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The Genocide House
In The Genocide House—the American—maelstrom—The world—delirium—
Villages—slaughtered and burned—Cities eradicated—in atomic flame—
Young women lie—yearning—in valleys—incinerated—
Dying men—dream of war—murder—Their—dreams of blood pooling—Their dreams—of bodies—posed—erotic—
Visions of flame—Clouds atomic—rising and swallowing—cities—Television screens—winking and shimmering—visions of flame—clouds—atomic—
Aged women—their recollections—sweltering—
Young men—languid—vile—Licking—devouring—Their humid minds—shimmer with—war—murder—Dreams of blood—pooling—Their bodies—posed—erotic—
Villages—slaughtered and burned—Cities eradicated—in atomic flame—
Young women lie—yearning—in valleys—incinerated—
Dying men—dream of war—murder—Their—dreams of blood pooling—Their dreams—of bodies—posed—erotic—
Visions of flame—Clouds atomic—rising and swallowing—cities—Television screens—winking and shimmering—visions of flame—clouds—atomic—
Aged women—their recollections—sweltering—
Young men—languid—vile—Licking—devouring—Their humid minds—shimmer with—war—murder—Dreams of blood—pooling—Their bodies—posed—erotic—
Paperback
Published October 15, 2024
About the author
Robert Kloss
15 books72 followersauthor of The Alligators of Abraham, The Revelator, The Woman Who Lived Amongst the Cannibals, A Light No More, and The Genocide House.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 9, 2024
My blurb for this great book
Book after book, Robert Kloss has been excavating the horrors of American history in inventive and fractured prose. The Genocide House is poetic and hallucinatory, a visceral novel of visionary power.
Book after book, Robert Kloss has been excavating the horrors of American history in inventive and fractured prose. The Genocide House is poetic and hallucinatory, a visceral novel of visionary power.
January 9, 2026
This book reminded me of Laird Barron’s The One We Tell Bad Children, which opens with this quote from William Burroughs: “America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil before the settlers, before the Indians. The evil is there waiting.” In this book, hell on earth is more than just an expression. It exists in our wild places, and to trespass is akin to playing Russian Roulette with your testicles. Also, hell has lots of em-dashes. Watch your—ass!
January 9, 2025
"If we remove of man his-every organ-Lungs and heart-spleen-liver-loaves of kidneys-brain-If we pull free his stomach and intestine coiled-If we render the man-organ-less-is he yet a man-If we strip him of his skin-now muscle and blood and vein-Scatter him for the dogs-If we do boil the bone until he is-loose ivory alone-Remains he yet-The man itself-"
4.5
The Genocide House is one of those rare books that eludes all sense of description. It's borderline impossible to even review, because, what actually is this book? It's... Well, it's everything - a visceral nightmare, a kaleidoscopic, ruinous, gaping maw of brutality and ceaseless violence. It's a tortured, poetic masterpiece. Fractured and fragmented vignettes offer up short but disgustingly vivid glimpses into the horrors of an entire country, its a history lesson and a work of art all in one. With The Genocide House, Robert Kloss has cemented himself as one of the most daring of authors, he's proven that he isn't afraid to just, do whatever the hell he wants. But, he's also proven that he's one of the single greatest authors of our time.
Hallucinatory. Perhaps that's the best word to describe this bestial novel. Hallucinatory and utterly distressing. The single worst acid trip of your life, foul enough to make you question your entire existence. Utterly brutal, this is some real bleak shit, The Genocide House is an intimidating read, it's powerful, visceral, it's ambitious and completely fucking bizarre. Like seemingly everything that Kloss writes, The Genocide House completely refuses to comply with conventionality or normality, it abandons every single rule of storytelling, douses them in gasoline and sets them ablaze, in doing so, this book gifts upon the world something truly magical, something visionary. It's a beautiful, blistering work of art.
