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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
Anybody Home? is a book I feel deeply conflicted about. I really didn't enjoy the book at all, even though I see what it is doing and can respect what it is trying to accomplish.
First and foremost, the home invasion trope in horror is one of my least favorites, and I don't think it is unfair to suggest that many of the texts of home invasion horror are quite repetitive and uninteresting. The problem is that the trope is so widely used that it's difficult for it to be original any more. For every Paul Tremblay or You're Next, there are a couple dozen The Strangers (2008) that don't really move the needle at all for where the trope can go.
The real strength of Anybody Home? is that it takes the standard trope and does virtually nothing to it, instead relying entirely on the presentation of the trope. Here, Seidlinger presents style as substance, thus shifting the dynamic of the horror away from the home invasion and onto the reader-as-viewer, a running commentary about home invasion as perverse consumerist fantasy. He explicitly implicates the reader as consumer of specifically this kind of content, and as a result the book acts as a kind of critique about how we, as an audience, encourage the development and consumption of these kinds of stories for our entertainment.
The implications of the book, combined with its emphasis on the method of delivery as part of the narrative structure itself, are quite excellent, and Seidlinger does an excellent job of being original and daring in his efforts throughout the book.
In spite of its excellence in premise, I still didn't enjoy the book. The narrative voice obfuscates too much of the action, the narrative slipping too far away from character development for my tastes and it overdevelops the condescending directorial view of the book's events to the point that some of the narrative string just gets lost. I also had a hard time with the line editing of the book; the book is riddled with typographical and formatting errors that should have been caught by the publisher before going to print.
Even though this was definitely not a pleasurable read for me, I do think the book to be worth exploring, presuming that home invasion tropes or found-footage tropes are the kind of thing you're interested in. While it didn't work for me on the level of entertainment, I still find great value in the book-as-text, with plenty of philosophical depth to chew over. It is, if anything, quite memorable, and I think it deserves the attention it has been getting as a showcase of what indie horror can accomplish.
First and foremost, the home invasion trope in horror is one of my least favorites, and I don't think it is unfair to suggest that many of the texts of home invasion horror are quite repetitive and uninteresting. The problem is that the trope is so widely used that it's difficult for it to be original any more. For every Paul Tremblay or You're Next, there are a couple dozen The Strangers (2008) that don't really move the needle at all for where the trope can go.
The real strength of Anybody Home? is that it takes the standard trope and does virtually nothing to it, instead relying entirely on the presentation of the trope. Here, Seidlinger presents style as substance, thus shifting the dynamic of the horror away from the home invasion and onto the reader-as-viewer, a running commentary about home invasion as perverse consumerist fantasy. He explicitly implicates the reader as consumer of specifically this kind of content, and as a result the book acts as a kind of critique about how we, as an audience, encourage the development and consumption of these kinds of stories for our entertainment.
The implications of the book, combined with its emphasis on the method of delivery as part of the narrative structure itself, are quite excellent, and Seidlinger does an excellent job of being original and daring in his efforts throughout the book.
In spite of its excellence in premise, I still didn't enjoy the book. The narrative voice obfuscates too much of the action, the narrative slipping too far away from character development for my tastes and it overdevelops the condescending directorial view of the book's events to the point that some of the narrative string just gets lost. I also had a hard time with the line editing of the book; the book is riddled with typographical and formatting errors that should have been caught by the publisher before going to print.
Even though this was definitely not a pleasurable read for me, I do think the book to be worth exploring, presuming that home invasion tropes or found-footage tropes are the kind of thing you're interested in. While it didn't work for me on the level of entertainment, I still find great value in the book-as-text, with plenty of philosophical depth to chew over. It is, if anything, quite memorable, and I think it deserves the attention it has been getting as a showcase of what indie horror can accomplish.
dark
sad
tense
medium-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
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book legit scared me. A home invasion is scary enough, but it being told in the second person really elevated the tension and terror displayed.
I wish the book ended a few chapters sooner as I felt that was the perfect ending.
I wish the book ended a few chapters sooner as I felt that was the perfect ending.
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
tense
medium-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
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity