Slade House: A Novel

Anything David Mitchell is amazing, at least so far in my opinion. However, this is slightly different as it is his first foray into the "literary, scary fairytale" genre. Because this genre is prone to spoilers, I won't say much. I recommend it if you are into an interesting story, a little spooky, with a number of interesting characters. Mitchell is a master of the language, so it will be better written than most things like it. Also, this story ranges over several decades and about a dozen characters, but because Mitchell's work can span centuries and contain 100s of characters (seriously), everything is easy to understand, and comes together nicely at the end. If you are a Mitchell fan, this is an interesting, relatively easy entry into a new genre. If you like spooky tales, this is a good one, that unfolds slowly, so it'll keep you interested. If you just like good books, it's worth it. Highly recommended.

Slade House doesn't read so much as a novel in a traditional sense as it does a novella, or an experimental collection of stories that re-works one concept in five different variations. In that regard, Slade House is not exactly what it's marketed to be. It's also marketed as frightening, but it's not that either. The reason it's not scary is that if you already know the trajectory of the story, then you are always reading between the lines, and the element of surprise is gone – especially if you read the first chapter/story, because the four that follow operate on the same logic. In the text, each story is explicitly referred to as a cycle. Each cycle is different, of course, but in regards to storytelling and the mechanics of fiction writing, each cycle is more like the other four than different. (OR, it could just be that I'm an older reader (early thirties), and I've read enough novels and seen enough films in the horror/supernatural genre to where I'm part of the difficult-to-scare crowd). Oh well, it was a fun read nonetheless and I would high recommend it, plus it's appropriate just as much for young readers as people my age. The points mentioned above never bothered me, though, because the storytelling is both canny and uncanny. Mitchell's writing style sucks you in, and the characters feel like real people in the real world, who are sort of wandering on the fringes of society and who get lured into this trap of a house. That concept isn't exactly a new one, because so many horror/supernatural/ghost stories use the big-bad-old-house motif. In Slade House, the motif is used effectively because the supernatural force in this story is at work in our natural world without total disruption., almost like a parasitical entity. The way the house sucks in and devours its prey is seamless. Each of the five stories contains characters from five different decades, and the cultural dynamics feels historical in that the characters talk and think like people of their times. Each story masters the vernacular of its period. I would give this book a 4.5 stars, but not five, because more could have been done with it and in the end it does feel incomplete. The characters are developed, but not complex, because we don't experience them long enough to care about them when they are finally devoured. It's like, yep, that's what happens here – next soul! We don't feel like their demise is meaningful. For that reason, I think this book would have been better as a series, and each story could have been it's own novella-length story that uses more of the devices in fiction, particularly backstory. I guess the way I would put it is that the problem with Slade House is that the skeleton is all there but the meat is only buttered on, and not fully developed. Another aspect that would have made the story more enjoyable would have been illustrations or graphics, because this novel feels very much like a graphic novel sans the graphics (especially something in the vein of Neil Geiman).

By the time I got around to reading this book, I’d forgotten the Amazon description for it. But I figured why check before I start reading. It’ll be fun to just start reading and see where the story takes me. Hummm. A boy and his mom enter Slade House through an oddly small door located in an alley. And odd things seem to be going in the Slade House’s garden. And going on inside the house as well. What the heck is this story about? But by the end of the first part (there are 5 parts to the story), I realize it’s a horror story. It’s not pervasive, creepy horror. It’s more like I’m reading pseudo-intellectual horror. Imaginative. Good writing. Bits of philosophy thrown in every now and then. Well-formed characters that you get to know and sympathize with a bit before they die (as you soon learn to realize they will). The author had an unusual premise for how and why Slade House existed. But it felt like he had to spend a lot of pages (perhaps 20% of the book) explaining that premise to the reader. Bottom line: A different kind of story. Mildly interesting, but not too exciting.

