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philomathean's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Terminal illness, Transphobia, and Cancer
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
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!
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
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Torture, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement
Minor: Cancer and Car accident
ro_lux's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Gore, Suicide, and Transphobia
Moderate: Cancer, Fatphobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Alcohol, Car accident, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Confinement, Violence, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Racism
illuminatedspace's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
1.0
I think when I read this book, I'm to believe that the main character is kind of a sexist, homophobic, transphobic, racist pos as a character flaw. However these views of the character are expressed so casually, explicitly, and often over this 600 page book I couldn't help but feel I was being indoctrinated with these garbage views. The lack of challenge the main character faces for these views is distracting over the length of the book. Nearly every non-white, non-cis male supporting character is described with harmful, uncharitable, and frankly boring stereotypes. This harmful depiction is reinforced by the fact that the characters do not say or do anything to challenge the initial description, not does anyone around the main character. This happened so consistently I couldn't help but wonder if the author also held these views or if they had just failed to create an unlikable/unreliable main character. The result was instead an unlikable world. Not challenging, or thought provoking but flat, informed by stereotypes and lacking nuance. I suppose the depth of the world is supposed to come from the lengths of depravity and pain people are willing to inflict on each other, but the cynicism of this worldview doesn't seem deserved?
The mystery was also kind of boring to me.the mystery is kind of laid out early in the book and all the evidence gathering just confirms what was already told. Until the last 100 pages of the book when the biggest confirmation of evidence could possibly be a hallucination and the motivation could have been something else but maybe it's all real and maybe it isn't . But the question of what really happened didn't feel like a fun puzzle to solve for me.
The mixed media elements are novel but not integral to telling the story.
If the book was shorter it may have been higher rated for me. It's not unreadable, but I hardly enjoyed any of the time I spent reading the book and nearly quit several times. I stayed for the resolution which in my opinion didn't really pay off and the denumont was so incredibly drawn out it felt like the book was ending 5 times before the actual last page. The climax was a bit of a page turner but the main character seemed to turn into a different person and some of their actions that provided the most dramatic situations seemed unmotivated. That paired with the fact thatthe most interesting parts may have been a poisonous plant hallucination wasn't enough to save the book for me.
The mystery was also kind of boring to me.
The mixed media elements are novel but not integral to telling the story.
If the book was shorter it may have been higher rated for me. It's not unreadable, but I hardly enjoyed any of the time I spent reading the book and nearly quit several times. I stayed for the resolution which in my opinion didn't really pay off and the denumont was so incredibly drawn out it felt like the book was ending 5 times before the actual last page. The climax was a bit of a page turner but the main character seemed to turn into a different person and some of their actions that provided the most dramatic situations seemed unmotivated. That paired with the fact that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Violence
hannaslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
4.5.
This was surprisingly good. This would make such a good movie. It felt like a movie as I was reading. Also I’m a sucker for mixed media in books, it really adds to the story/my experience. This definitely felt long at some points, but most of the story flew by and I had such a good time. I could not stop thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it. I feel like I will remember the characters and this story for a very long time.
This was surprisingly good. This would make such a good movie. It felt like a movie as I was reading. Also I’m a sucker for mixed media in books, it really adds to the story/my experience. This definitely felt long at some points, but most of the story flew by and I had such a good time. I could not stop thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it. I feel like I will remember the characters and this story for a very long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Cancer
nicolinebl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
3.0
This was a confusing but intriguing read. Honestly, just calling it that is underselling it; it was definitely an experience.
I started reading this book two days ago and barely did anything else besides that because I just needed to know how it ended.
It starts of slow, then it gets really intense for a while but then it takes a turn that I honestly didn't appreciate nor understand and then it changes directions near the end again, leaving me quite puzzled.
None of the characters in this book seem like nice people, Nora probably being the nicest one and the main character Scott honestly being one of the most annoying characters. There are a lot of characters to keep track of by the way, I started writing them down lol!
There are also a lot of trigger warnings for this book, the one that made me the most upset being transphobic undertones. Not sure if that's the writers prejudice coming through or her showing that her character is transphobic, but I got really pissed at that part.
There were some parts where the writer tried to make things lighter by jokes or "funny" thoughts but in my opinion, they didn't really work. Also some parts - besides supernatural plotlines or course - were a bit unbelievable. Like how Scott was apparently so rich even though he'd been fired from his job and didn't seem to have a great job at the moment. And since he's investigating for like +-7 months and not actually working or something he's only spending money (and spending it like crazy). Nobody has that many spare change right?
