Reviews with content warning for Child death - Night Film

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

16 reviews

ashtheaudiomancer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This has been on my TBR shelf for awhile, but I moved it to the top of the list on a recommendation. It's fascinating! I like the unusual formatting and inclusion of blog posts, photos, police reports, and other tidbits that make the world feel really fleshed out and real.

I'm not sure what else to say about it because almost everything is a spoiler. It's a murder mystery . . . kind of. It's an exploration of the depths of conspiracy theories and cult-like followings that get attached to certain celebrities . . . kind of. It's a deconstruction of the typical private investigator character type . . . kind of.

It's a thick and challenging read, and leaves things a little ambiguous, and a little meta, at the end, but the time commitment is worth it. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

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kristareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.25

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othersociologist's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

wrestleacademic's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

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coffeespooncait's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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erinbarton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

3.5

so many mixed feelings on this

brief summary: scott mcgrath is an investigative journalist who begins investigating the apparent suicide of ashley cordova, who is the daughter of a reclusive and controversial director stanislas cordova. prior to the beginning of this book, scott had previously become obsessed with the idea that cordova is hiding a dark secret and committing crimes involving child abductions, which led to him being sued for slander and false reporting and his reputation ruined. scott is convinced ashley’s suicide is actual a murder, and begins investigating along with hopper, a drug dealer who has a childhood connection to ashley, and nora, a coatroom attendant who was one of the last people to see ashley before she died.

first of all, i loved the concept of the director with a cult following and his films’ contents having clues that tie in to the plot’s mystery. the descriptions of each of cordova’s films throughout the book make you wish you could watch those films and get swept up in the easter eggs and hidden clues throughout them too. this was a really detailed plot that took a lot of different turns — is there foul play, or dark magic, or possession, or mental illness, or child abuse happening here? the story keeps you guessing with where it’s heading too. this book also has various pictures and newspaper articles that add to the immersion of the story.

however, the issues i have with this book is mainly two points: characterisation, and convenience of clues. in terms of characterisation, for a book of over 600 pages the main three characters still felt fairly flat, and the relationship between them all never felt very developed. i did really like nora’s character but she didn’t feel fleshed out enough and was limited to her past trauma. there could’ve been so much more depth in their relationship changing from reluctantly working together to becoming friends.

their final scene together where they say goodbye and get emotional seems somewhat out of place since they didn’t seem to have much of a bond to begin with. nora’s confession that she loves scott also comes out of the blue. <\spoiler>
scott’s motive for investigating also seemed unclear, and the gang quickly progresses to breaking laws to gain information. when meeting hopper and nora for the first time scott tells them their info can be off the record, but never tries to get any info on the record for any other sources throughout the book. was he actually planning on writing a piece about ashley? how would he be able to include any facts without sources?

furthermore, clues throughout seemed a bit too convenient - everyone they spoke to gave them a plethora of useful info even when they seemed supposedly reluctant to help, such as the hotel employee or the security guard from the psychiatric unit. there were never really any dead ends or new leads cropping up, the investigation seemingly moved from one helpful witness to another. the mystery and tension in a thriller comes from the unanswered questions - what is this person hiding? are they telling the truth? what else do they know? etc - this book probably had about 10 different key witnesses/people of interest the main characters talk to and all of them give exactly enough detail to advance to the next person.

overall, this definitely was a fun thriller and worth the read as long as you are prepared for the slow burn of it.

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dbuchheister's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

Did I like this book? Not by the end.
Was it racist and transphobic? Yes.
Was it actually creepy or horrifying? Not particularly.
Did I finish it hoping that the end would be good? Yes.
Was it? No. It was a disappointment.
Was there a scene where

a teenager throws herself at a 40-something, mediocre man for no reason

? Yes.
Was it actually a compelling and well put together mystery? I really don't feel that way.
Was it too long? Yes.
Would I recommend this to anyone? Absolutely not.
Do I regret reading this? Kind of. I spent way too much time on something so disappointing.
Were there things that were mildly interesting? Sure.
Did that make up for the rest? Nope.

Do with this information what you will.

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sylvestra's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.
Everyone that knows my reading tastes knows how much I adored "Neverworld Wake", and because of that love I have waited to read "Night Film". Marisha Pessl's writing is simply magic to me, and because her backlist is so short, I have been waiting to read her other stories so I can really savor them. "Night Film" was 1000% worth the wait and I already want to read it again!
This novel follows Scott McGrath, a disgraced journalist who ruined his career by sharing disparaging remarks about esteemed film director Stanislaus Cordova on national TV. Cordova has remained a mystery for years, and he has not been seen by the public for decades. This elusiveness has made him a huge topic of interest for those who love his movies. Cordova's daughter, Ashley, is found dead at 24-years-old in an abandoned warehouse. With this shocking news taking the world by storm, Scott finds himself sucked back into Cordova's mysterious world trying to uncover what really happened to Ashley and finally unveil who Cordova is.
I loved everything about this book. There are some mixed media elements throughout the book that made the reading experience all the more memorable, as well as making us, the readers, feel like we are finding clues along with Scott. The mystery keeps twisting and morphing as the story goes, and by the time the ending comes, it is difficult to decipher what ended up being the truth. There is a somewhat ambiguous ending that I felt like highlighted Cordova's mysteries life perfectly. Marisha left the perfect trail of breadcrumbs to lead us to uncovering all of the secrets surrounding Ashley's death, but I still was shocked by most of the reveals.
I cannot recommend this book enough!

Content Warnings

fluoresensitive's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-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

2.0

Sovereign. Deadly. Perfect.

These are the three words that describe the terrifying masterworks of the fictional horror film maker Stanislas Cordova. The story hinges on his movies, his hungry cult of fans and critics, the people repulsed and changed by him. We see his strange impact through the eyes of disgraced, semi-retired investigative journalist, Scott McGrath, a somewhat embittered man who digs into Cordova and his daughter, Ashley Cordova. There are heists. There are fantastic, fabulous sentences on the necessity of horror, there are gorgeous passages that reminded me why I love to write horror.

I did not like Night Film. This is majorly disappointing to me, because everything in me wanted to like it. The plot was fascinating, the prose was interesting. I could’ve forgiven the excessive italics and all-white cast in many other circumstances, but this book was appalling racist and transmisogynistic. There’s no greater shock than thinking you can enjoy a book as a trans person of color only to see your trans sisters be mocked, or to flip through a story only to discover that the author (white, of course) thinks all Asian people are weird and savage.

The moments of the book I liked (meeting Marlow Hughes, Cordova’s ex-wife; unwinding the “true” story behind Cordova through different people’s perspectives of him) were tainted for me. All in all, an upsetting read. Night Film could’ve been a tour de force with a bit more sensitivity reading, an editor to cut out half the italics, and maybe a little better pacing. This story definitely could’ve lost a hundred or so pages, and kept its substance. Maybe the scenes where Pessl relentlessly bags on trans women can be chopped?

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