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destdest 's review for:
A House at the Bottom of a Lake
by Josh Malerman
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t really know what this was, man. Light-hearted horror? First love? Horny teens having sex underwater? All telling and no showing? The premise sounded interesting, and the further the couple goes into the house the more they “supposedly” fall in love. So, what’s the connection to the house and their feelings? This felt more mysterious than scary.
Also, the dialogue is so DRY and STALE. Is the writing style old tortilla chips??? A wise woman once said: “I need passion I'm tired of this bland toast.” In all seriousness, I didn’t mesh well with the style though I do think it was effective in building tension. The last fourth of the book finally picked up steam with the way James and Amelia felt soggy, still under water, movements slower, always smelling the lake. I can’t get over the two acting like war veterans though.
Unfortunately, overall, this story wasn’t for me, but I did read it relatively quick.
I’ll leave you with this gem:
Also, the dialogue is so DRY and STALE. Is the writing style old tortilla chips??? A wise woman once said: “I need passion I'm tired of this bland toast.” In all seriousness, I didn’t mesh well with the style though I do think it was effective in building tension. The last fourth of the book finally picked up steam with the way James and Amelia felt soggy, still under water, movements slower, always smelling the lake. I can’t get over the two acting like war veterans though.
Unfortunately, overall, this story wasn’t for me, but I did read it relatively quick.
I’ll leave you with this gem:
"Amelia crouched and set the cereal on the ground beside the box of rice. She thought of Jame’s sperm, fanning out, a slow-mo explosion, how cool it looked, how amazing everything was until then ... up until exactly then” (pg 91).