Also, an in my opinion unnecessary loveplot near the ending - if you've read the book you know the part.
Besides that I am still fascinated by this book. I love the mix of mediums: articles, websitepages, documents, photo's etc. and even bonus content on the writers website (definitely check it out, especially the last one!)
I chose to read this book in October because of Halloween and must admit I was kind of let down, it wasn't that scary andI hated that they had a whole supernatural plot, then decided to explain it all away and then afterwards sort of went back to the supernatural route.
I will end my review by saying that I do think this story could have been told in less than 600 pages and dragged a little at some parts but I most certainly do no regret reading this story; because at its main core, it did have some intriguing themes and phenomenal aesthetics. And gosh darn, I'm kind of sad that I'm not able to see the movies Cordova has made, him being fictional and all.
PS: Think this would be awesome in film format so that I could show my brother and friend who will never read a 600-pages book!
I started reading this book two days ago and barely did anything else besides that because I just needed to know how it ended.
It starts of slow, then it gets really intense for a while but then it takes a turn that I honestly didn't appreciate nor understand and then it changes directions near the end again, leaving me quite puzzled.
None of the characters in this book seem like nice people, Nora probably being the nicest one and the main character Scott honestly being one of the most annoying characters. There are a lot of characters to keep track of by the way, I started writing them down lol!
There are also a lot of trigger warnings for this book, the one that made me the most upset being transphobic undertones. Not sure if that's the writers prejudice coming through or her showing that her character is transphobic, but I got really pissed at that part.
There were some parts where the writer tried to make things lighter by jokes or "funny" thoughts but in my opinion, they didn't really work. Also some parts - besides supernatural plotlines or course - were a bit unbelievable. Like how Scott was apparently so rich even though he'd been fired from his job and didn't seem to have a great job at the moment. And since he's investigating for like +-7 months and not actually working or something he's only spending money (and spending it like crazy). Nobody has that many spare change right?
Also, an in my opinion unnecessary loveplot near the ending - if you've read the book you know the part.
Besides that I am still fascinated by this book. I love the mix of mediums: articles, websitepages, documents, photo's etc. and even bonus content on the writers website (definitely check it out, especially the last one!)
I chose to read this book in October because of Halloween and must admit I was kind of let down, it wasn't that scary and
I will end my review by saying that I do think this story could have been told in less than 600 pages and dragged a little at some parts but I most certainly do no regret reading this story; because at its main core, it did have some intriguing themes and phenomenal aesthetics. And gosh darn, I'm kind of sad that I'm not able to see the movies Cordova has made, him being fictional and all.
PS: Think this would be awesome in film format so that I could show my brother and friend who will never read a 600-pages book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Torture
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Trafficking, and Transphobia
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Slavery, and Vomit
tiemzahra's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Oh, wow this book. My head hurts thinking of this. An investigative journalist suspects the death of a young woman had something to do with her father, a cult-horror film director, Cordova, who hasn’t been seen in public for more than 30 years. As he probed further into the case, more threats he encountered to stop his investigation.
This one gave me House of Leaves vibe. A fictional documentary that seems true, Cordova’s films feel realistic. There were screenshots of the cult website, pictures of his mansion (heavily edited but acceptable), lives of so many people involved; the actors and actresses and people they met along the way. It was a creepy book and both revelations (fake and true) were believable that I didn’t mind which one’s which.
This one gave me House of Leaves vibe. A fictional documentary that seems true, Cordova’s films feel realistic. There were screenshots of the cult website, pictures of his mansion (heavily edited but acceptable), lives of so many people involved; the actors and actresses and people they met along the way. It was a creepy book and both revelations (fake and true) were believable that I didn’t mind which one’s which.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Stalking
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to love this book so much, but it didn’t work. I liked the beginning a lot when the characters were introduced and enjoyed the last 25-30% as well. But the middle part was just … too boring. Every time I thought the story went into an interesting direction, the author chose to stop and go the boring way instead. It was SO frustrating, when intriguing settings/characters/plot points were just abandoned midway. Still, I got attached to the characters and loved their interactions with each other. There were some REALLY cool settings and scenes, and I liked the story in general. I was just disappointed because I had expected more. Especially from the mixed media aspect. The additional pictures, texts and documents were … mostly unnecessary. They didn’t add to my reading experience at all. But that’s what I expect from a book which uses mixed media because I’ve seen it done really well in the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Stalking
wormgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use
jbellomy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
1.0
Pretentious film student fanfiction wrapped in despicable ideology. There's nothing true – emotionally or philosophically – about it. I could write a book about how much I disliked this book. I really white-knuckled my way through the last half, and it was a goddamn audiobook.