This is a novella follow-up to Bone Clocks. It is a haunted house story told within multiple short stories, jumping years as it moves forward. If you like the Bone Clocks and want a few more puzzle pieces to the story, this is a satisfying quick read. The only CON I have about the story is the same one I had about Bone Clocks, and while it is a gripe, it's hardly a knock on the story or the writing, more of a pet peeve: the info-dump to explain what is happening. I would hardly think to slap the hand of such an accomplished writer, but it does seem a glaring amateur mistake to info dump 'the back story explanation' of what is happening - just in case - the reader isn't keeping up. Everything "dumped" in one of the later stories about the supernatural aspects of what is happening should have been laid throughout the other stories and if the reader wasn't able to keep up... well... too bad. It's not that hard to follow; neither were the Bone Clocks or Cloud Atlas despite their "puzzle box" format. Otherwise, Slade House is an excellent​ quick read, and I hope he has more to follow that up.

Es ist schwierig eine Zusammenfassung zu geben, ohne zu spoilern, also nur so viel: Wie bei vielen Büchern von Mitchell ist auch dieses in verschiedene Teile gegliedert, die jeweils aus der Sicht einer anderen Person erzählt wird und die in einer anderen Epoche spielt. Alle haben irgendwie mit dem namensgebenden Slade House zu tun, in dem merkwürdige Dinge passieren... Lose hängt das Buch mir Bone Clocks zusammen, aber es ist nicht nötig das andere Buch gelesen zu haben (eher im Gegenteil). Ich bin nun großer Fan von Mitchell und auch Slade House hat mich nicht enttäuscht: Wie bei Mitchell üblich ist das Buch sehr fesseln geschrieben und man ist gleich "drin". Dieses Buch ist deutlich gruseliger als eigentlich alle anderen Bücher Mitchells und liegt deutlich im "Mystery"-Bereich - sogar die X-Files (Akte X), wird erwähnt! Während bei Bone Clocks der Mysteryteil etwas wie ein Fremdkörper wirkte, ist dieses Buch wieder wie aus einem Guß - aber eben ein Mystery-Krimi-Guß und das muss man mögen. Ganz bei Mitchells Topbüchern ist dies aber nicht - es liegt in der Struktur der Story, dass die Kapitel etwas (!) repetitiv sind und es gibt wieder ein "Der HIntergruhnd lang und breit erklärt"-Kapitel, dass zwar essentiell und gut geschrieben, aber eben etwas lang ist, dafür, dass erst einmal wenig passiert. Absolute Mitchell-Fans lesen dieses Buch sowieso. Fans des Genres kann ich das Buch ebenfalls ans Herz legen. Wer aber mit MItchell beginnen will oder nach Wolkenatlas einen Anknüpfpunkt sucht, dem würde ich eher Number9Dream oder Black Swan Green oder Die Tausend Herbste... empfehlen.

It's fair to say that David Mitchell is one of my top five favourite authors. I love his way with words. I love how he can get into the head of any kind of character and tell their story in a compelling voice. I love his experiments with style and structure, and I particularly enjoy the way that he blurs the lines between the ultra-literary and the unashamedly fantastical and dramatic. But in the midst of all his cleverness, it's important not to forget that above all, I love him because he tells a great story. I enjoyed Mitchell's previous offering, the Bone Clocks, and I was also impressed with it, but I didn't love it in the way I loved many of his earlier works. But this book, whether despite or because of its shorter length and more limited scope, sucked me in and blew me away. At heart, Mitchell is first and foremost a storyteller, a spinner of yarns. And here, in contrast to some of his more sprawling narratives, he tells a relatively straightforward story. Every nine years, on the last Saturday in October, a pair of sinister, magical twins lure an unsuspecting victim to their eponymous mansion. They start by giving the new guest exactly what they want, move on to giving them everything they fear, and then, after toying with both their psychological insecurities and their sense of reality, kill them and devour their souls to further prolong their unnaturally long life and youth. Each of the five chapters focuses on one year, from the seventies to the present day, and is narrated by that year's unsuspecting victim. In short, the basic plot would fit right into the pulpiest horror novelists' oeuvre, and unlike when some literary authors try their hand at genre fiction, it's just as scary and just as page-turning and compelling as something rather trashier. But at the same time, it's wonderfully written and characterised. The opening story is told from the POV of a teenage boy with (presumable) Aspergers. That's a device I feel is a little overdone recently, but it was moving and believable. And then in chapter two, we move straight into the almost diametrically opposing head of a wife-beating "Ashes to Ashes" style cop who, "cut my teeth in the Brixton riots and earned a commendation for bravery at the Battle of Orgreave," but who, despite being broadly obnoxious, has enough hidden depths and decency to make you mourn his fate. And on it goes, from compelling voice to utterly different compelling voice, with the mood and pacing subtly shifting with each chapter too, despite the almost hypnotically formulaic plot. And then there's the difficulty in struggling to understand what's real and what's the twins merciless trickery, which leaves readers just as lost and nervous as the victims, and becomes more complex with each chapter. The villians love to make their victims think they've escaped or better yet, helped someone else to escape, when in reality, they've just walked even deeper into their trap. One word of warning. I know there were some people who didn't like the more paranormal aspects of Bone Clocks, with the battles between Horologists and the Shaded Way. Though this is ultimately as much a character-driven story of the five victims as it is a plot-driven horror, there's no getting away from the fact that the mythos Mitchell created in the earlier book suffuses this narrative. I'd urge you to give this a chance, but if you really can't stand that sort of thing, this might not be for you. But for anyone who enjoyed Bone Clocks and wants more of that world, loves Mitchell's writing, or is just looking for a good spooky story that doesn't sacrifice prose or a moving character study that doesn't skimp on plot, I'd highly recommend this. It may be significantly less ambitious than his most famous works, but for me, this is Mitchell's best novel since Cloud Atlas.

An excellent follow up to The Bone Clocks. Beautifully rendered characters in the consistent and fantastical world Mitchell has dreamed up..

David Mitchell lançou SLADE HOUSE cerca de um ano depois de seu gigantesco The Bone Clocks. Logo ele, que leva anos para escrever um livro – em outras palavras, ele deve ter se divertido muito escrevendo, e a diversão está toda lá impressa no romance (aliás, fino, para os padrões dele). Há um quê de Neil Gaiman-ish aqui, também Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, e qualquer outra casa assombrada que conhecemos, mas há também as ansiedades que se concretizam na obra de Mitchell. A maior delas é a percepção do tempo, ou de como ações do presentes nasceram no passado, e podem atravessar séculos, continentes até se materializar numa outra forma (Cf. The Cloud Atlas, que acaba de ser lançado aqui, como Atlas de Nuvens). Slade House se passa em 5 momentos entre 1979 e 2015, com intervalos de 9 anos – tudo se explica e faz sentido até o final – numa estranha casa nos subúrbio de Londres, cenário de estranhos fenômenos sobrenaturais. Mitchell constrói a narrativa com sua calma comum, lançando pistas (reais e falsas), e se aprofundando em seus personagens. O resultado é um passeio de montanha russa que passa pelo Overlook Hotel, pela Hill House e a Belasco House (do romance Hell House, de Richard Matheson), ou qualquer outro lugar onde esses fenômenos aconteçam. Já o humor, também típico do autor, é uma bem-vinda adição ao gênero. Outra constante nos livros do autor é a intertextualidade e suas referências pop, passando aqui não apenas pelos clássicos do terror – que inclui além dos já citados, The turn of the screw, The fall of the house of Usher – até obras mais modernas, como Matrix, O Show de Truman e Harry Potter, e a própria bibliografia do autor.

In October, 1979, a mother and her thirteen year old son are invited to a musical soiree at a place called Slade House. They enter the courtyard through a small , black, iron door set in a wall on a narrow, dark street. Nine years to the day later, a police detective enters the same small, black, iron door. He is following up on a lead as to the disappearance of a mother and her teenage son some years before, last seen in the area. Six young members of the Paranormal Society, inspired by a pamphlet, "The Slade Alley Vanishings", happening nine and eighteen years before, visit the area, discover the door and enter. Next a lesbian news reporter interviews an old man who seems to know what happened to her sister and five friends who vanished nine years earlier. Finally, yes, exactly nine years later, a female psychiatrist, author of a series of papers on abduction psychoses takes up the mystery. The idea of worlds which vanish, then reappear at certain times has been used before, for example, Brigadoon and Lost Horizon. Mitchell has taken this theme and expanded on it, creating a tale of chilling and eerie suspense, leaving the reader to wonder, what is illusion and what is reality, or are they the same?