Reviews tagging 'Death'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

122 reviews

rachelditty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Picked this up on a whim after finding another book by Danielewski at a thrift store. I'm glad I read this--it was really fun to flip back and forth between stories and the index/additional material added to the end of the bind-up. I was really drawn in, especially when the format started shifting into something nontraditional. 

I think the part I was most attentive to was when the Minotaur section that was mostly scratched out kept sending the reader back and forth and all around a bunch of different foot notes. It was extremely meta and had me giddy, honestly.

I feel like I came away from this read with less than I should have, in all honesty.  There were three entirely separate storylines and I only really cared about them halfheartedly, and even when they all wrapped up I still had questions and didn't care as much as I was expecting to or wanted to. I was glad the Navidson family was able to find some kind of closure, but I'm not entirely sure what the last story about the baby from Johnny was supposed to give us. There's just so much to this book that I know I've missed things and that there's way, way more to take from it, but I don't have any more energy to put toward this, and I also don't feel very motivated to do so anyway. 

Some quotes I liked:

"I took my morning walk, I took my evening walk, I ate something, I thought about something, I wrote something, I napped and dreamt something too, and with all that something, I still have nothing because so much of sum'things has always been and always will be you.
I miss you," (p. 547).

"It seemed right to him,/ not at long last/ but right along the way.
Where I've been./ Where I am,/ he said and then sighing/ added--
I'd like to return one day/ if only for a little while/ to drink something warm," (p. 580).

It was fun, it was entertaining, but I don't think it's gong to stick with me as much the internet seemed to think it should.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Grief, Drug use, Murder, Death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

voidkisses's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

One of the most insane books you’ll ever read. Go in as blind as possible and stick to it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Addiction, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

cmuise's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Forced institutionalization

lindsaylhunter's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

The sheer amount of work, energy and intellect that went into the crafting of this book is nothing short of extraordinary. This is one of the most challenging books I've ever read and, I'll admit, the only reason I sat down to read it in the first place was because of its insane formatting. Tense, creepy and downright unsettling, this is one of the only books I've ever read that left me with an uneasiness that has bled into my dreams.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gun violence

Minor: Infidelity and Rape

turtleycool's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Death, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Gore, and Grief

booksnakekel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Child abuse, Drug use, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence

ellie_rowo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Sexual content, Cursing, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Gun violence

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

I was expecting this to be the scariest book I'd ever read, and maybe actually fear doesn't translate well for me through books, but this was much more... sad to me than anything else. I only had creepy feelings a couple of times, but really the main takeaway I had from this book was emotional devastation. (Though that may be due to my personal circumstances currently as well.)

An extremely compelling if difficult read, anyway. And difficult to track your pages read through an app like this lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Ableism, Cancer, and Body horror

brandoncottle's review

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

It's a really good book, but I wouldn't recommend it since it is 1. an investment of time and 2. takes effort to not only read the words, but also figure out the order to read them in

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Gore

Occasionally there are really graphic or explicit scenes, but I'm squeamish and I was mostly fine

joshoonet's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

• The very core story of the Navidson Record is incredibly interesting and thrilling. I love the descriptions of their explorations and the uncertainty that comes with them.
• Zampanòs huge passages of discussing certain words and picking apart their meanings nearly made me stop reading, out of pure disconnection with the content. Even if it related to the core story. My god.
• Can only recommend checking out the appendixes as one goes along, they provide a more thorough understanding of the text. Although the same can't be said about the hints to other chapters. That got too confusing for me.
• LOVED the code that could be found and potentially deciphered here and there. I'm sure i missed some too.
• Overall: high concentration needed to read this, but worth it in the end. I'll keep thinking about it for a while, but won't be picking it up again anytime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Addiction, Violence, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Alcohol, Rape, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexism, Death, and Drug use

Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, Abandonment, Cancer, Car accident, and Vomit

Long, purely informative passages about the background and meaning of specific terms or topics can be skipped or skimmed. On the topic of sexual content and misogyny:

truant's stories are laden with viewing women only as sexual objects; these parts can be skipped without losing too much of the plot.