Reviewed by Beth C. on
I was curious about this book, in part because of all the prior raves I had heard. Unfortunately, I rarely have the same reaction to the "book of the moment" as, apparently, everyone else in the world does. In this case, it wasn't so much the story as it was the way it was done. Quite frankly, particularly in the beginning/middle of the book, trying to keep names and dates straight without feeling like I needed to go back a couple of chapters and make sure I was thinking of the same person I was supposed to be thinking of sort of killed the experience of the story itself. There are a *lot* of names that get tossed around, and each chapter starts with a name and a date. It was just too frustrating at times, and frequently led me to put the book down until another time.
As for the story itself - it was fascinating. The ending (NO SPOILERS) was not quite what I had expected, though it left me with a few questions, and yet seemed to tie nicely in with the semi-mystical aspect of The House itself. The characters were decent, though I felt Dan was portrayed as a stereotypical slacker sportswriter.
All-in-all, for me, it was just OK. This would be a library book for me, not a bookshelf book.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 23 July, 2013: Finished reading
- 23 July, 2013: Reviewed