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Slade House: A Novel
Unavailable
Slade House: A Novel
Unavailable
Slade House: A Novel
Audiobook6 hours

Slade House: A Novel

Written by David Mitchell

Narrated by Thomas Judd and Tania Rodrigues

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

The New York Times bestseller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you'll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. Every nine years, the house's residents-an odd brother and sister-extend a unique invitation to someone who's different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it's already too late. . . .

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story-as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 27, 2015
ISBN9781101923689
Unavailable
Slade House: A Novel

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Reviews for Slade House

Rating: 3.7686423785850858 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,046 ratings146 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mitchell is a master!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disappointing. From all the reviews I expected scary - it really wasn't.

    EDIT: revising my review, because it wasn't scary initially. But in the weeks since I finished it, it's been creeping up on me. Well done, David Mitchell.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Less challenging than The Bone Clock but with some overlapping ideas. A great intro to D. Mitchell.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5

    I just finished reading this in a single climb, while the rain crackled outside, but that wasn't in the Script. The Script foretells of the last Saturday in October and a rather strange house. Some of the creaking description made me check the windows and peer nervously to the floorboards, imagining the basement below. There is something in Slade House about portraits, whispers and there's that quicksilver word orisons. It wasn't that I shuddered in the wake of the Script, I mean, well, WE, haven't lived here for 9 years yet, and we were actually brought together by David Mitchell. It was a cinnamon time in 2002 when we burned off screeds of emails to each other daily. Books and backpacking were our spinal column: I won't mention Providence. Ghostwritten was a link, a bond across continents. So, still maybe some projection was at play, why then didn't I follow the Script?

    A)Slade House was on my porch when I came home from lunch today, what could one expect?

    B) I have yet to read Bone Clocks, which apparently hovers about this tale and the fact remains I bought Bone Clocks for her for her birthday. I may be lost but I do retain a sense of propriety.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Feels like a fan-only add on to The Bone Clocks. I'm a fan so I loved it, but this must be problematic for people coming to this blind expecting a straightforward slice of literary fiction.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not his best. Maybe because I've read all his books, but this felt like I'd seen it all before, and he didn't bring anything new to the table.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book by David Mitchell. This is the second of his books that I have read and this story made for an enjoyable evening.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a really strange tale, and it was also the first I’ve read of David Mtchell. It had me hooked instantly. It was so odd, mysterious, dark ... it reminded me a bit of a Gaiman story but much darker and somewhat creepier. I breezed through it and immediately added more of his books to my list!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am so torn on this book. Even giving it a rating I had a hard time! I can't decide if I liked this book or disliked this book. I think this book is overall good, but I personally had some difficulties with it. I thought it delivered all the things I was expecting. Spooky, Creepy, Confusing, Scary, well constructed, intriguing. However, I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, I did not understand the details behind all the paranormal pieces of the story and I also found it to be a bit choppy. I wouldn't steer someone away from reading this but not sure I'd go out of my way to recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Slade House ushers the reader into a Palladian story cycle: evidently this approach is a David Mitchell trademark. The design is intricate and clever, and while initially the situation is Weird and odd, the further along I read, the clearer became the rational design. The unfolding story is both satisfying and anticlimactic ... so very clever how well the nested pieces fit, but anticlimactic in that the oddness of the tale is undercut by so rational an account. And yet! --were the uncanny elements coddled / amplified / multiplied, I'd likely be confused as to the larger tale, likely not grasp the design or overall consistency, and that understanding is central to a full appreciation of the denouement. Mitchell perhaps sacrificed effect for the larger meaning of his tale, effectively creating a lasting weight that simply wouldn't be there for me had the Weird distorted the structure.This reading prompted as a Hallowe'en indulgence, somewhat on a whim and enabled by readily available copies on my local's shelves. Cloud Atlas already had a place on my recon list. Think now I'll prioritise other books in the Horologists series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    3.5-3.75ish ~ Better than average but not stunning. Very engagingly written and well-paced plot. Suffers from over-explanation via the "bad guys" - trust the reader to infer from the writing. Not truly scary, more interesting than anything else. Not a very unique "ghost story" (if that is really the appropriate name for the tale) but definitely worth the read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow! This was a pretty creepy and twisted tale. This book was beautifully written and very interesting. The whole time I read it, Hotel California was playing on a loop inside my head.But what to say about it? It's kinda of the age-old tale of a man being too stupid or stubborn--or both-- to listen to the woman in his life. If Jonah had just listened to his sister Nora, things could have turned out so, so differently for both of them.This is basically a Hotel California type situation. A person with the right type of...psychic energy I guess, is lured into Slade House by the Grayer siblings, where they are treated to all sorts of fantasies--or hallucinations--and once they succumb, they are never seen again. But each victim is warned by the previous victim until finally one of them is strong enough to fight back, which is the beginning of the end for the Slade House.It was pretty spooky and kind of sad. Enough of he victims' backgrounds were revealed that you felt real sympathy for most of them. Anger, even, at siblings for what they were doing to innocent people. It was a very good series of interconnected vignettes and while it wasn't completely an 'open ending', I feel like there is a door left open for a sequel. I'd be very interested in reading.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found the story to be interesting, suspenseful and twisty but very unusual. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside Slade House. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. This intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it. The story does move very quickly. Very atmospheric, creepy and sure to stretch your imagination. I look forward to reading Bone Clocks as I have not read that one yet. I would recommend this to those who like books that are different.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A creepy terrifying short read that will captivate you and keep you reading late into the night. Ghosts, soul eaters, a house that only appears every 9 years it's all got the tells of a good haunting tell. What ever you do do not go down the alley or touch the gate. But if you must go down the alley and through the gate do not enter Slade House
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reading David Mitchell is compulsive, I'm most likely to finish his books very quickly. The ten or so characters each have a distinctive voice, personality and back story, packed into a fairly slim book. It was almost too short, I would have liked to know more about the quality the "guests" shared, that made them "engifted".
    It was intriguing and well written- enough to want more. I would read more about this world.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I usually really like David Mitchell's books, but I found this to be predictable and tedious.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This mind-bending ghost story is good enough to join classics like Ghost Story and Haunting of Hill House. David Mitchell's writer's eye is sharp and engaging.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I hate to be wholly negative but for me this book is further evidence that Mitchell has lost the plot. I was willing to give The Bone Clocks a curate's egg (good in parts) review because it did at least have quite lengthy sections which showed some insight into reality and had echoes of his best work, but this one (like the penultimate part of The Bone Clocks) is just too obsessed with the risible fantasy nonsense about immortal souls and psychic superpowers. Perhaps Mitchell finds the real world too depressing to write about in straighter ways, but I just can't swallow this stuff. To be fair the human characters are quite sympathetic and there is plenty of humour here, and it may well have been fun to write - perhaps I am just not the right audience for this...To put this rant into context - I have read all of Mitchell's novels, in the order they were written. Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green are still among my favourite books, though all of his linked story novels have some strong sections and some weaker ones, and there was always an element of fantasy there. As I have said several times on other threads, for me Mitchell's writing works best when it is most grounded in the real world.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Simply Brilliant
