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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
This book had a good idea and the overall arch and themes could have been great but it had so many unnecessary parts. The first 200 pages could have been condensed into less than 50 and the ending kind of dragged too. Just overall it dragged and wasn't as exciting or smart as the author thought it was. The twists didn't surprise me and the characters didn't interest me.
I thoroughly enjoyed this near-terrifying book, probably because I only read it during daylight hours. It definitely reminded me of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, but unlike that challenging frightfest, I actually finished this one. Pessl's book has its drawbacks (thin characters, too many italics - sheesh!), but it earns 5 stars from me mostly on the strength of the story; it's compelling and keeps you turning pages until the very end. Plus I thought all the interactive elements were ultimately pretty cool and not as gimmicky as I'd feared in the beginning. The Night Film app draws you deeper into this universe until you're as consumed with the central mystery as the protagonist himself. Highly recommended for fans of horror and/ or pyschological mysteries. For those that have read House of Leaves AND Night Film, here's a good article comparing the two books: http://litreactor.com/columns/book-brawl-house-of-leaves-versus-night-film (spoiler: the "book brawl" ends in a draw).
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Took me a long time to get into this book. At least 1/2 way and I almost gave up a couple of times. This was a weirdly interesting read. If the the first 1/2 would have been as good as the second half I would have given it a much higher rating. Overall it was an okay read.
A discredited journalist, Scott McGrath, is consumed with an obtrusive investigation into the death, and life, of Ashley Cordova, the daughter of a notorious horror film director. A young woman recently moved to New York, Nora, and a twenty-something troubled guy, Hopper, join Scott in the sinuous search for the truth behind the enigmatic Cordova family.
I absolutely devoured this book. It's reminiscent of the hard-boiled fiction novels like Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, and Black Money. It instantly reminded me of Ross MacDonald novel, with the particular high-profile characters and their expensive secrets. The winding private-investigator-type story that keeps you guessing and ravenously curious. Indeed, this would be a great modern film noir...if done by the right director of course.
The writing is fluid and modest. There are an endless amount of italics scattered throughout, placed carefully for added emphasis and totally aware of themselves.
If you like private investigator stories (this is a freelance, defamed journalist) and are a fan of horror, the occult, and the metaphysics of murk, then you will thoroughly enjoy this wonderful work of storytelling. I wish Cordova was a horror director in real life. I wish we had a horror director that had a good, long body of work worthy of its genre. IF ONLY.
AND. The interactive app is pretty fucking awesome. Keeps the experience going long after you read the last page. Keep track of those birds.
I absolutely devoured this book. It's reminiscent of the hard-boiled fiction novels like Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, and Black Money. It instantly reminded me of Ross MacDonald novel, with the particular high-profile characters and their expensive secrets. The winding private-investigator-type story that keeps you guessing and ravenously curious. Indeed, this would be a great modern film noir...if done by the right director of course.
The writing is fluid and modest. There are an endless amount of italics scattered throughout, placed carefully for added emphasis and totally aware of themselves.
If you like private investigator stories (this is a freelance, defamed journalist) and are a fan of horror, the occult, and the metaphysics of murk, then you will thoroughly enjoy this wonderful work of storytelling. I wish Cordova was a horror director in real life. I wish we had a horror director that had a good, long body of work worthy of its genre. IF ONLY.
AND. The interactive app is pretty fucking awesome. Keeps the experience going long after you read the last page. Keep track of those birds.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“As much as some people would like to believe, for their own peace of mind, that the appearance of evil in this world had a clean cause, the truth was never that simple.”
this book exhausts me, i can’t believe i spent six months reading it. i truly did like the first 300 pages but this book just drags and drags and the mystery pay off isn’t really worth it. i think the mixed media element is very cool and i really liked the newspaper clippings and website pages but after about the 300 pages mark there aren’t a lot of them and it just made it feel even longer. as a person who enjoys films, cordova and his fans felt really real to me and that aspect of the book really shined but i would say our main trio of characters fall flat and ashley works until we actually get to know her. i was worried this book was going to turn fully supernatural and i’m glad it didn’t but i really thought it was going to do that element of the book i really disliked. idk i’m probably still going to read special topics in calamity physics as i think this was a well crafted story it just ultimately disappointed me.
this book exhausts me, i can’t believe i spent six months reading it. i truly did like the first 300 pages but this book just drags and drags and the mystery pay off isn’t really worth it. i think the mixed media element is very cool and i really liked the newspaper clippings and website pages but after about the 300 pages mark there aren’t a lot of them and it just made it feel even longer. as a person who enjoys films, cordova and his fans felt really real to me and that aspect of the book really shined but i would say our main trio of characters fall flat and ashley works until we actually get to know her. i was worried this book was going to turn fully supernatural and i’m glad it didn’t but i really thought it was going to do that element of the book i really disliked. idk i’m probably still going to read special topics in calamity physics as i think this was a well crafted story it just ultimately disappointed me.
It’s lonnnnnng. Took me a few hundred pages to get into it, and I wasn’t that into the supernatural/witchcraft stuff. By the last couple hundred pages, though, I was definitely bought in.
I started to give this book (and unheard of for me) second read.. I guess it speaks to how much I have changed over the past 6 years, but the sexism, racism, and transphobia really made me uncomfortable.. I DNF this second time around and am lowering my score...
I, personally, didn't need the ending of the book.. that being said the Cordova movies described in the book sound awesome.
I, personally, didn't need the ending of the book.. that being said the Cordova movies described in the book sound awesome.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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