marissax22's review against another edition
5.0
Night Film was truly addicting for me. I put off other things just to keep reading. I couldn't quit. The ending was defeinitely satisfying which is all I could ask for. Marisa has a way to pull you in from the first chapter. Speaking of, I love the short chapters. That's my type of book right there.
htgm_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I don't hate the book, but it did feel a little bit too cheesy at times. There were some lines that had me rolling my eyes. I think there's some people who either really really love the book or really hate it. I think that there were some really good elements and the world building of the elusive Horror Director was really well done. I couldn't sympathize or even like the narrator and maybe it was intentional, but everyone feels 2 dimensional, even with the additions of backstories and nuances.
sparetimebibliophile's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
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? It's complicated
2.0
I was so excited for the concept of this book. It includes newspaper articles/text convos/etc. to give the reader a glimpse into the documents the characters are seeing, which seems fun! However, this was a very long book for no real reason and it took so many twists/turns/and spirals that didn’t make sense or came out of nowhere. There are elements of mystery and black magic and psychology that make this hard to get through. And even with all of that, the ending takes a completely different turn that just didn’t work for me.
kursten's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure how to feel about this one, but it's still a 4 star read for me.
This book has a darkly magical kind of atmosphere - the articles and webpages included in it immerse you and make it feel like you're researching the shadows around Cordova right alongside the protagonist. With that said, the pacing wasn't great. This book could be shorter or it could've focused more on the characters because they felt flat. They didn't have meaningful developments, I felt like they were stagnant even when they made big decisions. This book is almost entirely plot driven, so if you don't like that, this might not work for you.
The strong points of this story are the spooky atmosphere (perfect for Halloween time), how the occult magic of Cordova keeps pulling you in, and the writing, which is descriptive but easy to follow. It did keep me interested and I wanted to learn what was around the next corner until there were too many corners. The major reason I'm unsure how I feel is the ending, it felt anti climactic and a little inconclusive, which I usually like but don't think I did here.
All that said, it kept me largely interested and it was a fun, spooky read for October.
This book has a darkly magical kind of atmosphere - the articles and webpages included in it immerse you and make it feel like you're researching the shadows around Cordova right alongside the protagonist. With that said, the pacing wasn't great. This book could be shorter or it could've focused more on the characters because they felt flat. They didn't have meaningful developments, I felt like they were stagnant even when they made big decisions. This book is almost entirely plot driven, so if you don't like that, this might not work for you.
The strong points of this story are the spooky atmosphere (perfect for Halloween time), how the occult magic of Cordova keeps pulling you in, and the writing, which is descriptive but easy to follow. It did keep me interested and I wanted to learn what was around the next corner until there were too many corners. The major reason I'm unsure how I feel is the ending, it felt anti climactic and a little inconclusive, which I usually like but don't think I did here.
All that said, it kept me largely interested and it was a fun, spooky read for October.
redwhiteandroyalreads's review against another edition
Picked this one up because I read Neverworld Wake by this author a few years ago and loved it, however, this one was not working for me. I got 16% in and was not clicking with it and decided to stop because it's just so long that I didn't want to push through over 400 more pages if I wasn't loving it. I love books with mixed media elements and I liked what I'd gotten so far in this one, but there wasn't a lot of it, and that one thing wasn't enough to make me want to continue. I also had the audiobook for this and didn't like it, so that wasn't helping me either.
clarissep's review against another edition
4.0
As seen on The Bookcase Diaries
Actual rating: 4.25 out of 5
Wow. I have never read anything like this before. I can throw out all the positive adjectives in my mind's dictionary, but none can quite express how incredible of an experience it was reading this book. By the time you get through your first 20 pages, you too will want to fiercely find out the truth behind the mystery presented in this book. I have been hearing many positive things about this novel. I was even convinced enough to shell out a relatively bigger-than-usual-for-a-paperback amount of money to buy this, but all-in-all my expectations and high hopes were met.
The mystery and how Pessl built the general atmosphere and history around it was what immediately grabbed hold of my attention. Pessl made it so holistic and extensive that it constantly keeps you digging for more. It will make you realise it isn't just some mystery death you'll be dealing with here, but the death of one of the members of a very mysterious family.
Ashley Cordova was the daughter of reclusive underground filmmaker Stanislas Cordova. He was so enigmatic in fact that not even his actors have actually seen him up close. He sits in the shadows behind his cameras while giving instructions to his assistant, who then passes on the instructions to the cast. In fact, Cordova even films in his very own property! Many people could only speculate as to the kind of person Cordova actually is, so when the tragic death of his daughter was ruled as suicide, it raised all kinds of questions.
Enter Scott McGrath, an investigative journalist who had his first brush with the subject of Cordova become his downfall. Adamant to redeem himself, he latched onto the mystery of Ashley's death and soon enough he was chasing trails that lead him to the most eerie and unnatural of places. It seemed like the more he followed the clues Ashley left behind, the more confusing figuring things out became. But with the help of his two unlikely sidekicks, McGrath, at the price of his sanity, found himself inching closer and closer to the finding out the truth about Ashley and the rest of the Cordova clan. Or was he?
This was a novel heavily on my radar and it in many ways lived up to the hype. The story is well-written, and even though I liked the secondary protagonists more than the main one (he seems a bit slow sometimes), the introspective way this was written always makes you feel like you are in the thick of things. Using Scott McGrath's stream of consciousness, the reader is able to suffer through the darkness that tears at McGrath's mind as he chases answers that seem to melt into the shadows. The novel also explores many concepts about human behaviour, and how sometimes our demons have the ability to eat us alive. It talks about human strength and human gullibility; how we tend to choose to believe those that are exaggerated but not necessarily true because they are more interesting. I really love when a book goes beyond simple stories to give us a very real glimpse of the different faces of humanity.
A clever touch to the book for me was the presence of the graphic inserts, which were strategically placed within the novel to make it feel less gimmicky. At some points it even starts to feel like one of those mystery computer games, where they hide clues in the pictures and you get chills looking for them for too long. The novel is incredibly detailed, carefully planned, and well-delivered. And that's why the whole thing is so effectively CREEPY.
It was the way Pessl had laid out the groundwork for the story, and the background of the characters in question, that allowed her to toy with the story (and consequently the reader). Several revelations took me greatly by surprise thanks to the very sudden and extremely unexpected turn of events. My erstwhile confusion was slowly replaced by a strange sense of acceptance as I read the explanations dragged out of the murk. I began to believe, much like McGrath had, in a story that was wild and out of this world. I was impressed by how Pessl managed to string me along though the logical side of me kept thinking that if this were to happen in real life, it would verge on ridiculous. Yet an important lesson she teaches us in this novel: People are dark creatures. You never know what they are capable of until they are faced with specific situations where they need to react. You never know the nature and intensity of their belief in something that drives them to do the unexplainable.
I honestly did not know what to expect nor did I have the slightest inkling where the story would take me. I had even braced myself for some sort of crazy twisted psychological thriller. Just when you thought you were on your merry way towards the resolution of the case, suddenly the novel flips itself over on its head again. It sends you down another path. That's one thing I really admired about this book-- it's similar to how Pessl described the Cordova father and daughter in the novel: manipulative; will have you believing in everything they feed you by making even the craziest things plausible. It gradually changes your opinion from skepticism to awe, and then to confusion, disbelief, and back to awe again. It was quite literally a ride full of twists and turns that manages to tie itself up in a somewhat satisfying note in the end. (I think the ending was fitting. I don't know how else to end it!)
My only problem with Pessl- which also happens to be one of her strong points oddly enough- is her wordiness. This to me did not much work when we were at the climax. There were just too many words to read through that acted as a massive build-up (or distraction, depending on how you see it) that the discovery becomes rather underwhelming. You’re already exhausted reading all the other unnecessary stuff lol. Near the end, I wanted so much to find out the core of the truth that I simply scanned the long paragraphs to find the answers. Like the characters in the book, I somewhat became emotionally and psychologically drained by the mystery despite acquiring the same hunger that Scott McGrath had to get to the bottom of the Cordova mystery.
For majority of the book, the lengthy descriptions were a welcoming sight to my mind's eye as the scenes and events leading to and beginning after Ashley's death were woven together. Pessl has a knack for describing things that will make you so vividly draw up in your mind the picture she is trying to communicate. It was most satisfying to a very visual and imaginative person like myself. Her writing is also effective in conveying how the characters felt.
I am a new Marisha Pessl reader but when I chanced upon her other book in the bookstore I immediately purchased it without hesitation. That's how much of a positive impact she has made in my mind as an author. For those who like the moody type of mystery novel rather than the procedural sort, try this book out for size!
Actual rating: 4.25 out of 5
Wow. I have never read anything like this before. I can throw out all the positive adjectives in my mind's dictionary, but none can quite express how incredible of an experience it was reading this book. By the time you get through your first 20 pages, you too will want to fiercely find out the truth behind the mystery presented in this book. I have been hearing many positive things about this novel. I was even convinced enough to shell out a relatively bigger-than-usual-for-a-paperback amount of money to buy this, but all-in-all my expectations and high hopes were met.
The mystery and how Pessl built the general atmosphere and history around it was what immediately grabbed hold of my attention. Pessl made it so holistic and extensive that it constantly keeps you digging for more. It will make you realise it isn't just some mystery death you'll be dealing with here, but the death of one of the members of a very mysterious family.
