Reviews - The Tenant | The StoryGraph

61 reviews for:

I'm honestly surprised by the mass of high ratings for this one. I found it to be the first major disappointment of 2016 for me.

I previously ordered this little book (and it is little at only 137 pages), with the hopes of reading a seemingly-good, macabre, lesser-known tale of madness. What I came to find upon its conclusion was nothing but boredom and irritation. I began reading this on a train into the city, expecting a quick, disturbing read. I was into it in the barest sense by the time I was heading home again, and practically had to force myself to finish the remaining 30+ pages when I launched myself onto my bed upon my homecoming.

Trelkovsky is not someone I sympathized with in the least. He struck me as a misogynistic, weasel-y man who may or may not be going insane. The progression of his paranoia escalates too quickly, in my opinion. It should have been a slower burn. Once the hallucinations (or were they?) and the

Spoiler

crossdressing

came into the picture, I was completely over it. The neighbors pissed me off, because I can see that (all they *allegedly* did) happening, and the frustration it would induce. Although, towards the end, I was sort of rooting for them. I wanted more grotesqueries. More madness. More swirling paranoid delusions. It felt like Rosemary's Baby at some points, and bumbling comedy at others. I don't know if I was meant to chuckle during certain passages or be gasping in horror, but I want everyone to know I was laughing at the book, not with it.

The ending was unexpected (albeit, unclear), I'll give it that, but by then, I found the entirety of The Tenant irredeemably dull.

bedazzlebub's review against another edition

5.0

"There are so many subtle and blatant ways in which this book toys with the reader’s expectations. It seems obvious that Telkovsky is insane based off of his interactions with other characters and by his paranoid imaginings. Yet we can’t help but attempt to ground the protagonist’s nightmarish encounters in some sort of reality. In this way the reader’s mind deceives them, because its attempt to rationalize Trelkovsky’s fate only leads to more terrifying conclusions."

For a full review, please visit my blog at
https://infinitememoria.wordpress.com/2019/05/16/the-tenant-by-roland-topor/

akshedu's review against another edition

4.0

4.5

efbeckett's review against another edition

4.0

I guess Roman Polanski never met a book about an apartment dweller and their sinister neighbours that he the need to alter when adapting it. Like Rosemary's Baby this is a virtual blueprint for the film version, with much of the dialogue lifted straight from the pages. Polanski added a detail or two here, removed a few there, but no surprises here if you know the movie. Not the book's fault, it obviously laid the foundation and did the lion's share of the imaginative work. Just hard to assess how effective I'd find it if I had read this first.

epsilon's review against another edition

5.0

Un libro muy bueno dentro del género pánico. Un gran desarrollo psicológico del personaje que pasa de la tranquilidad pueril a la más absoluta locura.

kitten_nuisance's review against another edition

2.0

The second star is because it’s short and readable (though I found the prose pretty basic, to be honest—of course, it’s translated), and there were a couple paragraphs that were kind of creepy. And I think the idea for the story is neat! I have seen the film and loved it last I revisited it. But WOW, spending time in this main character’s head was quite a chore.