Slade House

This was way scarier than I expected it to be after reading The Bone Clocks. Like all Mitchell's work, the writing is excellent and he slips between eras effortlessly, but boy do not read this right before going to bed like I did. if you're looking for a haunted house story to devour as quickly as possible, definitely check this out. I'd also really recommend reading The Bone Clocks first. You probably could read Slade House on its own, but that last chapter would be really confusing if you aren't familiar with Marinus.

Somewhere between 3/3.25 depending on my mood. 

Think many people would like it (probably people in my bookclub! Looking forward to hearing their thoughts) but this was not entirely for me. I don't think it was particularly creepy or horror as the “baddies” didn't get enough time for me to feel actually creeped out by them, but I tend to read a lot of those sort of books so perhaps I'm a bit numb to it. 

Struggled through the first 50 or so pages and then it picked up pace. The ending felt rushed and I wanted to know more about Marinus. His descriptions were good and the concept was very cool, but felt characters lacked a bit of substance. I'm not sure I'll read his other work - I couldn't watch much of Cloud Atlas when it came out, so maybe I best avoid! 

People keep disappearing every 9 years. The mysterious Slade House only shows up every 9 years. The story revolves around a pair of twins who seem to be immortal and people that are drawn to the iron door of Slade House or are looking for the door to it. But then are never seen again.
This was a strange book but it moved along quite nicely. I had previously read Cloud Atlas and it dragged so I was not sure I wanted to read this. But I am glad I was wrong.

The second chapter of this book is written from the perspective of a divorced middle aged British man in the 80s. And he's less a character than a collection of disdainful cliches of what you expect divorced middle aged British man in the 80s to be like. Red flag.

The third chapter is written from the perspective of a college girl struggling with her weight. And as someone who has had his own weight-related struggles, it was actually kind of distressing to read David Mitchell's terrible writing with this character. Again, she's just a litany of disdainful fat-person cliches. I realise not all weight issues are the same and that I don't expect that my experience is universal but this was very plainly written by someone with an inability to properly empathise with a character beyond a bunch of superficial tropes.

Disappointing.

Stacks of Strange Book Club Pick
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I felt very apathetic towards this book and hardly remembered it even the day after I finished it. It just felt very meh to me.

Precise rating: 3.5 ⭐

Only having read the blurb, I expected this to be a more or less classical haunted-house story. Little did I know that there is a whole Mitchell universe out there that connects several of his books! Since I've read The Bone Clocks before, it was fun looking for connections as soon as I realised they exist.

While I didn't get what I expected (though it was spooky), I absolutely liked what I got instead.

Quick and entertaining, creative, fun, kinda scary. Felt like a Doctor Who Christmas Special x Stephen King in the Library Policeman era. I didn't love The Bone Clocks, and this book was some sort of companion to it, but this one was much less intense and serious and drawn out. You don't need to have read The Bone Clocks to enjoy it.

The Bone Clocks was for me a sublime novel. The addictively crazy mix of realism and fantasy hit my reading spot. Consequently I was always going to like this fun attachment to that absorbing book. Slade House is short and very very readable. It has the usual nods and winks to David Mitchell's characters and events of past books. The cultural and historical mentions that make him such a good read are there as usual.

Slade House will not appeal to those that did not like the fantasy elements of The Bone Clocks as it is an extension of that element. Those that expect Slade House to be The Bone Clocks Part 2 will also be in for a disappointment as it is far less complex. But it should be enjoyed by those that are admirers of David Mitchell and with that I am. I have now completed his oeuvre and look forward to his next release.

Probably the only book I bought “because of the cover” that turned out good!
Spooky without any ghost-sighting!

Everything about this book was brilliant...... until the last chapter which was a bit of let down. Highly recommend this book if you like horror and want to read something different. Would love David Mitchell to write an episode of Dr Who.

Inside a black door
near the top of the staircase
a portrait of you.

I really enjoyed this - the prose is nicely crafted without being overly self-conscious, and the story is creepy and unusual. The narrators are vividly drawn, and even if you don't like one as a person, you get their perspective and sympathize with their plight.

This falls short of a fifth star because it's a little too eager to explain everything that's happening. Norah and Jonah seem to have a compulsion to drop exposition in every conversation. I feel this would have been scarier and a bit more engaging if the reader had the opportunity to work things out, rather than having it dropped in your lap.

Still, I hit “critical mass” with this one about 50% of the way in. So if it had been more engaging, I might have had to take vacation days from work and neglect my children until I was done! Definitely recommended.

I've only read one other book by this author, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – which I thoroughly enjoyed. This one is a ghost story. I flew through it. And apparently he borrows both some ideas and some characters from The Bone Clocks in this story. It didn't matter to me. I thought the plot was pretty cool but now I know some key ideas behind the story of the The Bone Clocks, so it's not really on my To Read List any more. I prefer surprises. I really enjoy Mitchell's writing style. I'm sure I'll read more by him.

maybe less fun if you haven't read bone clocks but I think it would probably stand alone

3.5 really. Fun, quick read. He's so good and creating characters and writes so well that I didn't really mind that this wasn't really a novel. More a side yarn that provides back story on some particularly nasty creatures.

Remember the Atemporals and the Anchorites and all that mess from Mitchell's last novel, The Bone Clocks? Yeah, I don't either. What was intended to be Mitchell's next great work was at times a mess of technobabble. Once I realized that Slade House was going to be more of the same, I was slightly hesitant, but open-minded.

The difference resides in the format and focus. While the intention of The Bone Clocks seemed to be as an epic work of literature with paranormal elements, Slade House is a concise, plot-driven work of suspense and horror. It is so much like Mitchell's previous works and nothing at all like them. Once again, the story is narrated by intersecting characters; there are overlaps with previous works of Mitchell (primarily The Bone Clocks obviously). The differences from Mitchell's broader canon of work mainly rest in the brevity and tone. Here Mitchell brings his own style of writing and drops it into a story that at times feels like Poe, at other times like King. The result isn't Mitchell's most brilliant work by any means, but it was thoroughly entertaining–perhaps the most entertaining story the author has ever brought to the page.

And the ending... LOVED IT! I read it again. It definitely left me looking forward to the author's next literary contribution.