Ashley Cordova was the daughter of reclusive underground filmmaker Stanislas Cordova. He was so enigmatic in fact that not even his actors have actually seen him up close. He sits in the shadows behind his cameras while giving instructions to his assistant, who then passes on the instructions to the cast. In fact, Cordova even films in his very own property! Many people could only speculate as to the kind of person Cordova actually is, so when the tragic death of his daughter was ruled as suicide, it raised all kinds of questions.
Enter Scott McGrath, an investigative journalist who had his first brush with the subject of Cordova become his downfall. Adamant to redeem himself, he latched onto the mystery of Ashley's death and soon enough he was chasing trails that lead him to the most eerie and unnatural of places. It seemed like the more he followed the clues Ashley left behind, the more confusing figuring things out became. But with the help of his two unlikely sidekicks, McGrath, at the price of his sanity, found himself inching closer and closer to the finding out the truth about Ashley and the rest of the Cordova clan. Or was he?
This was a novel heavily on my radar and it in many ways lived up to the hype. The story is well-written, and even though I liked the secondary protagonists more than the main one (he seems a bit slow sometimes), the introspective way this was written always makes you feel like you are in the thick of things. Using Scott McGrath's stream of consciousness, the reader is able to suffer through the darkness that tears at McGrath's mind as he chases answers that seem to melt into the shadows. The novel also explores many concepts about human behaviour, and how sometimes our demons have the ability to eat us alive. It talks about human strength and human gullibility; how we tend to choose to believe those that are exaggerated but not necessarily true because they are more interesting. I really love when a book goes beyond simple stories to give us a very real glimpse of the different faces of humanity.
A clever touch to the book for me was the presence of the graphic inserts, which were strategically placed within the novel to make it feel less gimmicky. At some points it even starts to feel like one of those mystery computer games, where they hide clues in the pictures and you get chills looking for them for too long. The novel is incredibly detailed, carefully planned, and well-delivered. And that's why the whole thing is so effectively CREEPY.
It was the way Pessl had laid out the groundwork for the story, and the background of the characters in question, that allowed her to toy with the story (and consequently the reader). Several revelations took me greatly by surprise thanks to the very sudden and extremely unexpected turn of events. My erstwhile confusion was slowly replaced by a strange sense of acceptance as I read the explanations dragged out of the murk. I began to believe, much like McGrath had, in a story that was wild and out of this world. I was impressed by how Pessl managed to string me along though the logical side of me kept thinking that if this were to happen in real life, it would verge on ridiculous. Yet an important lesson she teaches us in this novel: People are dark creatures. You never know what they are capable of until they are faced with specific situations where they need to react. You never know the nature and intensity of their belief in something that drives them to do the unexplainable.
I honestly did not know what to expect nor did I have the slightest inkling where the story would take me. I had even braced myself for some sort of crazy twisted psychological thriller. Just when you thought you were on your merry way towards the resolution of the case, suddenly the novel flips itself over on its head again. It sends you down another path. That's one thing I really admired about this book-- it's similar to how Pessl described the Cordova father and daughter in the novel: manipulative; will have you believing in everything they feed you by making even the craziest things plausible. It gradually changes your opinion from skepticism to awe, and then to confusion, disbelief, and back to awe again. It was quite literally a ride full of twists and turns that manages to tie itself up in a somewhat satisfying note in the end. (I think the ending was fitting. I don't know how else to end it!)
My only problem with Pessl- which also happens to be one of her strong points oddly enough- is her wordiness. This to me did not much work when we were at the climax. There were just too many words to read through that acted as a massive build-up (or distraction, depending on how you see it) that the discovery becomes rather underwhelming. You’re already exhausted reading all the other unnecessary stuff lol. Near the end, I wanted so much to find out the core of the truth that I simply scanned the long paragraphs to find the answers. Like the characters in the book, I somewhat became emotionally and psychologically drained by the mystery despite acquiring the same hunger that Scott McGrath had to get to the bottom of the Cordova mystery.
For majority of the book, the lengthy descriptions were a welcoming sight to my mind's eye as the scenes and events leading to and beginning after Ashley's death were woven together. Pessl has a knack for describing things that will make you so vividly draw up in your mind the picture she is trying to communicate. It was most satisfying to a very visual and imaginative person like myself. Her writing is also effective in conveying how the characters felt.
I am a new Marisha Pessl reader but when I chanced upon her other book in the bookstore I immediately purchased it without hesitation. That's how much of a positive impact she has made in my mind as an author. For those who like the moody type of mystery novel rather than the procedural sort, try this book out for size!
literallytouko's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0