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rmbrndt's review
- 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
3.5
Personally I don't think the formatting does anything for this book - the footnotes work well but shifting the text around is unnecessary.
So misogynistic at parts it made me infuriatingly angry which easily secured that I will never read another MZD book ever again.
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Murder
innae's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent
izzydelaya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
abandonedmegastructure's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
A suspenseful tale of exploration into the unknown is enhanced with layers of symbolism, discussion, meta-discussion, and mythological allusions. The result is an enthralling novel, fundamentally mysterious yet deeply compelling, which invites its reader to join in the analytical discussions that take center stage from time to time. The book plays with page structure, footnotes, the fourth wall, text markup, and anything else you could imagine. It goes beyond having an unreliable narrator and straight-up invites us to question the narrator's existence; just another part of the fun it's having exploring the concept of writing (not writing - chronicling? depicting? recording? knowing?) itself. It touches on themes of cosmic horror, religion, mental illness, and the human subconscious, though if I had to pin down a single theme I'd say this is a book about absences first and foremost.
I realize I might be making this book sound like a pretentious tome that's more concerned with being clever than being readable. And to be fair, there are some pseudo-academic bits that go on for too long, and they're the reason I'm not giving this a 5/5. But the various narratives interwoven through the book are insanely well-written and evocative (not to mention disturbing), the main characters slowly reveal more of their fascinating yet flawed selves, and the references and metatextual elements add to their stories, rather than distracting from them. Even when viewed purely as a story, House of Leaves holds up extremely well; everything else is just a bonus.
A final thought: I've seen a lot of people call this a horror novel, and I get where they're coming from, but I found the text intriguing more than scary even at the most uncanny points. If you've been put off by the horror label, and would otherwise have considered reading the book, I encourage you to try it out anyway.
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent
avacadosocks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Incest, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, and Vomit
deepwebkinz's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Medical content, and War
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, and War
booksnakekel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
bearystarry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An extremely compelling if difficult read, anyway. And difficult to track your pages read through an app like this lol.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent
bealittlebrave's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail