Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

13 reviews

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

---

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

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.

---

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

rmbrndt's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

Ultimately a glorified SCP but the in text analyses and humanity elevate it. 
Personally I don't think the formatting does anything for this book - the footnotes work well but shifting the text around is unnecessary.
So misogynistic at parts it made me infuriatingly angry which easily secured that I will never read another MZD book ever again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Grief, Animal death, Suicide, Child death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

venusmage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

A brilliant work of narrative meta analysis, looking childhood/family trauma and the failures of parents (and the children left behind), and as the author put it, a love story. Wrapped up in delightfully twisted imagery. Pokes fun at the way academics can almost over-discuss art to the point it starts becoming dehumanizing, while acknowledging that every analyst inherently brings their own biases to the table. You’re forced to be included in that. 

Less “overt” horror and more conceptual, based on metaphors. If reality-breaking narratives wig you out then maybe skip it, otherwise I’d highly recommend. I hate to say it’s an “you get it, or you don’t” sort of book, but I believe that is indeed the case. It’s a modern classic for a reason.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

lookleft's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

What a mesmerising book. Truly special and haunting. A horror story and a love story, separate and together. I love the way it plays with the look of the text and uses that to create atmosphere and tension.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death, and Rape

avacadosocks's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Animal death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Gore, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Terminal illness, Incest, Vomit, Cancer, and Pedophilia

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pedophilia

13octopus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Incest

5am's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape

Minor: War, Cancer, and Cannibalism

everyotherpageorso's review against another edition

While the mind-numbing pseudo-academic style of much of the book was the bulk of the reason I found this book unenjoyable, the excerpts from Johnny Truant were much worse. Almost every single contribution he made to the book included a description of his sexual encounters, which don’t fit the tone of the rest of the book at all. That’s not the real issue either. The problem is: almost every single female character outside of the Navidson Record exists SOLELY to have sex with Johnny or his friend Lude. What really made me throw in the towel (and I don’t consider this a spoiler, because like I said, these intermissions literally have no impact on the actual plot) was “Lude’s List” where he writes the names, ages, and cursory descriptions of the women he’d slept with that month, as well as date and times of day. In the second of these lists, the women are listed only by their names and traumas, and many of them were either raped or molested. These women are glossed over and their trauma is used to describe the revelation of Johnny and Lude that maybe November wasn’t as fun as they thought and that their fleeting relationships with these women and others meant nothing 😐.   In which case, why objectify their trauma at all ?? Then goes on to describe (literally on the very next page) a new conquest’s DDD breasts on the very next page, as well as how he’s both entranced and disgusted by her. Further, right before THAT, one of Johnny’s intended hookups (Clara) tells him about her rape and decides not to sleep with him, and he wonders to himself and the reader if she is defective, broken, or “devoid of meaning and love” because of it. Every time I felt like I could really immerse myself in a bit of the eeriness of the book (and NO, this book is not scary or frightening, it’s very mild) Johnny or Lude detail more of their slimy exploits. It was greasy and gross and I don’t even really feel that bad for not finishing it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Rape

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia