Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
382nd out of 3,520 books
—
683 voters
Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone
The village of Hemmersmoor is a place untouched by time and shrouded in superstition: There is the grand manor house whose occupants despise the villagers, the small pub whose regulars talk of revenants, the old mill no one dares to mention. This is where four young friends come of age—in an atmosphere thick with fear and suspicion. Their innocent games soon bring them fac...more
Paperback, 198 pages
Published
September 25th 2012
by Penguin Books
(first published February 21st 2011)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,304)
Hey, quick, who am I?
"Four stars! Four stars! Hey, this book: four stars! That book: four stars! A very merry four stars to me! To who? To you! Last Sunday's Walking Dead episode? The dessert menu at my apartment on Thanksgiving? This cup of coffee in front of me? Four stars, four stars, four stars!"
Yeah, we've all lamented the star situation before and maybe wish we'd never started using them to begin with, but I must applaud something about this really likeable book: Guess what? I "really lik...more
"Four stars! Four stars! Hey, this book: four stars! That book: four stars! A very merry four stars to me! To who? To you! Last Sunday's Walking Dead episode? The dessert menu at my apartment on Thanksgiving? This cup of coffee in front of me? Four stars, four stars, four stars!"
Yeah, we've all lamented the star situation before and maybe wish we'd never started using them to begin with, but I must applaud something about this really likeable book: Guess what? I "really lik...more
(now with pictures!)
this book was an easy near-five stars for me.
it opens with a funeral scene in rural germany - three men and a woman attend the burial of a woman; a childhood friend. there is an awkward conversation, sprinkled with resentment and innuendo. at the close of the prologue, the woman triumphantly pisses on the grave.
everyone's got grudges...
what follows is a series of short stories, alternating between the perspectives of all five characters, as they dispassionately recount the ho...more
this book was an easy near-five stars for me.
it opens with a funeral scene in rural germany - three men and a woman attend the burial of a woman; a childhood friend. there is an awkward conversation, sprinkled with resentment and innuendo. at the close of the prologue, the woman triumphantly pisses on the grave.
everyone's got grudges...
what follows is a series of short stories, alternating between the perspectives of all five characters, as they dispassionately recount the ho...more
69 likes · like · see review
Joaquin Phoenix was brilliant in the role of Freddie Quell in the motion picture 'The Master.' I'm not recommending the film or saying I liked it in any way, shape or form, but I can appreciate great acting when I see it. Aside from Phoenix, I thought the film was lacking -- it had no arc -- it was disturbing and uncomfortable in the beginning, middle and end, but otherwise didn't really go anywhere.
I had a similar experience with this freaky little novel. There was this sort of pervasive Creep...more
I had a similar experience with this freaky little novel. There was this sort of pervasive Creep...more
30 likes · like · see review
Christian, Martin, Linde und Alex treffen sich nach über 40 Jahren bei der Beerdigung von Anke, ihrer Freundin aus Kindeszeiten, in Hemmersmoor, einem norddeutschen Dorf, in dem sie aufgewachsen sind. In ihrer Kindheit erlebten sie dort schaurige Geschehnisse, Gewalttaten bis hin zum Mord, ausgelöst durch Spielereien, die in Boshaftigkeiten ausarteten, durch Aberglaube, durch die Enge und Engstirnigkeit im kleinen abgelegenen Ort, dem Eingang der Hölle?
Nicht nur das Buchcover vermittelt die pass...more
Nicht nur das Buchcover vermittelt die pass...more
3 likes · like · see review
I picked this up for the RIP VI Challenge , thinking it would be a creepy, chilling read for this time of year. It was that...actually, it was more than that -- I found it quite disturbing and it left me feeling faintly queasy. ......
For me personally, this was a disturbing read that I couldn't find much purpose in. There is no denouement, really, except for the return of the four characters, now adults, to the village, which seems to have become a nice, touristy small town in Germany. Only they...more
For me personally, this was a disturbing read that I couldn't find much purpose in. There is no denouement, really, except for the return of the four characters, now adults, to the village, which seems to have become a nice, touristy small town in Germany. Only they...more
if one of the ironies of the human condition is that we race through childhood unaware only to spend a lifetime trying to get it all back, the avid reader enjoys a parallel irony in that we burrow deeper and deeper into analysis and critical thinking only, really, to try and more fully recapture the childlike sense of being lost in a story. (i'm generalizing, but go with me on this…) impossible to shut down the critical mechanism, though: you can't unring a bell. & once you ring it, never ag...more
36 likes · like · see review
This is compared to Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," but I cannot see any relation. This story isn't creepy, and if supernatural things are happening, I missed them completely. It's not just the children in this village in Germany that do bad things - it's everyone. Adults to children, children to children, children to adults, adults to babies, and adults to adults. It's just people doing crappy things to each other, but as the reader, I didn't even care. I felt zero connection with the ch...more
7 likes · like · see review
Our Review by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson:
Stefan Kiesbye takes the reader on a dark and twisted journey in Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Dead.
The book is written in differing points of view from each of the main characters. It's almost like a connected collection of short stories in that way, and each overlap slightly in regards to timeframe.
Written with beautiful prose rife with simile and metaphor, the story covers the disturbing reminiscence of 5 children g...more
Stefan Kiesbye takes the reader on a dark and twisted journey in Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Dead.
The book is written in differing points of view from each of the main characters. It's almost like a connected collection of short stories in that way, and each overlap slightly in regards to timeframe.
Written with beautiful prose rife with simile and metaphor, the story covers the disturbing reminiscence of 5 children g...more
I really, really wanted to like this book because I read some positive reviews from sources I trust, but I really, really didn't. So many things about it just didn't work for me at all. It's a series of stories narrated by four friends who grew up in a small German village where various atrocities have occurred, many of them at their own hands. The book is being marketed as a Shirley Jackson, Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," and X-Files read-alike, but I think that's a stretch. It's basica...more
This book was recommended very highly to me by a friend, and the creepy cover and her effusive praise was enough to get me on board.
The story is dominated by the flashbacks to four children living in post-WWII Germany. We follow them as they take turns describing the world of their youth and the bizarre and unpleasent circumstances that carry them through to adulthood.
There were definitely elements to this book that worked well. The first chapter after the prologue starts with a bang, and quic...more
The story is dominated by the flashbacks to four children living in post-WWII Germany. We follow them as they take turns describing the world of their youth and the bizarre and unpleasent circumstances that carry them through to adulthood.
There were definitely elements to this book that worked well. The first chapter after the prologue starts with a bang, and quic...more
Originally Reviewed on The Book Smugglers
Five friends reunite in the small village of Hemmersmoor, a rural town in the German countryside, many years after the bloom of youth has passed. Now old men and women, Martin, Christian, Linde, and Alex gather at Anke's grave, paying their last respects to the dead - a ceremony punctuated by Linde's hiking up her skirt and pissing on Anke's casket. Through a series of interconnected chapters, each narrated by one of the characters, Stefan Kiesbye unveils...more
Five friends reunite in the small village of Hemmersmoor, a rural town in the German countryside, many years after the bloom of youth has passed. Now old men and women, Martin, Christian, Linde, and Alex gather at Anke's grave, paying their last respects to the dead - a ceremony punctuated by Linde's hiking up her skirt and pissing on Anke's casket. Through a series of interconnected chapters, each narrated by one of the characters, Stefan Kiesbye unveils...more
Even though this takes place in Germany I'm sticking it my 'true-grit' (aka fucked up white trash) shelf. I guess America doesn't have a monopoly on twisted Appalachia type folks, although there is an element of old-world charm here that is generally missing from my dentally impaired and radially excelled countrymen and women.
The book opens in the modern day. A guy returns to his hometown after years away to find it being overrun by yuppie types, but with some of his old friends still making up...more
The book opens in the modern day. A guy returns to his hometown after years away to find it being overrun by yuppie types, but with some of his old friends still making up...more
36 likes · like · see review
I was very excited to want to pick up this book and read it. I was in the mood for a good horror story. Unfortunately for me this book missed the mark. It moved very slowly and the characters were uninteresting to me. I thought the back story about each character in regards to where they came from would help with the story. It would shed light as to what prompted them to do what they did but all it showed me was the children grew up in sad families and then started getting in trouble and being t...more
Very unpleasant to begin with--no idea what it was about when I started it. Having read other reviews here, when I was practically finished with it, I then understood. "Brothers Grimm" did indeed come to mind while I was reading it, as well as "The White Ribbon," the reviews of which alarmed me too much to actually see.
(Still, it was good to have on my Kindle during a power outage and there was no light or other appliances. Were it not for that, I may not have read on.)
The last 10 pages or so b...more
(Still, it was good to have on my Kindle during a power outage and there was no light or other appliances. Were it not for that, I may not have read on.)
The last 10 pages or so b...more
1 like · like · see review
This was billed as being a combination of Stephen King meets Shirley Jackson meets the X-Files. but it fell a bit flat for me. It starts off strong when two Very Bad Things happen that are entirely unexpected, seriously unnerving, and vaguely supernatural. Alas, although Very Bad Things continue to happen, they get progressively less creepy and more mundane as the book goes on. Which is pretty much the opposite of what one expects in a horror novel. The unease should be slowly ratcheted up and u...more
I picked this book because the title caught my eye, and the blurb on the cover said “Shirley Jackson meets The X-Files in this riveting novel of supernatural horror.” From this, I was expecting some dark supernatural events with an investigatorial framework. What I got was something else entirely.
Now, I freely admit, horror isn’t my go-to genre. I like my zombies funny and gore kept to a minimum, but I was willing to give it a chance. Over the course of the book, the 5 narrators go from one horr...more
Now, I freely admit, horror isn’t my go-to genre. I like my zombies funny and gore kept to a minimum, but I was willing to give it a chance. Over the course of the book, the 5 narrators go from one horr...more
I will say this about this little book-It will stay with me for a long, long time. And not for any feel-good reasons. So disturbing and dark (which I'm all about)...and scary. Not ghost scary-human evil and darkness-in-your-soul scary! (for example (view spoiler)...more
I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but I definitely didn't expect what I got. I wouldn't call it "horror" in the traditional sense, but it was certainly horrific.
The book takes place in a small, insular village in Germany called Hemmersmoor. The four old friends get together for the funeral of the fifth, a woman named Anke. "Friends" might be a bit generous. These five grew up together, but, as we will see in the story, it would be difficult to call them friends. After the funeral, Lin...more
The book takes place in a small, insular village in Germany called Hemmersmoor. The four old friends get together for the funeral of the fifth, a woman named Anke. "Friends" might be a bit generous. These five grew up together, but, as we will see in the story, it would be difficult to call them friends. After the funeral, Lin...more
There are many times that Karen's reviews end up burning me. They make books sound so great! Then, I buy the book, forgetting I'm more of a literary snoot who doesn't enjoy much contemporary fiction. I read the book quickly and generally find it "okay" at best.
This time is different. This time her review didn't steer me wrong.
I didn't love this book, but I enjoyed reading it and give it a firm 3 1/2 stars. It's a great coming-of-age tale. We get to see the five main characters deal with the nor...more
This time is different. This time her review didn't steer me wrong.
I didn't love this book, but I enjoyed reading it and give it a firm 3 1/2 stars. It's a great coming-of-age tale. We get to see the five main characters deal with the nor...more
"Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone" (that title: a mouthful!) is a rare work of horror for this day and age. I picked it up because of the comparisons to Shirley Jackson that were all over the back cover, and that's not an unfair thing to say -- this definitely does have the close, claustrophobic, familial feeling that Jackson's writing did. But it also stands on its own. Kiesbye creates a world that draws the reader in and terrifies them with the domestic lives of these villagers,...more
This is a hard one to rate. On the whole this doesn't remind me of the X-files, though it does remind me of that one episode, Home. Yeah, that episode. I found this to be a sickeningly disturbing read. The ending is what makes this hard to rate for me as it does give a little insight as to why all of these horrible things were happening, but in the end it's just too bleak and remorseless for me to appreciate.
