Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Devil House by John Darnielle

3 reviews

sourcherrysyrup's review against another edition

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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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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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Incredibly dull and keeps jumping between 3 different stories

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