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kylegarvey's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Slade House is the seventh novel by David Mitchell, an author I quite like but haven't yet read much from. It's a book started as a Twitter story (though how much of that was Mitchell himself and how much was his publisher's press dept, either creatively or advertorially, I just don't know), but I kind of wish it had stayed that way for more of its run. In balancing swift intrigue with flat exposition, it seems to me heavy genre mysteries would do well to lean a little toward the funner part. Maybe I just don't have the experience, haven't read enough of this type; and btw, don't listen to sneering elitists like me who supposedly look down their noses at low 'genre' in favor of high 'literary', we don't know much. Supposedly.
And also btw (by another way?), the Twitter thing I started was barely a novel at all, more just a clashing series of stupidities. So Mitchell has me beat pretty squarely already! Personally. Supposedly.
Part 1, before all the exposition's laid out, offers some fun intrigue. The Right Sort it's called. Nathan Bishop is our initial hero, a precocious lad. In the second part, Shining Armor, we get a little fun but mostly some bland details, like when our villains show up, "the man—Jonah—looks at his sister—Norah—with fond smugness. 'For fifty-four years, our souls have wandered that big wide world out there, possessing whatever bodies we want, living whatever lives we wish, while our fellow birth-Victorians are all dead or dying out. We live on. The operandi works.' / 'The operandi works provided our birth-bodies remain here in the lacuna, freeze-dried against world-time, anchoring our souls in life. The operandi works provided we recharge the lacuna every nine years by luring a gullible Engifted into a suitable orison. The operandi works provided our guests can be duped, banjaxed and drawn into the lacuna. Too many provideds, Jonah'" (99).
Sorry if that spoils anything, but I thought i'd quote it, since that just lays everything out in a dry way -- and I mean everything.
Oink Oink, the third part, has a preamble with some paranormal-interested kids investigating the previous Kidnappings, but then their investigations take them to a college party. Or what they think is a college party. You Dark Horse You, the penultimate part, has a lot of promising stuff about death and mortality, but it doesn't cohere into much plot-wise. The last part, Astronauts, concludes nicely with some sociology: "from feudal lords to slave traders to oligarchs to neocons to predators like you. All of you strangle your consciences, and ethically you strike yourselves dumb" (263). It's a decent arrival, but not so skilled of a departure or flight I don't think.
And also btw (by another way?), the Twitter thing I started was barely a novel at all, more just a clashing series of stupidities. So Mitchell has me beat pretty squarely already! Personally. Supposedly.
Part 1, before all the exposition's laid out, offers some fun intrigue. The Right Sort it's called. Nathan Bishop is our initial hero, a precocious lad. In the second part, Shining Armor, we get a little fun but mostly some bland details, like when our villains show up, "the man—Jonah—looks at his sister—Norah—with fond smugness. 'For fifty-four years, our souls have wandered that big wide world out there, possessing whatever bodies we want, living whatever lives we wish, while our fellow birth-Victorians are all dead or dying out. We live on. The operandi works.' / 'The operandi works provided our birth-bodies remain here in the lacuna, freeze-dried against world-time, anchoring our souls in life. The operandi works provided we recharge the lacuna every nine years by luring a gullible Engifted into a suitable orison. The operandi works provided our guests can be duped, banjaxed and drawn into the lacuna. Too many provideds, Jonah'" (99).
Sorry if that spoils anything, but I thought i'd quote it, since that just lays everything out in a dry way -- and I mean everything.
Oink Oink, the third part, has a preamble with some paranormal-interested kids investigating the previous Kidnappings, but then their investigations take them to a college party. Or what they think is a college party. You Dark Horse You, the penultimate part, has a lot of promising stuff about death and mortality, but it doesn't cohere into much plot-wise. The last part, Astronauts, concludes nicely with some sociology: "from feudal lords to slave traders to oligarchs to neocons to predators like you. All of you strangle your consciences, and ethically you strike yourselves dumb" (263). It's a decent arrival, but not so skilled of a departure or flight I don't think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
Minor: Police brutality