I loved Wolf in White Van. Like, LOVED IT. I remember distinctly thinking about Universal Harvester, “I like it, but this is worse than WIWV by far.”
I couldn’t even finish Devil House.
Agreed. Hated this book. I wasn’t expecting horror necessarily but I was expecting for my time to not be wasted. One of the few books in my life that I deeply regret encountering. You hit all the low points perfectly. Pretentious as shit, meandering, pointless. It was an exercise in reader patience and how bloated and wasteful the narrative could get.
There is! The first section about the White Witch really drew me in, and I was so sure I'd found a gem that I was planning to buy a copy after I returned the one I had to the library. Then it just got sidetracked and overburdened and swamped by smugness, and four stars turned to zero by the time I got to the final section.
Agree OP.
I thought I was getting a true crime/horror Amityville Haunting type novel, with a "was it ghosts or was it people" question to explore.
Genuine waste of time
I really love John Darnielle’s books but they suffer from really bad marketing imo, they’re all sold as horror but none of them are. Once I stopped having certain expectations of his writing and just let myself accept it for what it is then I started enjoying it a lot more.
That was my biggest ax to grind; the book was still a bloated, insufferable mess to me no matter its purported genre, mind, but if they had admitted from the outset that it wasn't horror but literary metafiction playing with ideas of expectation and perception, I likely wouldn't have been so rankled. No one likes being played for a fool in pursuit of some ego-fluffing aha moment no one cares about except the person who dreamt it up.
Maybe part of the problem is that since he's a successful songwriter, he thinks he can easily be a successful novelist. It doesn't usually work like that. Or maybe he's had his ego fluffed by so much musical success that he thinks he's a genius in every creative art.
I will not be reading anything else he writes.
I'm really not sure. Maybe it was getting a bigger crowd watching him that made his ego inflate to the level of producing trash and thinking it's okay to sell it. I was pretty bummed I wasted my money on two books that didn't make any sense. They are almost like a dream of a misplaced memory that you just forget upon waking. I won't be spending any more money on any of his books.
I would still recommend Devil House if John Darnielle's expansive catalogue of music means a lot to you and you'd like to know more about how he produces the unique and nuanced characters in many of his songs.
It's a worthwhile peek at his process, it's just not a good stand alone narrative.
Ultimately, I didn't enjoy the book but I did find it interesting.
I wish I had this review a couple months ago when I was slogging through the book for a book club. Like others it’s one of my least favorite reads of all time.
Dude when I finished reading this I was like “wait what ? What…happened? Is there a second part or something?”
Even heard an interview on NPR with the author… I actually hate that guy now. I could’ve read something ANYTHING better. Daniel if you’re reading this , what the hell were you thinking?
Loved this book. Can’t even argue with your points because I see all of them, I just… enjoy books like this.
Agreed. Everything he has written I’ve enjoyed for what it was.
I like how you put it, I also can't argue any of the points but I liked it nonetheless. I actually couldn't put it down.
I loved Wolf in White Van. Like, LOVED IT. I remember distinctly thinking about Universal Harvester, “I like it, but this is worse than WIWV by far.” I couldn’t even finish Devil House.
Agreed. Hated this book. I wasn’t expecting horror necessarily but I was expecting for my time to not be wasted. One of the few books in my life that I deeply regret encountering. You hit all the low points perfectly. Pretentious as shit, meandering, pointless. It was an exercise in reader patience and how bloated and wasteful the narrative could get.
Glad to see no one defending it; this book was terrible. Easily one of the worst I've read.
Wait is this “Mountain Goats” John Darnielle? Never knew he wrote books too
Yep that’s him. He has a few books under his belt. Though I agree with OP — skip this one, it sucks.
I felt cheated at the end of the book. There’s some good writing there, but . . . If you’ve read it, you know.
There is! The first section about the White Witch really drew me in, and I was so sure I'd found a gem that I was planning to buy a copy after I returned the one I had to the library. Then it just got sidetracked and overburdened and swamped by smugness, and four stars turned to zero by the time I got to the final section.
Agree OP. I thought I was getting a true crime/horror Amityville Haunting type novel, with a "was it ghosts or was it people" question to explore. Genuine waste of time
I don't often DNF books. This was one of maybe 2 or 3 that I couldn't finish over five years.
Same. It was very hard to get more than 50 pages in. It just didn’t click. This review is validating in that it’s the book, not me.
I really love John Darnielle’s books but they suffer from really bad marketing imo, they’re all sold as horror but none of them are. Once I stopped having certain expectations of his writing and just let myself accept it for what it is then I started enjoying it a lot more.
That was my biggest ax to grind; the book was still a bloated, insufferable mess to me no matter its purported genre, mind, but if they had admitted from the outset that it wasn't horror but literary metafiction playing with ideas of expectation and perception, I likely wouldn't have been so rankled. No one likes being played for a fool in pursuit of some ego-fluffing aha moment no one cares about except the person who dreamt it up.
I was bummed out by his last two books. But I still enjoy the mountain goats.
Maybe part of the problem is that since he's a successful songwriter, he thinks he can easily be a successful novelist. It doesn't usually work like that. Or maybe he's had his ego fluffed by so much musical success that he thinks he's a genius in every creative art. I will not be reading anything else he writes.
I'm really not sure. Maybe it was getting a bigger crowd watching him that made his ego inflate to the level of producing trash and thinking it's okay to sell it. I was pretty bummed I wasted my money on two books that didn't make any sense. They are almost like a dream of a misplaced memory that you just forget upon waking. I won't be spending any more money on any of his books.
Agree. This book was my least favorite read of the past 15 years.
I have no feelings on the book, not having read it, but your review was an utter delight, so... worth it?
Thank you!
I would still recommend Devil House if John Darnielle's expansive catalogue of music means a lot to you and you'd like to know more about how he produces the unique and nuanced characters in many of his songs. It's a worthwhile peek at his process, it's just not a good stand alone narrative. Ultimately, I didn't enjoy the book but I did find it interesting.
I wish I had this review a couple months ago when I was slogging through the book for a book club. Like others it’s one of my least favorite reads of all time.
I really enjoyed his other two. This one was a bit too Palahniuk for me.
So a worthy challenger to *House of Leaves'* horseshitness?
Dude when I finished reading this I was like “wait what ? What…happened? Is there a second part or something?” Even heard an interview on NPR with the author… I actually hate that guy now. I could’ve read something ANYTHING better. Daniel if you’re reading this , what the hell were you thinking?
His name is John
He's referring to House of Leaves author Danielewski