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sheru's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Kidnapping
ladykatka's review
mysterious
sad
medium-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
3.5
I am not sure why this is rated do highly. It was kinda boring, not much happens. Man talks to birds and fishes a lot while wandering around a giant mansion alone looking at statues. Not exactly riveting stuff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death
sarahmitra's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Kidnapping
emilyplun's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Narration by Chiwetel Ejiofor was AMAZING, I couldn't imagine experiencing this in any other way. Gorgeous
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Moderate: Violence and Gun violence
Minor: Blood and Death
adina_zeling's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Toxic relationship
madmantha's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Vomit, Deadnaming, Torture, Trafficking, and Gun violence
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.billyjepma's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
You know that feeling you get when reading a book, the sense that usually creeps on you and whispers that you’re experiencing something you’re going to remember? Yeah, that’s what it felt like reading this.
This is a book that pulls from a lot of brilliant sources and ideas and rearranges them in new, unique, and endlessly fascinating ways. It’s a puzzle box of rewarding twists and turns that manages to be frightening in the ideas it offers but gently mysterious in its delivery of them. It’s the kind of story I loved the experience of reading, which usually correlates with books that end up becoming lasting favorites.
I will absolutely be forcing everyone I know to read this.
This is a book that pulls from a lot of brilliant sources and ideas and rearranges them in new, unique, and endlessly fascinating ways. It’s a puzzle box of rewarding twists and turns that manages to be frightening in the ideas it offers but gently mysterious in its delivery of them. It’s the kind of story I loved the experience of reading, which usually correlates with books that end up becoming lasting favorites.
I will absolutely be forcing everyone I know to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Minor: Child death, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
k_aro's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Honestly, on some level I feel a little guilty giving this so languidly a 5-star review; it's not really the kind of book that exists for stars or whatever, but I still feel like it'd be a loss to not talk about it as such.
What an incredible book! I love slow explorations of a space, and this felt so widely built (even though there's still so much left unsaid and basically left up to interpretation) that it felt fulfilling even if not all the answers were stated. I guess it kind of reminds me of that encyclopedia full of stuff that doesn't exist that's supposed to replicate the feeling of looking through an encyclopedia as a kid for the first time.
The tension is also nicely built, and it doesn't really concern itself with three-way twists and distracting flashes, just a really nice story that follows through in its soft magic systems on what it talks about.
I also enjoyed the occasional flashes of second-person narration; that said, I'm kind of just in love with second-person narration as a device, so I'm super biased in this regard (the other 5* review I have up is for a largely second-person narrated memoir!)
While I'm a little unsatisfied by the unspecificity of why Ketterley did what he did, I think to some level that's not "the point" (so to speak)—he's so obsessed with something that is functionally dead that rationality is truly, on some level, false.
Anyway, I'd also like to take a little bit to talk about the lovely meditation on death and obsessions with death, not just in regards to dead people but to dead ideas, concepts, language, etc. So much of our life is living, breathing, that when something dies it inevitably takes up space; but as Ketterley demonstrates, this obsession with death is actually something quite grotesque, demanding answers out of something that has already departed this world.
Of course, that's neither here nor there; Arne-Sayles is also pretty interesting in his own right, though I'm not really sure I like how his gayness is positioned as just part of him being transgressive, but I also think I like it? I don't know, I guess it kind of evokes questions about the transgressiveness of being queer in general, or maybe transgressiveness as a whole (maybe even hearkening back to that one Carmen Maria Machado essay about being queer and fat). He's definitely an interesting character!
What an incredible book! I love slow explorations of a space, and this felt so widely built (even though there's still so much left unsaid and basically left up to interpretation) that it felt fulfilling even if not all the answers were stated. I guess it kind of reminds me of that encyclopedia full of stuff that doesn't exist that's supposed to replicate the feeling of looking through an encyclopedia as a kid for the first time.
The tension is also nicely built, and it doesn't really concern itself with three-way twists and distracting flashes, just a really nice story that follows through in its soft magic systems on what it talks about.
I also enjoyed the occasional flashes of second-person narration; that said, I'm kind of just in love with second-person narration as a device, so I'm super biased in this regard (the other 5* review I have up is for a largely second-person narrated memoir!)
Anyway, I'd also like to take a little bit to talk about the lovely meditation on death and obsessions with death, not just in regards to dead people but to dead ideas, concepts, language, etc. So much of our life is living, breathing, that when something dies it inevitably takes up space; but as Ketterley demonstrates, this obsession with death is actually something quite grotesque, demanding answers out of something that has already departed this world.
Of course, that's neither here nor there; Arne-Sayles is also pretty interesting in his own right, though I'm not really sure I like how his gayness is positioned as just part of him being transgressive, but I also think I like it? I don't know, I guess it kind of evokes questions about the transgressiveness of being queer in general, or maybe transgressiveness as a whole (maybe even hearkening back to that one Carmen Maria Machado essay about being queer and fat). He's definitely an interesting character!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Confinement, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Torture, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Addiction, Vomit, and Gun violence
While these look like a lot of intense content warnings, I will say that usually most of the things written above are not processed, written about, extrapolated on as abuse in itself (so to speak). The experience of the main character, while I do not want to invalidate as the things shown above, are not processed as such, partially owing to the fact that the main character does not quite process emotions or traumas in the same way you or I would; so rather than them being fact in and of themself, they are the textual reading extrapolated.aelunny's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
This was a fun trip into another world! If you ever wake up in the morning feeling like you could've just been created and had all your memories implanted, this would be an interesting story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Excrement
martinatan's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
What a lovely gem of a story with such a tightly revealed world. The perspective of the narrator told in the journal format was genius, and it was rewarding to experience how the mystery unraveled and answered my questions in the most surprising ways. The classical inspiration combined with a modern plot and the change in type styles to convey the narrator’s evolving point of view made this incredibly satisfying and awe-inspiring. It reminded me of Swiss Army Man and His Dark Materials in how it juxtaposes a timeless wonder for the world with sobering reality of human nature.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
Minor: Blood, Murder, Slavery, and Toxic relationship