There's something so completely beautiful yet, extremely harsh about the way that this book is written. It's entirely oppressive, it's utterly without mercy. It feels so wholly obsessive but, obsessive about what... I can't quite place. Is it captivity, death, control, perhaps cruelty? I couldn't quite say, but, much like the very best authors out there, Kloss writes with an elegance that imprints obsessive self-indulgence into the story. Screaming through the text is the love of the craft. The Genocide House is volatile, it's grotesque, it's a fucking hideous novel. It really is a horrible, horrendous experience, and it's one of the single greatest books of all time. So completely unique, so unlike anything anyone has ever experienced before, this is revolutionary.
"How unrelenting-the days followed by more days-It is all the same-Someday-What wind drones through streets-timber laden-A howl-devours us-Finally-I thought-nothing will remain-"
4.5
The Genocide House is one of those rare books that eludes all sense of description. It's borderline impossible to even review, because, what actually is this book? It's... Well, it's everything - a visceral nightmare, a kaleidoscopic, ruinous, gaping maw of brutality and ceaseless violence. It's a tortured, poetic masterpiece. Fractured and fragmented vignettes offer up short but disgustingly vivid glimpses into the horrors of an entire country, its a history lesson and a work of art all in one. With The Genocide House, Robert Kloss has cemented himself as one of the most daring of authors, he's proven that he isn't afraid to just, do whatever the hell he wants. But, he's also proven that he's one of the single greatest authors of our time.
Hallucinatory. Perhaps that's the best word to describe this bestial novel. Hallucinatory and utterly distressing. The single worst acid trip of your life, foul enough to make you question your entire existence. Utterly brutal, this is some real bleak shit, The Genocide House is an intimidating read, it's powerful, visceral, it's ambitious and completely fucking bizarre. Like seemingly everything that Kloss writes, The Genocide House completely refuses to comply with conventionality or normality, it abandons every single rule of storytelling, douses them in gasoline and sets them ablaze, in doing so, this book gifts upon the world something truly magical, something visionary. It's a beautiful, blistering work of art.
"They step into a world beyond the knowable-flashes of light-They become-security footage-eye witness accounts-distant sounds-They were laughing-it is said-when they entered the library-An American nightmare-a broadcaster says-We won't announce the killer's names-too often history remembers-lionizes-the murderers-while the victims are forgotten-A city-shining-here the dead are housed-I have given your life meaning-the killer said-"
There's something so completely beautiful yet, extremely harsh about the way that this book is written. It's entirely oppressive, it's utterly without mercy. It feels so wholly obsessive but, obsessive about what... I can't quite place. Is it captivity, death, control, perhaps cruelty? I couldn't quite say, but, much like the very best authors out there, Kloss writes with an elegance that imprints obsessive self-indulgence into the story. Screaming through the text is the love of the craft. The Genocide House is volatile, it's grotesque, it's a fucking hideous novel. It really is a horrible, horrendous experience, and it's one of the single greatest books of all time. So completely unique, so unlike anything anyone has ever experienced before, this is revolutionary.
"How unrelenting-the days followed by more days-It is all the same-Someday-What wind drones through streets-timber laden-A howl-devours us-Finally-I thought-nothing will remain-"
February 24, 2025
Thoughts - observations and memories - how this book reads - without the convention of sentences, the book is realized - with all it’s immediacy - intensity - unfolding as if you were physically there - brilliant - the way the words - realizations - awareness is revealed - the methodical retelling of American horrors through history -the unknown and unknowing - grotesque and systemic - was it feral truth - are there disparate hints - a darker speculation - a damnation - no time to reflect - I admire the writing of Robert Kloss more and more - with each book.
April 24, 2026
Not sure how to rate this, might be a masterpiece but I’m worse for wear having read it. Truly incredible and weird writing. Captures the same queasy dreamlike feeling as Alligators of Abraham but curdled into a pitch black nightmare history of America. The most unsettling reading experience I can remember and the mezzotints really added to the effect.
January 17, 2025
Interesting experimentation with form that ends up feeling a little driftless. Even with the time delineations, I never know where I am in space and time. Great if you like your American history a little hallucinatory, but not super coherent.
March 23, 2025
Interesting conceit, but I ultimately (and completely accidentally) ended up reading the great prose in a William Shatner style of speech due to the punctuation. Continued to take me out of the narrative, unfortunately, and I just couldn't shake it since the punctuation styling was...perpetual.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews