Night Film in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 07, 2019 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: wouldnt-normally-read, fiction, audio, mystery, psych-psych-psych, is-it-real-or-is-it-memorex

I have a theory that Pessl found herself writing a thriller, but didnt want to be accused of writing a thriller, so she made it as long and drawn out as possible. I’m all for atmosphere, if it actually creates an atmosphere. But passages like this:

Hopper took a drag of his cigarette, brushing his hair from his eyes, and looked up at the sky, squinting at those birds on the telephone wires. More had appeared out of nowhere. Now there were seven— seven tiny black notes on an otherwise empty pie

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May 21, 2013 Rachel rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery

That's it. I can now definitively say that I just don't enjoy reading mysteries. They are not the genre for me.

This one was ok for what it was though. I just was thrown, after reading her first book 7 years ago and wondering where she would go, to find that she had done nothing particular with this one. Just a plain murder mystery. Telling and explaining. And trying to be all cute with the ending. Whatever, I have too much to read for this.

I was going to give it two stars because at least it wa That's it. I can now definitively say that I just don't enjoy reading mysteries. They are not the genre for me.

This one was ok for what it was though. I just was thrown, after reading her first book 7 years ago and wondering where she would go, to find that she had done nothing particular with this one. Just a plain murder mystery. Telling and explaining. And trying to be all cute with the ending. Whatever, I have too much to read for this.

I was going to give it two stars because at least it was readable, but then about halfway through I decided to look at the table of contents on my nook to see when it would all end and realized that there are interactive elements to the book that you access by downloading an app on your iphone and it tells you more. AT THE END OF THE BOOK!! So after I found that out I dutifully downloaded the app, but by then there were only 2 instances of places with extra content, and they didn't seem particularly tied to the part of the book they were at. For example, (view spoiler) Whatever. I don't even care to go back through and look for anymore of the interactive elements. That's how much I am not interested.

I also find it hard to believe that (view spoiler)

And those italics. So annoying. Also the investigative reporter looked a lot like the guy in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Hmmm...

I think the reason I don't like mysteries is that I don't like the writing but I would like to know the ending and what happens. I would be happy if someone had told me in a page or so, but I feel like I wasted my time! ...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Astrid Lim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dysfunctional-family, america, twist, thriller-mystery, new-york, contemporary

OMG! My first 5-star book of the year (If you didn't count Harry Potter re-reads). Pessl hasn't disappointed me- with her witty style, she created a whole different world, about a cult director who had a mysterious life. The storytelling is very convincing, I almost believed that Cordova (the director) is real! Even his movies (some of the plots are told in this book) seemed so real and I really wanted to watch them. The New York setting also helps this book, makes it more vivid and full of tens ...more

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Aug 28, 2013 Sam rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, 1-contemp-literary, read-2013

Night Film was supremely…average, not really inspiring any strong feelings for or against it. And really, where’s the fun in that?

This is what it comes down to: It’s just not a very gripping story, certainly not one that needed to span over 600 pages.

We follow a disgraced journalist, Scott McGrath, as he investigates the mysterious circumstances surrounding the suicide of Ashley Cordova, the daughter of a reclusive horror movie director. Was it mental illness? Was it a matter of her father tak Night Film was supremely…average, not really inspiring any strong feelings for or against it. And really, where’s the fun in that?

This is what it comes down to: It’s just not a very gripping story, certainly not one that needed to span over 600 pages.

We follow a disgraced journalist, Scott McGrath, as he investigates the mysterious circumstances surrounding the suicide of Ashley Cordova, the daughter of a reclusive horror movie director. Was it mental illness? Was it a matter of her father taking his art too far? Do occult practices have anything to do with it? Scott and two young sidekicks traipse around New York interviewing a slew of actors, hangers-on, former employees, and associates of the director to get to the bottom of the mystery. And we the readers just tag along with the intrepid investigators to hear each character spout off a lot of EXPOSITION, and then move on to the next interview and next creepy place to snoop around. That’s it for most of the book.

Pessl gives Scott some family drama of his own, but it doesn’t work in giving his character any depth. Ditto the other characters—if they aren’t bland, then they’re just cardboard cutouts popping up to advance the plot before disappearing.

The storytelling was rather unremarkable, despite Pessl’s use of mixed media—newspaper clips, blog entries, videos. All of this had been billed as “cool” and interesting but in reality didn’t add any more depth or layers to the story. This isn’t a bad book by any means; the story goes down smoothly and easily enough, but it’s just so unmemorable.

I did get the sense—and appreciated—that Pessl got a kick out of intricately building the fucked up world of Stanislas Cordova, and how his secretive family life might creepily be entangled with his cult-status works. Apparently the legend is that his films were so scary and disturbing that they were banned and only the hardest of the hardcore sought them out in underground showings. He’s inspired fans to dissect every motif, every scene, every character’s outfits and motivations obsessively. All of this added much needed texture and some vividness to the story and was probably the only reason I continued reading through to the end (only to be underwhelmed, alas).

I didn’t expect Pessl to top her debut, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which had a sharp narrative voice that’s been such a standout in my mind even after all these years. But I had hoped that Night Film would have at least told an engrossing story. Maybe in the next book.
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Jun 20, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: whodunnit, kindle, hot-lit, overrated, book-club-dm

What a colossal disappointment this book was. And that isn't to say I didn't like it. I liked it just fine, but it had so much potential for me to love it, and it just didn't quite do it for me. A mystery novel such as this should have me flying through the pages and desperate to pick it up again once I've set it down, dying to know what happened. But this book dragged on and on and on and some of the cooler aspects of it never panned out. I read it along with the iPhone all for the Easter eggs, ...more

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Nov 08, 2013 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, new-york-city, horror

I don't ordinarily care for horror as slash-'em-up violence is not my thing, but Pessl manages to bring out the sort that I find compelling - giving fright through suspense and the unknown rather than raw violence. It took me some time to realize that there's very little blood here, and what there is generally takes place out of sight. That constraint plays well with how Pessl presents Cordova and his work, and it ultimately makes the whole thing work for me. Yes, to a large extent the plot is n ...more

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