are evocative, but they're not enough for me to stick around and see it through.
Also, this book needed to not have, inexplicably, sections in 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd person, which in the right hands could be interesting but here felt heavy-handed. Based on what I've read about the book, it seems the prose gets even more experimental later. Going off the beginning, I'm not sure that's going to be successful.
I really like Darnielle as a lyricist, and I'd like to see what he does in short story formats. But I don't think he has the stamina for longer fiction at this point - and that's fine! He's spent 30 years developing a masterful ability to bring a story to life in about 3-4 minutes. It's the 300 pages that create the issue.
The first section is interesting, and Gage Chandler's ominous omniscience is an engaging way to tell a story that is partly about storytelling itself, and the ways that stories change based on who tells them. Not groundbreaking, but something I always enjoy.
But once we get to the segments on the White Witch and Derek, the characters move through the book too smoothly, slipping past each other without real emotional impact beyond violence. There's no relationship meat here, just description after description of location and brutality. Those descriptions are evocative, but they're not enough for me to stick around and see it through.
Also, this book needed to not have, inexplicably, sections in 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd person, which in the right hands could be interesting but here felt heavy-handed. Based on what I've read about the book, it seems the prose gets even more experimental later. Going off the beginning, I'm not sure that's going to be successful.
I really like Darnielle as a lyricist, and I'd like to see what he does in short story formats. But I don't think he has the stamina for longer fiction at this point - and that's fine! He's spent 30 years developing a masterful ability to bring a story to life in about 3-4 minutes. It's the 300 pages that create the issue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Vomit, and Murder
dustghosts's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
3.5
Overall, a very ambitious undertaking both in terms of craft and content. Darnielle poses and ruminates on questions that criticize the true crime genre— cutting but careful, well-balanced but appropriately weighty for what we’re actually talking about. Who owns a story? How does community tragedy transform itself into urban myth? Who gets to decide what version of the truth to tell, and are there times when it’s better untold? Questions and answers are posed not only towards true crime, but also towards restorative justice on a broader scale, and in the end this book is frustratingly compassionate towards many different actors in the many different stories herein.
As many reviewers have said, this is not a horror book and marketing it as such is a misstep! What it is, though, is a pretty impressive work of craft that digs its heels in as Darnielle plays with timelines, and interlocking stories, and points of view, and— and, and. Absolutely, some of these experiments are less successful than others, but thinking about the story as a work in fragments thrown into a cardboard box… Form and function are pretty beautifully combined here.
My primary critique is that there were sections in the middle that really did feel like they dragged, and the pacing was a bit meandering at times. In the end, it felt juuust a little too long, and I could see why others had trouble finishing. Still, really worth the engagement if you are a critic or an enjoyer of true crime, and maybe especially if you’re a nonfiction reader looking to sink your teeth into some fiction.
As many reviewers have said, this is not a horror book and marketing it as such is a misstep! What it is, though, is a pretty impressive work of craft that digs its heels in as Darnielle plays with timelines, and interlocking stories, and points of view, and— and, and. Absolutely, some of these experiments are less successful than others, but thinking about the story as a work in fragments thrown into a cardboard box… Form and function are pretty beautifully combined here.
My primary critique is that there were sections in the middle that really did feel like they dragged, and the pacing was a bit meandering at times. In the end, it felt juuust a little too long, and I could see why others had trouble finishing. Still, really worth the engagement if you are a critic or an enjoyer of true crime, and maybe especially if you’re a nonfiction reader looking to sink your teeth into some fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
mangofandango's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
I checked this out of the library thinking it was good spooky season material...and it wasn't what I thought it was. It's good writing, but it's not actually a haunted house story in the way I expected. It's a story...about an author's writing process, and a bunch of individual people's stories who are part of that story, and it's not spooky really (though there is a pretty gory description of murder and aftermath, FYI). It's...very weird? I didn't like it, but I think that's more because it wasn't what I was looking for than anything else - again, it's compelling and well written, it just didn't do it for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Vomit, and Murder
thesupermassive's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
Incredibly dull and keeps jumping between 3 different stories
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail