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A review by anredman
Devil House by John Darnielle
I'm rating this a one star book, but I've elected not to make the actual star rating. This book is probably great, but it is very much not for me, which is my failing and not the author's fault. I will recommend this book to a lot of folks I know. If this author has short fiction, I'd love to read it.
Rarely do I highlight in books, but I did highlight several insightful lines that stopped to make me think, or re-read or reconsider, or that were just so fucking cool how could I not mark them?
The story the author was telling was of no interest to me, and the theme of castles and knights not just fell flat, but seemed like a conceited stretch. The fussy, obsessive addition of geographical details and property sales was tedious as hell. The ending, man, that's not the route for me.
However, no one can touch this author's use and inclusion of observation, mostly on the human condition, memory, our ties to places. It's beyond sublime. Reading about the inner thoughts of the main character delighted me to no end, I'll probably flip through this book idly for years to come.
But I won't read it again.
Rarely do I highlight in books, but I did highlight several insightful lines that stopped to make me think, or re-read or reconsider, or that were just so fucking cool how could I not mark them?
The story the author was telling was of no interest to me, and the theme of castles and knights not just fell flat, but seemed like a conceited stretch. The fussy, obsessive addition of geographical details and property sales was tedious as hell. The ending, man, that's not the route for me.
However, no one can touch this author's use and inclusion of observation, mostly on the human condition, memory, our ties to places. It's beyond sublime. Reading about the inner thoughts of the main character delighted me to no end, I'll probably flip through this book idly for years to come.
But I won't read it again.