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved reading this creepy book. I'd highly recommend reading The Bone Clocks first as it will give you a much better understanding of what's going on. Mitchell continues to impress me with his writing and the variety of genres he tackles. He doesn't shy away from plots that stretch your mind, but this is definitely one of his most accessible and easy-to-read books.He manages to capture the eerie feeling of a haunted house while at the same time crafting a great story. It's part of the complex world he created in The Bone Clocks, but it also works as a stand alone story. It's broken up in chapters (The Right Sort, Shining Armor, Oink Oink, You Dark Horse You, and Astronauts). With each new chapter his main character changes, once again demonstrating his ability to right from incredibly different points of view convincingly. He's an awkward young boy, then a jaded cop, then an insecure college girl, etc.BOTTOM LINE: I loved seeing Mitchell explore a new genre and will continue to be a fan!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Each chapter of this ghost story revolves around Slade House and its inhabitants. The chapters are set nine years apart, each time in late October, commencing in 1979 and ending in 2015. I confess that I was completely confused by the first chapter and had no idea what was going on with time and place. However, I got the hang of it by the second chapter, at the end of which the situation is explained, sort of. I then reread the first chapter and it was all perfectly clear. I think that the author has created a really imaginative premise for a ghost story. The plot was not only scary, but intellectually satisfying. The mythology of these ghosts is gradually revealed over the course of the book. I don't really want to say anything about that mythology, because that would spoil it for others. The ending of the book leaves plenty of room to expand this premise, and I hope the author explores it further in another book. I've read that this book is somehow related to the author's "Bone Clocks" which I haven't read, so I cannot comment on any relationship between the two books. As far as I'm concerned, this book is a fine standalone. I liked it very much. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Every nine years, down a narrow alley in a town east of London, a small, black iron door appears. Through the door lies an improbably large mansion: Slade House. Here could be a posh musical gathering, a lonely woman, or a lively college party-just the thing to appeal to each visitor. That's because Slade House is really a trap-and each "guest" is really the next victim...Readers of "The Bone Clocks" will probably figure out pretty quickly what's going on here, as this book relates directly to Mitchell's last. Marinus even shows up in the last part as well, as Dr Iris Fenby. Like Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas, this is a novel of short stories, each focusing on a new guest every nine years from 1979 to 2015.This is a quick read, and although you should probably read Bone Clocks first, it does a decent job explaining things, albeit a tad info-dumpy at times. There are also some pretty neat, creepy sequences that would work well around Halloween. This may not be Mitchell's strongest, but still a good peek at his style and universe.A review copy was provided by the publisher.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I am a big David Mitchell fan, but I'll admit I was unimpressed with this one. I know it's merely a novella, but I guess too much time had passed since reading The Bone Clocks for me to really understand or care what was happening. This would probably be best read immediately following The Bone Clocks, if at all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If the timing is right (near the end of October every 9 years), a person could happen down an alley in Britain, come upon a small door, pass through & come upon Slade House. But then said person would never again be seen.I am still trying to work my way through David Mitchell's books. This one is more of a novella, but follows a similar style to many of his other longer novels, consisting of a series of interconnected stories. Slade House was eerie and surreal, but I liked it, with engaging characters and a well-written creepy plot. It is a companion novel of sorts to Mitchell's previous The Bone Clocks, which I've read and had mixed feelings about. Both books are mind-bending, but I found this one easier to follow and once I was about halfway in, I just wanted to keep reading to find out how it was going to end. What impressed me most was Mitchell's ability to interweave & connect characters and story lines, which is what he does and is known for, but I found that it was done more smoothly & coherently in this one, which made it much more enjoyable for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great Story, Well told. A refreshing change to modern fantasy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is connected to the wonderful "Bone Clocks" novel by Mitchell. I think I might have liked this one more than that one. Really good writing and pretty fun to boot.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This horror novel, like a lethal Brigadoon, is told in nine year increments in London between 1979 and 2015 when the occupants of the veiled Slade House, the immortal twins Jonah and and Norah, cause the residence to appear to the world accessible only be a small black iron door in Slade Alley. The twins are soul vampires who must feed every nine years to sustain their immortality. Victims are lured into Slade House and like the Eagles' Hotel California, "you can check in but you can never leave." This novel is your traditional good vs evil; however, one begins to wonder which will be the victor. Although it is not necessary to read Mitchell's sort-of prequel The Bone Clocks because I did, I predicted the end when a character makes a reappearance in this book. This was definitely a "things that go bump in the night" scary story. I almost found myself yelling at the characters not to enter Slade House.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Spooky read about a house that people enter but never leave. Missing some depth in it's characters, but that's the nature of a quick story told over 40 years. Enough references to other worlds by David Mitchell that I'll need to read another one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is quite a good book, although the narrative timeline is not as inventive as 'Cloud Atlas'. The chronology is linear and each chapter is taking place once every 9 years. For each chapter, a specific person (or persons) are drawn into Slade House, for purposes that can't be explained here, otherwise it's a spoiler. Each time, the ways and means by which they disappear combine cunning and magic, with two evil twins at the centre of the web. There is no horror in the process, but the reasons for these disappearances are slowly trickled down and shown to the reader by the use of allusions and clues. This is not Mitchell's best novel, but ithe plot is easier to comprehend than 'Cloud Atlas', it is a much easier read. Not a bad novel of his, by any means, so I recommend it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A collection of short stories having to do with Slade House through different generations. Absolutely well written with great characters and an interesting story. Foremost creepy and dark, but humorous and lighthearted at times. I have not read Bone Clocks and still thoroughly enjoyed it, although I'm sure starting with Bone Clocks would have made it even better.. The audiobook has different narrators for each POV, and all do a fantastic job.