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patchy_at_best 's review for:
Slade House
by David Mitchell
Over the course of five decades, five guests walk into a terrifying trap. Slade House is nothing more than the facade for a deadly game of cat and mouse. Like flies in a web, the unwitting victims don’t stand a chance against the sinister powers at work here. Who are the residents of Slade House and what is their purpose? This grown-up equivalent of [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]’s [b:Coraline|17061|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493497435s/17061.jpg|2834844] is creepy and compulsive.
[a:David Mitchell|6538289|David Mitchell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248688p2/6538289.jpg] inhabits the minds of five different characters to give us five self-contained sections in nine year leaps between 1979 and 2015. The repetition of a nearly identical storyline in each section makes this novel feel like a recurring fever dream. Emotional investment in the characters and recognition of repeated motifs drive you mad on the boil to each nightmarish climax. It’s impossible not to appreciate the way the structure weaves a sense of foreboding.
I’m normally not a fan of split narratives, but Mitchell masters the diverse voices of his characters. I think this technique is much more compelling in Slade House than in his best known book, [b:Cloud Atlas|49628|Cloud Atlas|David Mitchell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406383769s/49628.jpg|1871423]. The fact that he writes equally convincing male and female characters speaks volumes of his skill.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
[a:David Mitchell|6538289|David Mitchell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248688p2/6538289.jpg] inhabits the minds of five different characters to give us five self-contained sections in nine year leaps between 1979 and 2015. The repetition of a nearly identical storyline in each section makes this novel feel like a recurring fever dream. Emotional investment in the characters and recognition of repeated motifs drive you mad on the boil to each nightmarish climax. It’s impossible not to appreciate the way the structure weaves a sense of foreboding.
I’m normally not a fan of split narratives, but Mitchell masters the diverse voices of his characters. I think this technique is much more compelling in Slade House than in his best known book, [b:Cloud Atlas|49628|Cloud Atlas|David Mitchell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406383769s/49628.jpg|1871423]. The fact that he writes equally convincing male and female characters speaks volumes of his skill.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.