Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

72 reviews

galaxy_cat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I was planning on writing a whole essay about all the messages, about the confusion and dread this piece of work causes to anyone who is capable of actually finishing it. About its ability to infiltrate your brain and leave a permanent mark, just like JT describes in the introduction.

But then I realised that maybe it's just a house of leaves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and War

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

So many thoughts, so little energy. Maybe I'll return here at some point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Car accident

greatdistractions's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Suicide, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Rape, and Car accident

fl0ralaura's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book, in form alone, is wildly inventive and imaginative. When I heard it took the author 10 years to write, I believed it instantly because this is so much detail and so many hidden clues and puzzles between these pages. I love “weird books”, books that play with form, and books that riff off the familiar. I was shocked by how touching I would find aspects of the story especially Karen.

That being said, this book is disturbing and creepy. The first half in particular caused related nightmares of unheimlich architecture. The Minotaur story, especially as it relates to themes of fatherhood and shame were particularly moving. 

My one real critique is that in parts of the second half it drags a bit and I, at times, found Truant’s purple prose boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

paronomaniac's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death and Alcohol

mybookishdelights's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was a T R I P! It was hard to get through and I kept wondering "will it ever end??" but the experience is something I will never forget. I will likely even reread it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism and Addiction

raidingkvatch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

skimkaye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

The fact that I want 10 copies of this to cut up and tack to my walls with various colors if twine is a testament to how well it's written and how effective it as at doing what it set out to do. I couldnt stop and I still dont want to stop but I didnt havefun either. I think I'm in a death cult now. Dont read this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Gore, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Most of the trigger warnings are about things that are not detailed, but are things that move the story along or are background themes.

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Genocide, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War