Reviews - Nightmare Alley | The StoryGraph

302 reviews for:

Nightmare Alley

William Lindsay Gresham

3.74 AVERAGE

danilyn1274's review against another edition

3.0

If I had not been listening to this, I don't know that I would have finished it. Strange but interesting.

veronicacanread's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

adeleighpenguin's review against another edition

5.0

So unrelenting, cruel, and nihilistic that I found myself needing to take several days’ break on more than one occasion. Haven’t felt this way about a novel since Mcteague. Fascinating that prose like this was ever published in the 40s, not surprised at all that it was promptly censored for nearly 80 years after the fact.

Necessary read for fans of horror and noir in general. Tosches’ introduction was awesome. Like, can you believe that Gresham’s ex-wife later married C.S. Lewis? Insane! Very interesting throughout the novel as well to see Gresham’s trouble with finding a belief system to cling to parsed out, one by one. The general thesis presented on the train is obviously pretty indicative of where he landed, considering…

I’m personally a Nightmare Alley (2021) apologist, even if it is overlong—and that’s without all of the drawn-out clergyman stuff goin on here! Keep meaning to watch the original adaptation. Hope it’s a bummer!