Scan barcode
sheryl_macca's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
zukythebookbum's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
gildius's review
4.0
The House That Groaned is set in 141 Rottin Road, a block of flats that is home to a very peculiar cast of characters. There’s the young man who is only attracted to diseased women, the old lady who literally disappears into the background, and an obese woman determinedly following an indulgent and hedonistic lifestyle. When pretty young Barbara moves into the building, she meets these strange people, and many more besides.
Read the rest of my review on my blog:
http://www.50ayear.com/2015/08/07/28-the-house-that-groaned-by-karrie-fransman/
Read the rest of my review on my blog:
http://www.50ayear.com/2015/08/07/28-the-house-that-groaned-by-karrie-fransman/
remusreads's review
2.0
In short: this wasn’t what I expected and not in a good way.
Perhaps I misunderstood the synopsis or maybe it was that the synopsis was worded poorly which allowed for multiple interpretations and made me, in a roundabout way, misunderstand what this graphic novel was going to be and was supposed to be. I went into it expecting quirkiness, of course, as the illustrations highly hinted at the fact that this wasn’t going to be a conventional book. The illustrations drew me in and ended up making this somewhat successful for me, but the words themselves are what let this down massively. I feel like it had so much potential but its execution was inherently poor and this made it ultimately fall down. It’s always disappointing when expectations aren’t met and my hopes were completely dashed with this as I feel like there was so much that it could’ve been and yet not much that it ended up being.
The plot didn’t make sense, the characters were flat, the setting was dry, the whole piece as a whole was incredibly deflating and there wasn’t much to pull it back to being remotely decent opposed to the illustrations themselves, which is why I rated it two stars - the art style was irresistible, quirky, and generally unlike anything I’ve seen before in anything of this nature. I do feel like if it had been padded out correctly, it would’ve offered so much more! I think it had so much to give but little chance to deliver, and that’s endlessly disappointing.
Despite it not being what I wanted, or expected, I would still recommend you to check this out - whether for the art style itself or whether the plot draws you in. It’s an incredibly quick read so you can’t really go wrong with giving it a go. I still think it’s worth a gander at, even if I didn’t pull anything particularly lasting from it.
Perhaps I misunderstood the synopsis or maybe it was that the synopsis was worded poorly which allowed for multiple interpretations and made me, in a roundabout way, misunderstand what this graphic novel was going to be and was supposed to be. I went into it expecting quirkiness, of course, as the illustrations highly hinted at the fact that this wasn’t going to be a conventional book. The illustrations drew me in and ended up making this somewhat successful for me, but the words themselves are what let this down massively. I feel like it had so much potential but its execution was inherently poor and this made it ultimately fall down. It’s always disappointing when expectations aren’t met and my hopes were completely dashed with this as I feel like there was so much that it could’ve been and yet not much that it ended up being.
The plot didn’t make sense, the characters were flat, the setting was dry, the whole piece as a whole was incredibly deflating and there wasn’t much to pull it back to being remotely decent opposed to the illustrations themselves, which is why I rated it two stars - the art style was irresistible, quirky, and generally unlike anything I’ve seen before in anything of this nature. I do feel like if it had been padded out correctly, it would’ve offered so much more! I think it had so much to give but little chance to deliver, and that’s endlessly disappointing.
Despite it not being what I wanted, or expected, I would still recommend you to check this out - whether for the art style itself or whether the plot draws you in. It’s an incredibly quick read so you can’t really go wrong with giving it a go. I still think it’s worth a gander at, even if I didn’t pull anything particularly lasting from it.
jennsp's review against another edition
4.0
This was not what I was expecting!
I LOVED the artwork in here, it was quirky yet simple and really got the story across. I also loved the colour scheme used, lovely blueish shades which get across the apparent normality of the characters day to day life. This book just went from weird to weirder which I loved. I had never heard of this book before and looking at the cover i thought it would be some kind of historical, mysteriously flowing graphic novel but I could not have been more wrong!
I loved the grandmother who blended into the background (what an incredible way to portray the feeling of loneliness and abandoned) and chuckled at the increasing anger at the diet mad lady who was trying to resist a midnight feast.
I loved the message that this book put across- that everyone appears to be normal on the outside whereas in reality everyone is their own version of crazy on the inside and this can all come spilling out when you get to know someone, however briefly.
All in all I loved this book and wish it went in for longer so you could really get to know the characters (this would be my only flaw) and become fully emerged in the weirdness!
A super fast read, it took me about an hour. One thing I would say though is not to read this in public: I read this in a coffee shop and got a few weird looks over my shoulder as people saw what I was reading!
I LOVED the artwork in here, it was quirky yet simple and really got the story across. I also loved the colour scheme used, lovely blueish shades which get across the apparent normality of the characters day to day life. This book just went from weird to weirder which I loved. I had never heard of this book before and looking at the cover i thought it would be some kind of historical, mysteriously flowing graphic novel but I could not have been more wrong!
I loved the grandmother who blended into the background (what an incredible way to portray the feeling of loneliness and abandoned) and chuckled at the increasing anger at the diet mad lady who was trying to resist a midnight feast.
I loved the message that this book put across- that everyone appears to be normal on the outside whereas in reality everyone is their own version of crazy on the inside and this can all come spilling out when you get to know someone, however briefly.
All in all I loved this book and wish it went in for longer so you could really get to know the characters (this would be my only flaw) and become fully emerged in the weirdness!
A super fast read, it took me about an hour. One thing I would say though is not to read this in public: I read this in a coffee shop and got a few weird looks over my shoulder as people saw what I was reading!
ori2590's review against another edition
3.0
The illustrations are quite interesting, not at all the style we usually see. The story is pretty strong as well. Fighting inner demons and confronting the existing ones
thereadinghobbit's review against another edition
3.0
I read this a couple of weeks ago and I'm still not sure what I think of it. It's quite an odd, and often grotesque, story about people's dark sides and their odd tastes. It's about an old victorian house where people rent apartments, and it starts with a young woman moving in. Every character is strange and we get flashbacks as to why they're so strange and then everything.. collapses. I can't even find the right words to describe it, it's so, so strange but still, very interesting, but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I'm still not sure if it was mine, to be honest.
gnome's review against another edition
1.0
Was tempted to give this GN two stars as I enjoyed some of the illustrative style but I was put off by the fatphobia (btw there's nothing original about having a fat character devour someone, although that didn't end up happening it seemed to be headed in that direction) and the grotesque treatment of the trans character.
The whole thing just felt a bit pointless.
The whole thing just felt a bit pointless.
amysaura's review against another edition
1.0
The more I think about this book, the more I hate it. It has no value whatsoever. I don't like to bash books, but this one really bothered me for a lot of reasons. So it has now joined American Psycho and We Were Liars in my 'trash' shelf.