Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

68 reviews

ominousspectre's review against another edition

4.0

I have many Thoughts™ but I think those are best reserved for those who have read it. I do wish I'd bought a copy instead of my normal library borrowing, as I think I need to reread sometime and make notes.

my only big critique is that sometimes Truant's entries were a bit Much and for those who've read it you'll know exactly what I mean

anyways, measure you house kids! inside and out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Rape

keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

corsanglais's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and War

admiralteaa's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, and Sexual content

sunn_bleach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

No surprises why this became as big as it is - "House of Leaves" captures the zeitgeist of late-90s existential dread and the earliest Internet "mysteries" pre-creepypasta. I read this in 2015 in Alaska and recall feeling like Danielewski didn't really know how to end it. I still stand by that: while I like the overall story of the tapes, Johnny's story feels so aimless as to belabor the point of its own aimlessness. The final chapter (added after the book's initial publishing) is unnecessary; the story works better when Johnny isn't ruminating and self-aware of his being overwhelmed by the book. Some of his terms of phrase are hilarious; the opening page's statement of Johnny being covered in blood "but it's not mine" is such transparent in-media-res spookums. I did find Pelafina's story much more heartrending this time around.

Glad to revisit, probably won't do so again. There's stuff I just prefer more, though "House of Leaves" certainly sparked a flame that burns for good reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

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

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Genocide, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

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

jacobalenciaga's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative 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

5.0

fucking fantastic. not perfect, but fantastic. way deeper than just something to read. i don't think i will read any sci-fi/horror book in the future without thinking of this. ending was a bit weak and there are a few moments where it reads like its up its own ass, but i loved it overall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Child death, and Rape

singrequiem's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-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

2.5

I normally DEVOUR books. Especially dark, challenging, flawed, experimental books. This book, no joke, took me literal YEARS to finish, primarily just because of how much Jonny Truant sucks. He sucks hard. I went on forums to ask people to convince me not to just skip all of his notes and story. I’m glad I’m finally through it. I can appreciate the mastery that Danielewski has over the intricacies of his manuscript, the attention to detail, the world building, the control of tone (especially when switching between academic and informal writing styles) but this book was just a slog. I could rant for paragraphs, but I will try and boil it down to: it’s really not that creepy, and the most interesting parts are buried in jargon and presented dryly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

Minor: Gun violence and Vomit

Existential dread and unanswered questions