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megaultratron's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting book. This is not what I was expecting but I had also forgotten the premise of it between the time it came out and was on my radar to this month when I read it. I love John Darnielle as a song writer and his band the Mountain Goats is one of my tops and yet I've never read his books. I dont know why but I didnt know if I would be able to get the same level of enjoyment out of them. But I did enjoy this book a lot. It moves in strange ways through its story and I enjoy the many sides of the argument approach to writing about true crime. There were some areas in the book I didnt love but whatever... 85% was good to me and I would tell people to read it as well.
delendaest's review against another edition
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
extremesalsaing's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
John Darnielle is my favorite songwriter. I've seen The Mountain Goats live twice, and their music has meant more than I can put into words in the decade since I got into them. I guess I should just take the L that my favorite songwriter can't suddenly become my favorite author.
Devil House follows a true crime author who moves into the house where an unsolved double-homicide took place years before. From there, different parts of the book hop perspectives, from the author himself, to the story of an earlier book of his, to the story of the house in which he now resides - and then elsewhere from there. These shifts, when employed well, really work. I really enjoyed learning how the building that would become the Devil House got its start, and how the people who stayed there shaped it, all through the eyes of our central author narrator.
Unfortunately, the story moves past there into territory that ultimately cares more about musing than about pulling threads together. That's a thing about John - he loves to muse. A lot of his best songs are musing, on life, characters, an abusive stepfather, or any number of other things. What's beautiful, in those cases, is that he is confined to the length of a song. I would bet money that this is true for a lot of great songwriters, just as it is for plenty of authors with their editors: Sometimes the limit is the key.
Devil House is too long and too arduous for what it gets to. John is very concerned in this book with the ethical and moral challenges of being a nonfiction author, and telling the whole truth. I'm biased here, as a former news reporter, but where that gets us is very "wow, really makes you think" level. You are meant to react to shock and awe at a final twist at the end of the book, after a disgustingly tedious back third that nearly made me give up. The twist is saying the same thing that John repeats, and repeats, and repeats - writing true stories is hard!
Also, fuck man, I just don't really care about California.
Devil House follows a true crime author who moves into the house where an unsolved double-homicide took place years before. From there, different parts of the book hop perspectives, from the author himself, to the story of an earlier book of his, to the story of the house in which he now resides - and then elsewhere from there. These shifts, when employed well, really work. I really enjoyed learning how the building that would become the Devil House got its start, and how the people who stayed there shaped it, all through the eyes of our central author narrator.
Unfortunately, the story moves past there into territory that ultimately cares more about musing than about pulling threads together. That's a thing about John - he loves to muse. A lot of his best songs are musing, on life, characters, an abusive stepfather, or any number of other things. What's beautiful, in those cases, is that he is confined to the length of a song. I would bet money that this is true for a lot of great songwriters, just as it is for plenty of authors with their editors: Sometimes the limit is the key.
Devil House is too long and too arduous for what it gets to. John is very concerned in this book with the ethical and moral challenges of being a nonfiction author, and telling the whole truth. I'm biased here, as a former news reporter, but where that gets us is very "wow, really makes you think" level. You are meant to react to shock and awe at a final twist at the end of the book, after a disgustingly tedious back third that nearly made me give up. The twist is saying the same thing that John repeats, and repeats, and repeats - writing true stories is hard!
Also, fuck man, I just don't really care about California.
abc_123's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
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
3.0
I enjoyed the writing a ton but did not really get the ending and it was definitely 100 pages too long
cinemazombie's review against another edition
5.0
Darnielle once again showcases his stellar capacity to paint a verbal texture so rich you can almost actually feel it, if you close your eyes. It's a mastery to make the mundane poignant, to render both brutality and beauty from everyday interactions.
Serves as both a skewering of the true crime wave culture is surfing on at the moment as well as an almost-painfully intimate relflection on childhood rememberance, two concepts that would seem to butt heads but are in fact trains running at night so close in parallel that you could touch one from the other.
Possibly his best work to date. You never qet just what's on the tin with Darnielle, and I can see how some folks might be put off with the offroads this narrative decides to take from the back-of-the-book description. I find it pitch perfect.
Serves as both a skewering of the true crime wave culture is surfing on at the moment as well as an almost-painfully intimate relflection on childhood rememberance, two concepts that would seem to butt heads but are in fact trains running at night so close in parallel that you could touch one from the other.
Possibly his best work to date. You never qet just what's on the tin with Darnielle, and I can see how some folks might be put off with the offroads this narrative decides to take from the back-of-the-book description. I find it pitch perfect.
ymer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
i really enjoyed this book. i also really enjoyed house of leaves, which is kind of the only thing i can compare it to. this is not a linear story that feeds itself to you, it requires a little effort to engage with (a bit like complex jazz music that doesn't immediately make you want to dance but is fascinating enough to keep listening.) it rewards you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Violence
readingwmiles's review against another edition
2.0
The cover and initial concept were the only things I liked about this much-anticipated book. The reality was so underwhelming. I never understood what people meant when they said a book was overwritten until I read this. Yikes. It didn't feel like there was a main plot here. The initial concept was interesting, but it felt like Darnielle took the most tedious and least interesting path to explore it. Each part of the book was completely different in tone and it felt incredibly meandering. The constant perspective shifts were incredibly distracting and didn't add anything to the narrative. For the last 20% or so I was so tired of trying to keep up and I just wanted it to be over. This author is just not for me.
abbylaceyxoxo's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
anredman's review against another edition
I'm rating this a one star book, but I've elected not to make the actual star rating. This book is probably great, but it is very much not for me, which is my failing and not the author's fault. I will recommend this book to a lot of folks I know. If this author has short fiction, I'd love to read it.
Rarely do I highlight in books, but I did highlight several insightful lines that stopped to make me think, or re-read or reconsider, or that were just so fucking cool how could I not mark them?
The story the author was telling was of no interest to me, and the theme of castles and knights not just fell flat, but seemed like a conceited stretch. The fussy, obsessive addition of geographical details and property sales was tedious as hell. The ending, man, that's not the route for me.
However, no one can touch this author's use and inclusion of observation, mostly on the human condition, memory, our ties to places. It's beyond sublime. Reading about the inner thoughts of the main character delighted me to no end, I'll probably flip through this book idly for years to come.
But I won't read it again.
Rarely do I highlight in books, but I did highlight several insightful lines that stopped to make me think, or re-read or reconsider, or that were just so fucking cool how could I not mark them?
The story the author was telling was of no interest to me, and the theme of castles and knights not just fell flat, but seemed like a conceited stretch. The fussy, obsessive addition of geographical details and property sales was tedious as hell. The ending, man, that's not the route for me.
However, no one can touch this author's use and inclusion of observation, mostly on the human condition, memory, our ties to places. It's beyond sublime. Reading about the inner thoughts of the main character delighted me to no end, I'll probably flip through this book idly for years to come.
But I won't read it again.