Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

97 reviews

yaslanna's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity and Panic attacks/disorders

sofipitch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I tend to like things that are highly referential and willing to play with what it means to be a book but this was a piece of performance art. I didn't want to buy a copy for fear it would be gimmicky but now after finishing I have to have my own copy to eventually reread. Also it's funny that most of this book is "analysis of the navidson record" but now all I want to do is go find analysis of this book, truly bigger on the inside.  Only part I didn't like was Johnny's chapters for 2/3rds, all of them being about how he fucked some different girl each update. The worst being the section on Lude's conquests that then mentions the trauma or "damage" each girl had. But the misogyny seems concentrated there and likely more reflective of Johnny than the author.

Anyways, excellent book for ppl who love literary interpretation, love solving puzzles, unless you want a "one true answer" in which case this may not be for you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

eemi42's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I'm not going to be at around the bush, this book was work to get through. The formatting is not the only difficulty. It was also like reading a dissertation of sorts, which doesn't make for the easiest reading experience. So then the question is, is it worth it?

In my opinion, no.
This is the book equivalent of a found-footage film, except the film in question doesn't exist. What we read is the old man Zampanò's essay analyzing this nonexistent film, and Johnny Truant's attempts to piece together the old man's writings. I was drawn to this book because of the horror aspect, though this is more psychological horror than monster or ghost story.

The essay feels pretentious at times, adding to the frustration while reading. Sometimes the book felt gimmicky. And I didn't like Johnny Truant at all (likeable characters are a big deal to me). There were many times where he would meet up with women to discuss the book, only to launch into—ahem—other activities without much preamble. It got repetitive and annoying.

I can respect the obvious amount of work that went into this book. I enjoyed the unconventional formatting and puzzles. It even made me stop and think several times and question my own sanity. But ultimately, if like me you're looking for an enjoyable read with likeable characters, probably just skip it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Blood, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

britt_blank_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Drug use, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual violence, and Violence

heidi_may91's review

dark reflective slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Child death, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

madyou's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

4.25

This was a difficult book for me to rate. Just like Johnny I found myself losing hours just to find out what happens next. But there were times where I couldn’t get thru some of the ramblings, or the overly analytical chapters. I was mostly interested in ‘film’ itself and the house that was bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. I still have so many questions, so many whys or hows even though I know the answers are never given. There are only theories of what it might mean or could be. 

Overall this book was tense, freaky, and definitely questionable at times. I loved it and wish there was more. It might take me weeks for me to fully process everything I just read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Addiction, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Drug abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

lietotheangels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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: Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Cursing, Grief, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rllaird's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Drug abuse, and Animal death

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Vomit

honest_soupe's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

Absolutely amazing read. Wish they had let me think my thoughts on characters were original though! Please stop saying exactly what I was thinking about people. It makes it harder for me to feel smart about it lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child abuse, Cursing, Violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Addiction, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Gaslighting, Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

will be writing an essay on this. will be also have the greatest bit where I will point at any house with leaves nearby for any reason and say "OMG it's just like that thing!!!"

literallygriffin's review

challenging dark emotional funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

just as good as people say it is. read house of leaves right now & go into it blind. trust me on this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Stalking, Violence, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Child abuse, and Suicide