Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

10 reviews

jessthanthree's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mooonyaa's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

mattyb2851's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

If you are a fan of existential, cosmic horror, stories about love (and can it prevail?), textbooks, unreliable narration, and exploring the strengths of printed media, the do I have a book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

singerscientist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The amount of effort and work that went into House of Leaves is something that I can really appreciate. There were certain sections where the creepiness of the darkness inside the house was truly palpable but anytime that I was close to diving deep into that horror, the academic style of writing took me away from it. At times I was also really interested in the academic discussions regarding subjects ranging from physics to history and linguistics, but it was truly difficult to call it an enjoyable experience. 
There are many interpretations about this book, ranging from who is narrating, the true meaning of the house, and even the timeline of events. 
I don't think I can recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun book to read, but if you're into deep dives into linguistics, philosophy, poetry, physics, with two side stories that tell the stories of deeply troubled characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

chloebowie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Well… it was good enough to keep turning the page but bad enough to where I couldn’t tell you what happened 😅 it was everything and nothing all at once. Nothing was ever really resolved. It’s just stopped. 

If this weren’t a buddy read I don’t think I would’ve finished it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

quixie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

valentinaambrosius's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jerusha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Death of parent

gingerkathrynreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

One of the most frustrating things I've ever read! Had it not been a Literally Dead Bookclub pick, I wouldn't have picked this up by myself, and would certainly have DNF'd hundreds of pages ago. Some parts I absolutely loved, to a 5 star level, and other parts I hated, so it comes at a weird average 3.

I was really gripped by the story of the Navidson Record, and couldn't get enough of those sections of the novel, but was frequently and repeatedly irritated by the lengthy interruptions from footnotes, in particular those from Johnny Truant. At times it felt like I was reading two completely separate stories, and personally I didn't get much at all from Johnny's, as it was too graphically violent and uncomfortably sexual (I had to start skipping huge sections).

However - I know I'm going to enjoy reading other peoples' thoughts and theories online (which ultimately feels like the aim of this book, over providing us solid answers) and I enjoyed it's experimentation with genre, medium and the sheer feat of Danielewski having written this book. I wish I had studied this in a literature class, because I felt like that's what it needed for me to get all I could out of it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault