Night Film in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 10, 2014 Martin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: yearofreadingwomen, 2014books

I did not enjoy this book at all, yet was somehow intrigued enough to plow through sll 575+ pages. What I loved was the "hook" -- that there exists a reclusive, shadowy film director (shades of David Lynch, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick) who may or may not be a psycho/occultist/sadist/child-murderer but is definitely a visionary whose films people love and obsess over. All of which plays on the nagging notion that I think is common for anyone who can willingly suspend their disbelief when watch I did not enjoy this book at all, yet was somehow intrigued enough to plow through sll 575+ pages. What I loved was the "hook" -- that there exists a reclusive, shadowy film director (shades of David Lynch, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick) who may or may not be a psycho/occultist/sadist/child-murderer but is definitely a visionary whose films people love and obsess over. All of which plays on the nagging notion that I think is common for anyone who can willingly suspend their disbelief when watching a film: "What if it's REAL?"

So, great hook. Cool idea. Terrible book. It was a noir with no snap either in the jokes (I should really say "jokes") or in the dialogue. A thriller with no propulsion or pace. A mystery with no good twists and with a totally insufficient payoff.

All the walk-on characters spoke in hilariously inhuman speeches, pages and pages of speechifying, sometimes with the addition of gross, leaden attempts at "dialect." (I'm assuming that's what the words like talkin' and grabbin' were meant to indicate.) I further assume that all these walk-on characters are meant to be plum roles for the inevitable movie adaptation, but less than 10% of the words in this endlessly wordy book will make it to the screen, so Oscar-hungry supporting actors of the world beware.

All the main characters had their emotions tediously described, and their thoughts explicitly stated, despite the first-person narration. Plot points were regularly recapitulated, like we couldn't be expected to remember the event that took place 100 pages ago. ("I thought about the story that lady had told me about the car with the bleeding man in the backseat who disappeared and realized that this new rambling speech totally corroborated that story!) And on a nitpicky, stylistic level, the consistently italicized words meant to indicate emphasis and importance (I guess?) made me feel like I was reading a book by a high school junior who was petrified we wouldn't understand properly. The whole thing felt like the work of someone who didn't have any faith in readers and was therefore determined to sledgehammer everything to death.

I felt a strong instinct to abandon this book after 100 pages, and then had the same feeling even more strongly after 200 pages. Yet I was snagged by that wonderful hook and had to make it through to the end. Boy, am I sorry I did. Lesson learned; like they say about the SATs: always trust your instincts. ...more

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Aug 25, 2013 Emily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-lit, read-in-2013

This book was really incredible. I loved her previous work, but this one I can barely review because my head is still reeling. I want to go back and read it all and while I really should have seen the ending coming, I didn't and ack. The book itself is gorgeous - I saw it in hard copy and knew I had to own this, that I couldn't just borrow it from the library or read it on an e-reader, because I was going to want to pore over every page and graphic and really feel the book come to life. There we ...more

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Sep 02, 2013 Mia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-books

Super creepy, twisty, dark mystery. Loved the web pages and articles inside the novel, made for a very realistic reading experience. Gonna give me nightmares for awhile!

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Apr 04, 2014 Elizabeth rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Reading this book was like being the protagonist in this book: trapped in a confusing and increasingly disgusting journey I never fully understood. Positives: Semi-Kubrickian horror; negatives: painfully wooden prose.

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Feb 07, 2015 Kerry rated it liked it

Odd, dark and just a bit twisted. It reminded me of be caught in a freaky haunted house. Exciting, a bit disorienting, creepy, but you want to keep going.

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Feb 17, 2014 Jana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, fiction, 2014

This book was too creepy for me to read before bed, which is why it took me so long to get through it, but it's also at least 200 pages too long. I'm not sorry I read it and I got to a point where I couldn't put it down, but I can't say I'll recommend it to anyone. ...more

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