I'm frankly shocked that Pessl hasn't been ~cancelled~ by the Twitter mob. The horrifying lens through which this author clearly views the world should not be given a platform. Here are some examples (though not specific, because no one's going to read this review and so I'm not going to get a physical copy and spend time scouring this trashfire):
- every single description of a character of Asian descent is slathered in racism. This probably happens around ten times, my absolute favorite (read: least favorite, burn it in hellfire) instance being when Scott is shocked that an Asian person speaks with an American accent – or as he says, "without an accent" lol Scott. The audiobook is even worse, as the narrator makes the very fun choice to read Cleo (who, by the way, is the Only Good Character in this never-ending tome) with a stereotypical accent, despite the fact that her accent is never mentioned. Other POC do not fare better. For example, there are two Latinas present in this book. One is a cowering superstitious maid who can't speak English. The other is a human trafficker eternally devoted to serving a white guy. I'm 90% sure this book uses the word "exotic" to describe WOC. (Don't fact check me on that. The fact that it's plausible is horror enough honestly.)
- there are multiple instances of needless transphobia. Hopper & Scott's reactions to the women working in the Secret Man Club is the worst of it. We also get very enjoyable and completely okay comments about the person who gave Nora all her clothes. Scott's never met this person, but he's gonna judge them, because they have a BOY NAME and collect WOMEN'S CLOTHES so they must be silly and weird!! Cool, Scott! You're so fucking cool!
- What really sealed the deal for me was when the only character to show same-sex attraction in, again, an absolute UNIT of a book, is shown to be a pedophilic predator. Ah, yes, Pessl! What a good and informed take on the queer community you have!
- Oh and there's plenty of sweet sweet bodyshaming in here too, because of course there is.
Here's a link to a review that has some details about this aspect of the book. Aaaand here's my absolute favorite review (except why the two stars, my dude? Lean into the anger).
Dangerous and untrue characterizations like this are inarguably bad. It's not a cute homage to hardboiled noir detectives. It's not a look into a morally grey protagonist. It's not interesting or edgy. It's lazy and it's shameful. These descriptions are presented as fact, and Scott's racist, transphobic, sexist perspective is never criticized at all. Why insert these elements? Populating a fictional world with disgusting stereotypes is not acceptable now, and it was not acceptable in 2013. I can't even say this was a "product of its time" because it was published SIX YEARS AGO. Bro, I'm usually one of the people that's like "eh we can like problematic stuff, very few people deserve to be fully cancelled" but the shit in this book is harmful in that it perpetuates pre-existing prejudices and it validates people who already carry those ideas.
If that were the only aspect of the book that was terrible, it'd be enough for me to be wary. I wouldn't completely dismiss it per se. But this book's core characters also leave a hell of a lot to be desired. Nora was particularly flat, presented as a doting, constantly gasping (or "amazed" or "spellbound" or "captivated") waif who's in love with McGrath by the end despite him treating her like dogshit. Scott's initial description of her is spot on. She does not become anything more than what he assumed her to be. Her moving out is prompted by Scott's rejection of her literal declaration of love. That's not character development, friendo. (How in the fuck was this written by a woman??? The internalized misogyny is STRONG with this one!)
I could go on (for a very long time). Like I haven't even mentioned the multitude of cavernous plotholes in this book that clearly prides itself in meticulous plotting (HOW DOES "DISGRACED JOURNALIST SCOTT MCGRATH" HAVE UNLIMITED FUNDS??!). Or the fanboy-level ~auteurs-can-save-the-world~ hero worship on display (we get it, you like Hitchcock). Or the completely illogical behavior of almost every random side character (lol! the pseudo-priest admitting to pedophilia! wtf!). Or the excruciating self-importance of the prose and themes (although to classify whatever this book was going for as "themes" is giving it too much credit). But I've already spent far too much time with this word vomit, and I need to scrub it from my psyche as soon as possible.
