Rob Warner reviewed Red house by Mark Haddon
Review of 'Red house' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book is a workout. A mental workout. You have eight characters popping in and out of focus, and it's hard to keep track. I found it almost too tiring at first, and was tempted to quit reading, but I'm glad I plowed through. As you learn the characters, you have a much easier time of figuring out whose head you're in, and by the end of the book you don't have to work at it anymore.
Also, this book is weird, as it clambers into the minds and motives of eight different people, who are probably not much different from the rest of us, but frankly we're all kind of weird inside. This book squeezes past social niceties people cloak their innermost selves with and gets to the weird junk, and it's both fascinating and horrifying.
It's much bigger on character development (and character exposure) than plot, and no …
This book is a workout. A mental workout. You have eight characters popping in and out of focus, and it's hard to keep track. I found it almost too tiring at first, and was tempted to quit reading, but I'm glad I plowed through. As you learn the characters, you have a much easier time of figuring out whose head you're in, and by the end of the book you don't have to work at it anymore.
Also, this book is weird, as it clambers into the minds and motives of eight different people, who are probably not much different from the rest of us, but frankly we're all kind of weird inside. This book squeezes past social niceties people cloak their innermost selves with and gets to the weird junk, and it's both fascinating and horrifying.
It's much bigger on character development (and character exposure) than plot, and no one gets the comeuppance they perhaps deserve, but you'll know eight people pretty well by the time you finish.
