Reviews with content warning for Self harm - So finster die Nacht

Gory, graphic, and gripping. Perfectly juxtaposes the mundanity and sterility of modern, suburban existence with the pervasiveness of horror in every form — from the systemic to the supernatural. The prose is straightforward and incisive, with some really stomach-turning descriptions that linger on the details just enough to get the point across without reveling in it. Even through it all, there’s a hopeful, tender core to the story: that there is someone out there for everyone, no matter how fucked up.

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morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

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mccalab's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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amoremeg's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book was hard to get through. The dialogue was difficult to follow and often felt jumpy or truncated or stilted. I believe (I hope) there was some elegance lost in the translation. There are no winners. I don't know if any of the characters are actually good people. Maybe some are trying but it feels like the impulse to act out always wins, the impulse to not communicate always wins. There are so many irrelevant characters who did not need names and backstories- they were only introduced at all to bear witness to some moment, to be a third person perspective.

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jbcrue's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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elvenpanther's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Lindqvist managed to write this in such a way, that despite being uncomfortable at how twisted much of this novel was, I was throughly engrossed and could not put it down. I enjoyed how he wove the story through the view points of several members of the community and how he tied all of those "individual" narratives together.
This novel was dark, and gritty, and explored so much more than "monster" trope. In a way, it focused on how monstrous people could be. How sometimes it's not what goes bump in the night that you need to fear, but instead your neighbor or your classmate. It explored broken people, broken families and broken children and their struggle to navigate the world when they feel alone.
I didn't really know what to expect when starting this, and yes some parts of the novel made me squirm, but overall I enjoyed it. I had watched the Swedish film adaptation after and I will say I appreciate how much more in depth the book went. It made for a much more complex and visceral narrative than the movie.
*As a warning, the book does strongly contain the topic of pedophilia*

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owlribbon's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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thefigtree's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

vampire horror but in a real-world way; it is

pedophilia and genital mutilation and bullying and abuse rather than angsty teenagers or adventure or itwv-silly-fun.

it's very dark and i think you have to aware of that going in to enjoy it at all. but it's so well written, it's atmospheric and sensory and the constant switches in pov work so well with the pacing.

the novel is uncomfortable to read and at many parts made me physically curl up and cringe but it's good and it's clever and i liked it. it definitely could have gone on for another 100/150 pages and been an appropriate length too (with a more fleshed out ending!!!!).

it's definitely going to throw you off if you go in for the vampires (or because it often gets advertised just as a 'lgbtq vampire book'), you have to be prepared for the content and how it's handled, but if you are it goes to show that when vampires are done well it really does work.

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