Needless to say, I'm not going to read Special Topics, and my lukewarm opinion of [b:Neverworld Wake|36545927|Neverworld Wake|Marisha Pessl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517426178l/36545927._SY75_.jpg|56878900] has been tainted by this utter garbage.
I'm frankly shocked that Pessl hasn't been ~cancelled~ by the Twitter mob. The horrifying lens through which this author clearly views the world should not be given a platform. Here are some examples (though not specific, because no one's going to read this review and so I'm not going to get a physical copy and spend time scouring this trashfire):
- every single description of a character of Asian descent is slathered in racism. This probably happens around ten times, my absolute favorite (read: least favorite, burn it in hellfire) instance being when Scott is shocked that an Asian person speaks with an American accent – or as he says, "without an accent" lol Scott. The audiobook is even worse, as the narrator makes the very fun choice to read Cleo (who, by the way, is the Only Good Character in this never-ending tome) with a stereotypical accent, despite the fact that her accent is never mentioned. Other POC do not fare better. For example, there are two Latinas present in this book. One is a cowering superstitious maid who can't speak English. The other is a human trafficker eternally devoted to serving a white guy. I'm 90% sure this book uses the word "exotic" to describe WOC. (Don't fact check me on that. The fact that it's plausible is horror enough honestly.)
- there are multiple instances of needless transphobia. Hopper & Scott's reactions to the women working in the Secret Man Club is the worst of it. We also get very enjoyable and completely okay comments about the person who gave Nora all her clothes. Scott's never met this person, but he's gonna judge them, because they have a BOY NAME and collect WOMEN'S CLOTHES so they must be silly and weird!! Cool, Scott! You're so fucking cool!
- What really sealed the deal for me was when the only character to show same-sex attraction in, again, an absolute UNIT of a book, is shown to be a pedophilic predator. Ah, yes, Pessl! What a good and informed take on the queer community you have!
- Oh and there's plenty of sweet sweet bodyshaming in here too, because of course there is.
Here's a link to a review that has some details about this aspect of the book. Aaaand here's my absolute favorite review (except why the two stars, my dude? Lean into the anger).
Dangerous and untrue characterizations like this are inarguably bad. It's not a cute homage to hardboiled noir detectives. It's not a look into a morally grey protagonist. It's not interesting or edgy. It's lazy and it's shameful. These descriptions are presented as fact, and Scott's racist, transphobic, sexist perspective is never criticized at all. Why insert these elements? Populating a fictional world with disgusting stereotypes is not acceptable now, and it was not acceptable in 2013. I can't even say this was a "product of its time" because it was published SIX YEARS AGO. Bro, I'm usually one of the people that's like "eh we can like problematic stuff, very few people deserve to be fully cancelled" but the shit in this book is harmful in that it perpetuates pre-existing prejudices and it validates people who already carry those ideas.
If that were the only aspect of the book that was terrible, it'd be enough for me to be wary. I wouldn't completely dismiss it per se. But this book's core characters also leave a hell of a lot to be desired. Nora was particularly flat, presented as a doting, constantly gasping (or "amazed" or "spellbound" or "captivated") waif who's in love with McGrath by the end despite him treating her like dogshit. Scott's initial description of her is spot on. She does not become anything more than what he assumed her to be. Her moving out is prompted by Scott's rejection of her literal declaration of love. That's not character development, friendo. (How in the fuck was this written by a woman??? The internalized misogyny is STRONG with this one!)
I could go on (for a very long time). Like I haven't even mentioned the multitude of cavernous plotholes in this book that clearly prides itself in meticulous plotting (HOW DOES "DISGRACED JOURNALIST SCOTT MCGRATH" HAVE UNLIMITED FUNDS??!). Or the fanboy-level ~auteurs-can-save-the-world~ hero worship on display (we get it, you like Hitchcock). Or the completely illogical behavior of almost every random side character (lol! the pseudo-priest admitting to pedophilia! wtf!). Or the excruciating self-importance of the prose and themes (although to classify whatever this book was going for as "themes" is giving it too much credit). But I've already spent far too much time with this word vomit, and I need to scrub it from my psyche as soon as possible.
Needless to say, I'm not going to read Special Topics, and my lukewarm opinion of [b:Neverworld Wake|36545927|Neverworld Wake|Marisha Pessl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517426178l/36545927._SY75_.jpg|56878900] has been tainted by this utter garbage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, and Violence
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