Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

80 reviews

skimkaye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The fact that I want 10 copies of this to cut up and tack to my walls with various colors if twine is a testament to how well it's written and how effective it as at doing what it set out to do. I couldnt stop and I still dont want to stop but I didnt havefun either. I think I'm in a death cult now. Dont read this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Death, Alcohol, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

Most of the trigger warnings are about things that are not detailed, but are things that move the story along or are background themes.

cryosphinx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I didn't get too much of the 'horror' aspect that some people experienced. There is some upsetting moments but nothing that kept me from sleeping at night. It's convoluted, a maze of a book but SHUT UP JOHNNY it delivered on what I think it set out to do. No other book as a subreddit of people constantly having to check with others "Hey, is this a misprint? Does anyone else have this in their edition?" and that's kind of special. But I can also totally see how it's not for everyone (This is not for you). But it's like playing a puzzle game in book form and finding that the journey is better than the destination. But what puzzles are actually puzzles or just things to drive you nuts? That's sort of the point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Drug use, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Addiction, Excrement, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Ableism, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Abortion, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Incest, Racism, Suicide attempt, War, and Vomit

briannafenty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual assault

alsira98's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

book__reader's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

5.0

I did find parts to be a bit iffy especially if it was from

Johnny’s perspective

But otherwise, this is like nothing I’ve read before. The writing was incredible, and the main story, I really couldn’t put the book down unless I had too!! This will be probably a book I come back to often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

ivana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious

• 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

4.25

The reading experience of this was like nothing I've ever read and probably will ever read again. I loved how it mirrored what was happening in the story. I actually enjoyed Johnny's footnotes and the rambling nonsensical tone a lot more than most seem to have and I had a harder time with the pretentious fake analytical tangents from The Navidson Record

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Drug use, Addiction, Child death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Colonisation, Ableism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Cancer, Rape, and Infidelity

singrequiem's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I normally DEVOUR books. Especially dark, challenging, flawed, experimental books. This book, no joke, took me literal YEARS to finish, primarily just because of how much Jonny Truant sucks. He sucks hard. I went on forums to ask people to convince me not to just skip all of his notes and story. I’m glad I’m finally through it. I can appreciate the mastery that Danielewski has over the intricacies of his manuscript, the attention to detail, the world building, the control of tone (especially when switching between academic and informal writing styles) but this book was just a slog. I could rant for paragraphs, but I will try and boil it down to: it’s really not that creepy, and the most interesting parts are buried in jargon and presented dryly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Confinement, Mental illness, Drug use, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual violence and Rape

Minor: Gun violence and Vomit

Existential dread and unanswered questions

blueshirt's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Interesting premise and structure, but I found most of the characters unlikable and kind of boring. 

- Johnny Truant's sections are so self-indulgent/-congratulatory. I have no patience for some misogynistic twerp's #sodeep musings.

- I'm never actually convinced that Navidson is a good guy. He just makes one stupid, selfish choice after another. I'm glad Karen cheated on him and I think she should do it again.

- Karen's character is defined solely by her beauty (or lack thereof, at the end) and how much she Needs A Man. Gross.

- The children are not real characters, they are given no depth or development. 

- Reston has no purpose beyond talking about how cool Navidson is.

- Tom is great, no notes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Pedophilia

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