No One Gets Out Alive Discussion

[Latasha]

yeas!

[Latasha]

ok, here we go...
when we spend the first night in the house, that would've been enough for me! Caterpillarscaterpillars by e.f benson kept popping up in my mind. they aren't alike, it just caused me to recall that story and the yellow wallpaper <3 <3
Stephanie needs to learn to listen to her instincts. Knackers is so shady and freakin creepy. I'm listening to the audiobook. I'm pretty far along so I don't want to spoil anything.

[Latasha]

I finished! I did like this one but it didn't scare me as much as Last Days did.

[Tony]

I've read a few chapters. It's a bit 'one note' so far and there is a horrible info-dump on the heroine's history. I think this is one of those novels that depends on a slow accretion of detail to be effective ... but it's not working for me.

[Poonam]

I am just on Chapter 5 but I am really enjoying the setting.

[Tony]

Randolph wrote: "I am hating this book but not for the reasons you typically think of. I think it is pretty well written (I'm about halfway through) but I have this sensitivity nowadays, call it PC if you want, abo..."

That's interesting and did not occur to me. Those are good points. But the lone woman in danger is a pretty old device (Ann Radcliffe springs to mind) and not necessarily prurient. I haven't noticed any sexualisation (is that the right word?) of Stephanie, although I'm only 100 pages into it.

[Kirstin]

Randolph wrote: "I am hating this book but not for the reasons you typically think of. I think it is pretty well written (I'm about halfway through) but I have this sensitivity nowadays, call it PC if you want, abo..."


This is exactly how I felt while reading the book. I found it hard to read and almost didn't finish it.

Sad because I love Adam Nevill and his books really scare me.

I don't think a female author would have made the subject matter any more acceptable(to me).

IIRC the author apologizes to his daughter in the dedication. Or says he's got some explaining to do. Yeah.

you know what's sad? As I sit here writing this I'm thinking of the last few books I've read-- 6 of the last 8 books I've read have had some form of sexual violence towards women. 2 of those were by female authors. That's disturbing.

No One Gets Out Alive just left me with a bad feeling.

[Latasha]

So sorry guys! I like his other books wayyyy more than this one.

[Tony]

This book was a massive slog to get through for me. I put it aside for a while because it just did not interest me. Horrible yet banal at the same time. Also, I'd like my money back because (view spoiler)[someone did get out alive (hide spoiler)].

[Caro]

(my apologies, I hope it's okay to comment on a year old discussion thread!)

Very interesting reading people's thoughts. No One Gets Out Alive isn't my favourite Adam Nevill book, but I thought it was quite good, dark and very scary- Nevill almost never fails to seriously creep me out, in fact I get flat-out scared more often than not.

I think Nevill handled the themes of abuse and exploitation quite sensitively, without being overly precious or simplistic, which to me is just as tiresome as inappropriate titillation. A less talented writer wouldn't have been able to pull it off. Very disturbing subject matter, though, and understandably not something every reader wants to be exposed to.

I also loved- or should I say, loved to hate- the human antagonists, Knacker and Fergal. I thought they were vividly drawn and absolutely captivating. And I loved the dark humour too. "Polyfene"- so uncomfortably, darkly funny...Polyfene is the alternative title I use for this book in my head.

Guess I'm in the minority but I really liked this book.