A paperback original, focused on a small village on the Devil's Moor in Germany, this novel is wonderfully written and truly creepy--opening with a funeral scene seemingly filled with nostalgia, the reader is given a graphic example of what to expect in the coming pages as they are introduced to the bizarre, secretive town of Hemmersmoore. One of the surprising driving factors of this work, though, is the complex yet natural feel of the plot structure as it effortlessly glides from past to prese...more
The little town of Hemmermoor is home to many dark secrets. As the children of the town grow up, they are witness to - and usually perpetuate - many of the sinister happenings.
It's difficult to describe this book. The horror is very quiet, mostly because the children stumble into it without really seeming to know that what they are doing is wrong. The children, and their parents. Many of the town's secrets - secret affairs and illegitimate children and murders - are only hinted at. Still others...more
It's difficult to describe this book. The horror is very quiet, mostly because the children stumble into it without really seeming to know that what they are doing is wrong. The children, and their parents. Many of the town's secrets - secret affairs and illegitimate children and murders - are only hinted at. Still others...more
This is truly one of the most disturbing books I have read in a long time. Not because of what goes on in this creepy little town but because of the lack of remorse from any of the characters. Within the first 40 pages a boy murders his sister and a town bludgeons to death a family of 5 and life goes on. There were many moments when I almost just set this book down and walked away, which is rare for me to do with any book, but there was just nothing I found in any way redeeming about the charact...more
I was looking for something creepy, and I definitely got it. The opening segment of this book starts with a pretty mundane story about a town gearing up for a cooking contest. Out of nowhere Kiesbye punches you in the gut with a violent turn of events that sets the stage for the tales that follow. These are some evil twisted stories. The violence is Cormac McCarthian in its intensity, and the fact that it's mostly committed by children is the really queasy part. The main problem of the book is t...more
This series of connected short stories reminds me of Angela Carter's work, as well as Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's. Razor-keen prose, and something austere about it. But I wouldn't call it "horror," even though that's how it's being promoted. The stories are told from alternating characters' viewpoints as they come of age in a small German village. Superstition is rife, and so is gossip. Women are accused of being witches, adulteresses, murderers. The small group of narrators betray each other, hav...more
Still thinking about this one, but my initial impressions are that it is well-wrought. The story is told in alternating voices of 4 characters from a German village. The framing narrative is a funeral and the rest of the narrative is revealed episodically beginning with the characters as children and concluding in their late teens. The first flashback sets the superstitious, violent, and vengeful tone for the rest of the novel. The structure gave me the impression of an ever-tightening spiral of...more
Gashlycrumb tinies crossed with Chuck Palahniuk/Craig Davidson. A novel of Interconnected tales of monstrousness, depravity, desperation in a small, incestuous German town. Clinical though oddly beautiful narrative style. The best stories within the larger story were truly unsettling and creepy. While the shock end of each chapter grew a tad bit repetitious and the lack of distinction between the first person narrators was an issue, for a book about the non-supernatural gruesome/shock (of which...more
This novel is more of a short-story cycle about various horrific acts experienced or committed by a group of children in a dreary German village, somewhere post-war, pre-reunification. The writing style is plain, the tone is quiet, noncommittal and almost unfeeling, even when truly diabolical acts are described. It’s truly odd. I almost gave up along the way, but it’s short, and I’m glad I stuck it out, because there was an element of thematic resolution at end, if no resolution for the characte...more
This book is truly creepy. Everything would seem so normal to an outsider, but the people in this book are far from normal. A great October read and definitely something a little different. Hard to categorize this book!
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nook Book Lending...: Your house is on Fire, Your children all gone | 1 | 23 | Apr 22, 2013 08:48am |
And I almost immediately saw all the innuendo in that statement, but it remains true al...more
Nov 27, 2012 10:54am
Nov 27, 2012 11:13am