From the Bookshelf of Suspenseful Clues and Thrilling Reviews …

Night Film

Marisha Pessl

Start date: October 1, 2017

Finish date: October 31, 2017

Discussion: 2017 Monthly Reading

Discussion leader: Chelsea Humphrey

Why we're reading this: Our October book will be Night Film by Marisha Pessl. Is this book on your TBR list? Does it intrigue you…more
[close] Our October book will be Night Film by Marisha Pessl. Is this book on your TBR list? Does it intrigue you? Have you read it before? Pick up a copy and begin reading with us anytime in October!

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2017 Monthly Reading

DISCUSSION- The Nightingale
By Chelsea · 61 posts · 308 views

last updated Jul 16, 2018 08:14AM

BANTER- One Of Us Is Lying
By Chelsea · 52 posts · 185 views

last updated Feb 03, 2018 03:42PM

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What Members Thought

Sep 25, 2015 Dan Schwent rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, pants-shittingly-awesome

When the daughter of a legendary reclusive film director commits suicide, disgraced investigative reporter Scott McGrath sees his chance for redemption, for he crossed paths with the director, Stanislas Cordova, years before, costing him his family and his career. What will McGrath find when he begins tugging at the strands of Cordova's web?

When I interviewed Edward Lorn for my book blog, he mentioned this among his favorite books. At the time, I saw that it had some post-modern aspects and dism When the daughter of a legendary reclusive film director commits suicide, disgraced investigative reporter Scott McGrath sees his chance for redemption, for he crossed paths with the director, Stanislas Cordova, years before, costing him his family and his career. What will McGrath find when he begins tugging at the strands of Cordova's web?

When I interviewed Edward Lorn for my book blog, he mentioned this among his favorite books. At the time, I saw that it had some post-modern aspects and dismissed it as hokum. Last week, I chanced upon it on the bargain table and decided to give it a shot.

Night Film is the tale of a man's obsession. Picture Moby Dick but with a film director in place of the white whale. Scott McGrath was once a rising star in the field of journalism but lost everything when he crossed Stanislas Cordova. When Ashley Cordova commits suicide, the hunt is on once again.

The book has the structure of a detective story, interspersed with articles and web postings about Stanislas Cordova and his family and associates. Normally, I would scoff and pronounce this gimmicky crap but it served the story very well.

McGrath descends deeper and deeper into the web of dark tales about Cordova, pulling his new friends Hopper and Nora, both touched by Ashley Cordova in the past, down with him. Is Cordova Satan himself? Some kind of witch or warlock? A child killer? A genius or a madman? Who the hell knows?

I'm not really doing the book justice. I think the creepiest thing about it was that none of it is outside the realm of possibility. By the time I passed the 66% mark, I was contemplating taking a day off work to finish it. It wound up being an even crazier tale than I ever expected when I first picked up the book.

The writing reminded me of Tana French a bit, literary but still suited to a detective tale. I'll have to track down Special Topics in Calamity Physics when I get a chance.

(view spoiler)

If dark detective tales with a psychological component are your drug of choice, Night Film will be a great fix. Five out of five stars. ...more

103 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2015 Taryn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense-thriller

Immersive and interactive literary thriller. Unsettling exploration into the strange and fascinating world surrounding a fictional horror-film director. By the end, you'll probably forget Stanislas Cordova is not a real person!

It was always surprising to me how ferociously the public mourned a beautiful stranger--especially one from a famous family. Into that empty form they could unload the grief and regret of their own lives, be rid of it, feel lucky and light for a few days, comforted by t

It was always surprising to me how ferociously the public mourned a beautiful stranger--especially one from a famous family. Into that empty form they could unload the grief and regret of their own lives, be rid of it, feel lucky and light for a few days, comforted by the thought, At least that wasn't me.

Ashley Cordova, a brilliant pianist and the beautiful 24-year-old daughter of the reclusive, legendary director Stanislas Cordova, is found dead in suspected suicide. Disgraced journalist Scott McGrath sees the suspicious case as an opportunity to redeem himself and seek vengeance. He had previously issued serious allegations against Stanislas Cordova using information obtained from a single, anonymous source; his career and family life was destroyed when the famed director sued him for slander. Finding out what really happened to Ashley could be the key to exposing the director's darkest secrets and restoring Scott's journalistic integrity. While on his obsessive search for clues, Scott reluctantly teams up with two young, wannabe amateur sleuths, both of whom seem to be hiding something. The investigative trio end up on wild and sometimes surreal journey that leads to some unexpected places.

I love to put my characters in the dark. It's only then that I can see exactly who they are. -Stanislas Cordova

I have been in a bit of a reading slump lately. I started and abandoned about 15 books last month! I think it is a consequence of too many non-fiction books in a row! I saw Night Film in the B&N clearance section ($5 Hardcover!) and I knew it was just what I needed.

I am really glad I got a hard copy of this book, instead of an ebook or an audiobook. Many of the clues are actually in the book and there are web pages and reference documents scattered throughout its pages. There is also an interactive app you can download, which allows you to scan pages with the bird symbol and receive more detailed information. For instance, when you scan the page with Ashley's CD cover you hear one of her recordings. There is also an enlightening set of diary entries from the lead actress in a Cordova film, written while she was living on the set. It is a really immersive experience and, surprisingly, it doesn't come off as gimmicky. I wish I had known about the app before I got to the end of the book!

"You'll find that great artists don't love, live, fuck, or even die like ordinary people. Because they always have their art. It nourishes them more than any connection to people. Whatever human tragedy befalls them, they're never too gutted, because they need nobly to pour that tragedy into their vat, stir in the other lurid ingredients, blast it over a fire. What emerges will be even more magnificent than if the tragedy had never occurred."

