Reviews tagging 'Rape'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

128 reviews

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

mlemzor's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Incest

15_79_57_pq's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Body horror

Moderate: Cursing, Rape, and Drug use

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

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.

reggiethebird's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Vomit and Rape

definitelynotreading's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

 Fair warning, I'm not giving this one a star rating. It's so unique that I don't know how it falls into a typical rating system.
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If you've never heard of this book, the concept is that this old man dies and his neighbor's friend finds this old trunk full of a manuscript for a book that's typed, scribbled on scraps, disorganized and all over the place. So this guy, Johnny, decides to organize the manuscript and adds his own footnotes to it. The manuscript is an analysis of a Blair Witch style movie about a house that's bigger on the inside. The catch is- this movie doesn't actually exist. In the process of putting this book together, Johnny goes crazy and you get a front row seat. It's a story with so many layers, insane formatting and it's a wild ride.
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My friend and I read this together and started the read terrified that it was going to be the scariest thing we've ever read. What actually happened is there were a few spooky chapters (don't get me wrong, reading the end late at night in a basement was not a good plan) but all the built up tension would get lost in long philosophical passages or a footnote describing Johnny's latest depraved escapades at his local club. Don't even get me started on the formatting of chapter 9 😨.
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I'm ultimately glad that my friend introduced me to this book. Someday I may go back and re-read only the Navidson Record (the part about the house) because those were the relatable characters and the best story. For me, I'm glad I pushed through the insanity, but this is definitely not a book for everyone and were it not for buddy reading, I'm not sure I would've made it through.
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If you do plan to pick it up, there are definitely some content warnings you should look into, especially towards the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

2busyreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Sexual content, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, and Infidelity

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Drug abuse, and Rape

Minor: Vomit, Medical content, and Cancer

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I liked it! Sometimes I struggled with its rather intentional meandering structure but I appreciated the maze it was laying out and what it was meant to evoke from the reader. I also appreciated the ways in which the book itself felt like a metaphor for the psyche of its dual book within a book authors. I will say, the book is pretty damn misogynistic, so I struggled with that a bit. But overall, it was a fun ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis