Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

130 reviews

voidkisses's review against another edition

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

thestorydoer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Now, I can safely say, I am not the target audience for this novel. I am a university student with ADHD, and Im also very obsessed with efficient storytelling.

This book is scary, yeah, but only occasionally. it's filled with long ramblings that almost felt like a train of thought. Unfortunately, I couldn't focus on the book so often, I missed a lot of the plot elements. Yet I stuck it out because the scary elements in this book are incredibly clever. Most of the other scary factors will be found not in the ramblings itself, but the afterthought and questioning of those ramblings. That being said, I think I should've read something else.

It took me so long because I struggle reading books which break flow. This constantly asks the reader to jump around the book. This is what I tried on my first attempt but the book made no sense. therefore, it is best read as a linear story on a first read, and a non-linear story on a second. although, I did skip a lot of the appendix mentions because I just couldn't be bothered.

I can imagine this being very good for some people as it can be genuinely terrifying. However, if you are at all in my demographic (ADHD, doesn't ponder on stories and details afterward, prefers an ebb and flow in your books), you may not like this. Spend your $75 on 3 $25 books by your local Dymocks instead.

Overall, 3/5. Genuinely scary at times but I personally struggled reading 70% of it. You probably won't like it if you're anything like me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia

cmuise's review against another edition

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

magicant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gun violence, Rape, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, Addiction, and Drug use

lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

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

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

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

brandoncottle's review against another edition

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

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.