torjus's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
matritense's review
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
allegedly_miri's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. The Dumb House is a Dumb Book. It’s just prosaic descriptions of the paedophilic sexcapades and edgy/indulgent thought life of an entirely unbelievable and dull man. Made, I assume, for people who want to read “THE MOST FU**ED UP BOOK EVERRR!!” for the sake of it. And after all that, it wasn’t even an interesting story. Fortunately, it’s short.
ackatienza's review against another edition
dark
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? No
3.0
poperley's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
hollydunndesign's review against another edition
4.0
After my forays into fantasy, sci-fi and historical fiction, it seemed about time to return to my go-to categorisation, literary fiction. The Dumb House is a book that has recently been re-released by Vintage in a collection of Scottish classics. It’s a book that was first published in 1997, but it has recently been getting a lot of attention on the Internet, thanks to Jen Campbell’s mention of it on her YouTube channel. It has even resulted in a new term and subsequent Twitter hashtag: #Burnsided. That should give some indication of how impactful this book is. It’s about a man who is perhaps the least reliable narrator I have ever encountered. He decides to do an experiment with children to see if language is inherent or acquired. This is based on the story of Akbar the Great, who reportedly raised children in isolation to see if they would develop language on their own. It is a very unsettling book, but morbidly fascinating. It raises a lot of questions about language and humanity, and also calls the reader’s morality into question. This isn’t a book for the faint of heart, but it is thoroughly engrossing.
shancowie's review
challenging
dark
reflective
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
4.5
tricia's review against another edition
2.0
The actual experiment doesn’t start until the last third of the book. Prior to that, it was a tiresome psychopath’s slice of life. Mind-numbing.
mehsa's review against another edition
dark
medium-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
3.5