The atmosphere is perfect and New York City is a character in itself. Pessl sets the stage with all the lights and dark shadows of an Edward Hopper painting. Scott, Nora, a free-spirited aspiring actress, and Hopper, a slacker drug dealer, are the main investigators. The relationship between the three evolves from an uneasy alliance to an endearing camaraderie, but they aren't the most interesting part of the novel. The book is at its best when it is exploring the dark underbelly of society and Cordova's back story. I loved the interviews with damaged people and the visit to a very unique, hidden night club. One of my favorite sections was when Scott was stumbling around The Peak. (view spoiler)

Pessl creates an impressive, looming presence for both Cordovas, even though we primarily see them in the periphery through secondhand sources. The author seamlessly incorporates Stanislas Cordova in real-world Hollywood. It can be so hard to naturally integrate fictional characters among real people, but in this case it solidified Cordova's place in filmmaking history. The films of Cordova are so psychologically damaging that some are only available to see in underground screenings shrouded in secrecy. I wish the Cordova films described actually existed!

"The problem with you, McGrath," said Beckman, draining the bottle into our glasses, "is that you've no respect for murk. For the blackly unexplained. The un-nail-downable. You journalists bulldoze life's mysteries, ignorant of what you're so ruthlessly turning up, that you're mining for something quite powerful that"--he sat back in his chair, his dark eyes meeting mine--"does not want to be found. And it will not."

Night Film explores the cult surrounding larger-than-life celebrities and the extraordinary lives we want those celebrities to have, our perceptions of reality, the mechanics of fear and the fantastical worlds we create to bridge the gap created by the the unknown and unknowable. My only real complaint is that it is a bit bloated at almost 600 pages. While it is fast-paced, it loses its momentum at parts. Some of the similes and metaphors were distracting, but not entirely out of place in a novel of this genre. I also have so many questions! (view spoiler) Even though the end wasn't anything as concrete as that, I liked the thoughtful questions the ending ponders.

…an artist like him needs just one fundamental thing in order to thrive. And he'll do anything to keep it…Darkness. I know it's hard to fathom today, but a true artist needs darkness in order to create. It gives him his power. His invisibility. The less the world knows about him, his whereabouts, his origins and secret methods, the more strength he has. The more inanities about him the world eats, the smaller and drier his art until it shrinks and shrivels into a Lucky Charms marshmallow to be consumed in a little bowl with milk for breakfast. Did you really think he'd ever let that happen?

I was never really scared, but I did feel uneasy! If you are turned off by anything that has even an inkling of the occult in it, you probably want to avoid this novel. This book is best read in the dark, under a book light. If you like mysteries with journalists as the main protagonist and you have any interest in filmmaking or the culture surrounding artistic geniuses, this is a memorable book that is worth the read.

I felt let down. I always did, slightly, when I'd come to the end of an investigation, when, looking around, I realized there were no more dark corners to plumb.
And yet--this was different. The desolation came from the realization that all of the kirin were dead. (view spoiler)
And her truth razed everything, clear-cut that magical and dark jungle I'd wandered into following Ashley's footprints, revealing that I was actually standing on flat dry land, which was blindingly lit, but barren.

...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Oct 17, 2013 Kevin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, new-york, mystery-thrillers

An investigative reporter tries to uncover the truth behind a possible suicide. A bit like a trip through the darker side of Hitchcock. Some scenes were so well written I found my heart pounding. Unsettling, groundbreaking and outstandingly well written...this one will stay with me.

5 likes · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2017 Matxalen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, 2017, thriller, mystery

4.5*

[proper review here]

Another hard one to rate and review... to summarize I feel like another character in a Cordova motion picture, because this in fact turned out to be a Night Film. And I feel like Pessl played with us the same way The Man himself liked to do!

The plot, characters and writing were really on point! And if you are into thrillers, and like to get lost into characters and atmospheres this is the book for you!

In fact the writing surprised me greatly, not that I was expecting any ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 01, 2014 Stacey rated it liked it · review of another edition

I really, really wanted to like this book and it started out with a bang. And then it bogged down and then it went to a weird place that I didn't care much about. I do have to say that the writing was great, I liked the characters and it was clever how she put it together. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 17, 2023 Kim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a doozy of a novel - both in how much it physically weighed and the intense content it contained. I’ve never read a book that brought the story to life like this one did - newspaper articles, website screenshots, actual photographs, medical records, handwritten notes and more! It definitely helped keep me invested in the theme which was a bit off the beaten path for me. I suppose the main takeaway I have, if I read between the lines and summarize the ending, is that the mind is a very p ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2015 Michelle rated it really liked it

A clever suspenseful book that just got better and better as you turned the pages. Got really good after the first 200 pages so I am glad I stuck with it! I'm pretty amazed by the author's work in creating this story. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 10, 2014 Daniel rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Marisha Pessl's Night Film is haunting and addictive, with a huge let-down ending.

The story centers around Scott McGrath, a journalist who saw his life hit the skids when he reported on elusive, reclusive film director Stanislas Cordova and he lost his family and his career. When Cordova's daughter, Ashley, is found dead by an apparent suicide, McGrath sees another chance to investigate the Cordova legacy. Seemingly flush with financial resources, despite a sour career, McGrath hires an assist ...more

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Dec 09, 2013 alli rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, want-to-reread

I really enjoyed this book till something around 400 pages in. Then the story just bored me. I kept trying to read and just putting the book back down. Finally trucked along and finished it.

Around page 600 I kept thinking each chapter might be the last. (The chapters are VERY short, sometimes only one page each, and sometimes the Nook version shows several more pages left than there are.)

I started to get irritated that the book wasn't over. Then I really enjoyed the very last 10 pages and actua ...more

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