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kelseyandrew's review against another edition
4.0
"Ghosts. Not ghost stories" -- a perfect line for a haunting book. What one might think is a book about ghost stories, it's really an exploration of the ghosts in every day life. That loneliness and haunted feeling a person can have, almost unexplainable. Filled with moments of lush writing and intricately built sentences intertwined with creepy-esque, haunted photography -- Guestbook: Ghost Stories is a wild ride. There are some incredible stories thrown in there (the tennis player story being one I was so involved in, I don't think I took a breath while reading it) and there are some moments where I had to take a step back because it was powerfully sad.
Very interesting read, gorgeous and lyrical and definitely something that feels important.
FYI -- I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway :)
Very interesting read, gorgeous and lyrical and definitely something that feels important.
FYI -- I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway :)
mr_fuzzhead's review against another edition
2.0
Guest Book didn’t make sense to me. It’s as though an experimental art exhibit was made into a book. I couldn’t tell if it was genius and I wasn’t pretentious enough to get it, or if it was totally self-indulgent. Sheila Heti endorsed it so it might be both. I must be missing something because Penguin Random House did publish it. . . Though I wondered why.
I was disappointed in particular because I LOVED Swimming Studies and I wanted more of that.
I was disappointed in particular because I LOVED Swimming Studies and I wanted more of that.
traceythompson's review against another edition
4.0
What a wonderful book. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like this. And incredibly unnerving in places. Clever pairing of images and narrative.
blundershelf's review against another edition
4.0
A haunting, shimmering treat. Weighs heavy on the heart.
helenslibrary's review against another edition
5.0
haunt: "Middle English (in the sense ‘frequent (a place’)): from Old French hanter, of Germanic origin; distantly related to home." (www.lexico.com)
drewsof's review against another edition
5.0
5+ out of 5.
Surprisingly frightening, full of imagination-stoking fragments or tales that light up the darker corners of your mind for just long enough to wonder if you're really alone there. Some of the more traditional stories have their own strengths -- a tennis prodigy whose uncanny abilities are perhaps due to an imaginary friend who might not be so imaginary, a cellphone-video one-page ghost story -- but the real powerful stuff comes from Shapton's juxtaposition of photography and text, from the ways in which the reader must project their own story onto the negative space therein.
Or maybe I'm just the kind of reader who, when shown a grainy photograph of a room in an old house in a book subtitled 'ghost stories,' wants there to be a bump in that particular night, and will immediately consider all the ways there could be one.
Surprisingly frightening, full of imagination-stoking fragments or tales that light up the darker corners of your mind for just long enough to wonder if you're really alone there. Some of the more traditional stories have their own strengths -- a tennis prodigy whose uncanny abilities are perhaps due to an imaginary friend who might not be so imaginary, a cellphone-video one-page ghost story -- but the real powerful stuff comes from Shapton's juxtaposition of photography and text, from the ways in which the reader must project their own story onto the negative space therein.
Or maybe I'm just the kind of reader who, when shown a grainy photograph of a room in an old house in a book subtitled 'ghost stories,' wants there to be a bump in that particular night, and will immediately consider all the ways there could be one.
sweatyicedcoffee's review against another edition
5.0
melancholy and bewitching and like a warm, ghostly hug all at once? her visual art is so incredible. a treasure, really!
sweatyicedcoffee's review
5.0
melancholy and bewitching and like a warm, ghostly hug all at once? her visual art is so incredible. a treasure, really!
traceythompson's review
4.0
What a wonderful book. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like this. And incredibly unnerving in places. Clever pairing of images and narrative.