Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Notte americana

Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Notte americana by Marisha Pessl

20 reviews

ripxreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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limina's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I LOVED this book. It reminded me of many others, but especially Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis. I was totally engrossed. Fun Fact- there's bonus material on the author's website. At the end of the book it mentions an app but it appears to be defunct.

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nicolinebl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

This was a confusing but intriguing read. Honestly, just calling it that is underselling it; it was definitely an experience.

I started reading this book two days ago and barely did anything else besides that because I just needed to know how it ended.

It starts of slow, then it gets really intense for a while but then it takes a turn that I honestly didn't appreciate nor understand and then it changes directions near the end again, leaving me quite puzzled.

None of the characters in this book seem like nice people, Nora probably being the nicest one and the main character Scott honestly being one of the most annoying characters. There are a lot of characters to keep track of by the way, I started writing them down lol!

There are also a lot of trigger warnings for this book, the one that made me the most upset being transphobic undertones. Not sure if that's the writers prejudice coming through or her showing that her character is transphobic, but I got really pissed at that part.

There were some parts where the writer tried to make things lighter by jokes or "funny" thoughts but in my opinion, they didn't really work. Also some parts - besides supernatural plotlines or course - were a bit unbelievable. Like how Scott was apparently so rich even though he'd been fired from his job and didn't seem to have a great job at the moment. And since he's investigating for like +-7 months and not actually working or something he's only spending money (and spending it like crazy). Nobody has that many spare change right?

Also, an in my opinion unnecessary loveplot near the ending - if you've read the book you know the part.

Besides that I am still fascinated by this book. I love the mix of mediums: articles, websitepages, documents, photo's etc. and even bonus content on the writers website (definitely check it out, especially the last one!)

I chose to read this book in October because of Halloween and must admit I was kind of let down, it wasn't that scary and

I hated that they had a whole supernatural plot, then decided to explain it all away and then afterwards sort of went back to the supernatural route.

I will end my review by saying that I do think this story could have been told in less than 600 pages and dragged a little at some parts but I most certainly do no regret reading this story; because at its main core, it did have some intriguing themes and phenomenal aesthetics. And gosh darn, I'm kind of sad that I'm not able to see the movies Cordova has made, him being fictional and all.

PS: Think this would be awesome in film format so that I could show my brother and friend who will never read a 600-pages book!

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tiemzahra's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Oh, wow this book. My head hurts thinking of this. An investigative journalist suspects the death of a young woman had something to do with her father, a cult-horror film director, Cordova, who hasn’t been seen in public for more than 30 years. As he probed further into the case, more threats he encountered to stop his investigation.

This one gave me House of Leaves vibe. A fictional documentary that seems true, Cordova’s films feel realistic. There were screenshots of the cult website, pictures of his mansion (heavily edited but acceptable), lives of so many people involved; the actors and actresses and people they met along the way. It was a creepy book and both revelations (fake and true) were believable that I didn’t mind which one’s which.

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tessieferro's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Idiotic plot twist and insufferable narrator/main character (and frankly, a big bigot)

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emelieviklund's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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lilifane's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to love this book so much, but it didn’t work. I liked the beginning a lot when the characters were introduced and enjoyed the last 25-30% as well. But the middle part was just … too boring. Every time I thought the story went into an interesting direction, the author chose to stop and go the boring way instead. It was SO frustrating, when intriguing settings/characters/plot points were just abandoned midway. Still, I got attached to the characters and loved their interactions with each other. There were some REALLY cool settings and scenes, and I liked the story in general. I was just disappointed because I had expected more. Especially from the mixed media aspect. The additional pictures, texts and documents were … mostly unnecessary. They didn’t add to my reading experience at all. But that’s what I expect from a book which uses mixed media because I’ve seen it done really well in the past.

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