Reviews tagging Infidelity

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

28 reviews

joshoonet's review

challenging mysterious reflective 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

• The very core story of the Navidson Record is incredibly interesting and thrilling. I love the descriptions of their explorations and the uncertainty that comes with them.
• Zampanòs huge passages of discussing certain words and picking apart their meanings nearly made me stop reading, out of pure disconnection with the content. Even if it related to the core story. My god.
• Can only recommend checking out the appendixes as one goes along, they provide a more thorough understanding of the text. Although the same can't be said about the hints to other chapters. That got too confusing for me.
• LOVED the code that could be found and potentially deciphered here and there. I'm sure i missed some too.
• Overall: high concentration needed to read this, but worth it in the end. I'll keep thinking about it for a while, but won't be picking it up again anytime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Addiction, Violence, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Animal death, Alcohol, Rape, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexism, Death, and Drug use

Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, Abandonment, Cancer, Car accident, and Vomit

Long, purely informative passages about the background and meaning of specific terms or topics can be skipped or skimmed. On the topic of sexual content and misogyny:

Spoiler

truant's stories are laden with viewing women only as sexual objects; these parts can be skipped without losing too much of the plot.

emma_j_e's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Suicide, Mental illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Death, and Violence

ru_th's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

Horror should have buried me. 
It didn’t. […]
Come morning I found the day as I have found every other day — without relief or explanation. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Drug use, Injury/injury detail, Infidelity, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcoholism

2busyreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Sexual content, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, and Infidelity

tristemono's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual content, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Self harm

Minor: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Excrement, Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Blood

addyruth17's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Animal death, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Car accident, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Vomit

woweewhoa's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Ableism, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Suicide, Vomit, Physical abuse, Rape, Car accident, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, Injury/injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia and Cancer

sonnygrey's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Sexism, Child abuse, Addiction, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, War, and Child death

sydneyjn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I don't even know how to describe this book.  It can only ever be in a physical format.  The way the book was printed added SO much.  In any other medium this would be a fairly normal found-footage horror movie, but on the physical page you're drawn into being the researcher and exploring and uncovering what happened, following clues and footnotes and hints.  A+.

Okay, someone on reddit has the perfect description: It’s a post-modernist horror novel based around three intertwining stories. Think David Foster Wallace writing a Poe story while radio static plays in the background of your dingy apartment and two homeless guys argue outside. It’s fantastic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Violence

booksnbrooches's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

3.0

I’ll be honest, I skipped large parts of the made up academics. I know so much work went into writing this, but I couldn’t get passed all the footnotes that meant nothing. To me it seemed like a waste of time. 

Throughout reading, I was more interested in the plot lines concerning the house exploration than anything else. 

I understand how readers can become obsessed with this novel and all it’s secrets, I really do. However, I don’t think it’s that deep. 

I give huge congratulations to the author for the marvelous use of varying fonts and page layouts. That was fun for me to experience. Overall, I liked the book’s effect on me but I could’ve skipped all the academic baloney. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Child abuse

Minor: Infidelity