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The Dumb House
Reader beware: The Dumb House is not for the faint of heart. This debut novel by Scottish poet John Burnside is subtitled A Chamber Novel, but "Chamber of Horror" might better describe it. The central character and narrator is Luke, a terrifyingly lucid madman with a hankering to "know the soul." His deceased mother told him once that the soul resided in language, and he's been obsessed ever since with discovering if this is true. To that end, Luke takes a page from an old fable about a king who kept babies sequestered in silent isolation in order to discover whether language is a natural or an acquired skill. For his own experiment, Luke impregnates a young stranger, takes the twins she gives birth to and locks them up in a basement where he raises them in complete silence. Eventually, however, the children begin to annoy him, and Luke feels he must "cut them down." How he does this isn't pretty.
From dissecting live animals as a boy to his latest outrage perpetrated on his own infant children, Luke is completely unconcerned with the sufferings of others, so intent is he on his "scientific" inquiries after the human soul. The fact that he is obviously lacking in this department is one of the book's ironies. The gruesome details are plentiful enough in Burnside's novel, but it is what goes on in the mind of this depraved character even more than what happens under his scalpel that terrifies; The Dumb House is likely to be one of those books that sticks in your memory long after it's done, whether you want it to or not.
224 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 1997
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About the author
John Burnside
96 books278 followersJohn Burnside was a Scottish writer. He was the author of nine collections of poetry and five works of fiction. Burnside achieved wide critical acclaim, winning the Whitbread Poetry Award in 2000 for The Asylum Dance which was also shortlisted for the Forward and T.S. Eliot prizes. He left Scotland in 1965, returning to settle there in 1995. In the intervening period he worked as a factory hand, a labourer, a gardener and, for ten years, as a computer systems designer. Laterly, he lived in Fife with his wife and children and taught Creative Writing, Literature and Ecology courses at the University of St. Andrews.
[Author photo © Norman McBeath]
[Author photo © Norman McBeath]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 561 reviews
July 30, 2015
Holy shit. Holy shit. That is my eloquent, professional opinion. Hands down my favourite read of 2015 so far, and it's going to take a damn amazing book to beat it. Imagine Perfume, Poor Things & Lolita had a book baby. This is it, and it's bloody terrifying and brilliant.
February 12, 2020
"...the very act of breaking the skin, of entering another human body, intrigued and excited me. I could see why people might kill for that sensation...Such people would be the victims of an exquisite curiosity..."
To accurately assess this novel, I would first have to say that I have honestly never before encountered such an exquisitely void soul in fiction before. It was almost like staring into nothingness, a sensation that was both eerie and intriguing.
John Burnside’s The Dumb House is a disturbing and unsettling narrative that crawls inside of the reader’s psyche and pushes the boundaries of what is socially, morally and, dare I say it, scientifically, acceptable. This work of short literary fiction burrows in and takes hold; before you know it, you’re on a deliberate and methodical exodus from the everyday, headed toward a climax that is as gripping as it is literarily brilliant and macabre.
This novel essentially starts with a bedtime story: Of all of the cold, elaborate tales that Luke’s mother spun for him as a child growing up, the experiment of the "Gang Mahal," or Dumb House, left its mark the deepest. This experiment, set in the ancient world of India, centered around one simple question that would haunt and motivate Luke for the rest of the novel: “whether a child is born with the innate, God-given ability to speak” or if it is a learned behavior. The Gang Mahal was erected to find the answer to this question, tasking a court of mutes to care for newborn babies who were never to be exposed to human speech. Inside its walls there was only silence; the children never learned to speak. But the experiment, to Luke, feels incomplete. The nature of communication and its possible correspondence to the soul obsesses him. Did it correspond to the soul, and, if so, how could one see it? Could you touch it, see it, cut into it…
It is the tone of this novel that does a lot of the work. The tone of the protagonist, the tone of setting. Together, they build an intense fusion of the former’s analytical voyeurism and the latter’s airy and wraith-like qualities. It is like watching a madman inside a dream, complete with a Sleepy Hollow-like sort of haze that covers everything and turns the everyday interaction—a chance meeting at a library, an innocent letter sent through the post—into catalysts for sexual deviance and callous violence. The characters felt almost ethereal and had a dream-like quality, as if they, and likewise, their entire world, were constantly shrouded in a sepia haze. That almost-surreal quality reminded me of The Vegetarian, House of Leaves and even 1Q84.
Yet, for so many of us readers, it is the protagonist that we most care about. We want to feel what it is like to slip into their shoes; we want to crawl into their minds and understand the mechanisms of it. But, readers beware. For in The Dumb House, Burnside managed to create a character who is as cold in his natural eloquence as he is almost detached in emotion in narration. The narrator is like a slick block of ice, rounded at the edges so as not to be overtly or obviously menacing and dangerous to the outside word, to the everyday onlooker. For some, the inner workings of his mind will utterly intrigue. Others will find him utterly deplorable. For there were two things about Luke that I slowly began to grasp as the narrative went on: he suffers from “Rich and Entitled Syndrome” as much as he does from severe ego maniacal delusions. He believes himself to be always laboring under the guise of curiosity and exploration of what it means to be human, even as he slowly destroys the humanity around him in search of this purpose. And this delusional quality is what made the narration so piercing, because it was consistently eloquent and disturbingly calculating in the coldest of manners simultaneously.
“…how easy it would be to find a young runaway on her first or second night: someone inexperienced, someone vulnerable. I’d read about men who wandered around the stations and backstreets at night, hunting down such girls. If they could do it, I could…Even if she wasn’t a willing partner, even if she didn’t understand what was happening, or what her true purpose was, she would be comfortable and well looked after, for a time at least. Most importantly, she would be engaged in something worthwhile…”
There is no mistaking that the prose is both elegant and intellectual throughout, no matter your feelings about the protagonist. This novel was unmistakably Gothic, with all of the subtle touches and fine-hair-raising moments requisite to earn such a title. From crop circles to human dissections, you can find an alternate world within these pages, one that will stretch the breadth of what you’re comfortable with and is altogether unlike anything else you’ve ever read. The Dumb House earned itself a solid 4 stars ****
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To accurately assess this novel, I would first have to say that I have honestly never before encountered such an exquisitely void soul in fiction before. It was almost like staring into nothingness, a sensation that was both eerie and intriguing.
John Burnside’s The Dumb House is a disturbing and unsettling narrative that crawls inside of the reader’s psyche and pushes the boundaries of what is socially, morally and, dare I say it, scientifically, acceptable. This work of short literary fiction burrows in and takes hold; before you know it, you’re on a deliberate and methodical exodus from the everyday, headed toward a climax that is as gripping as it is literarily brilliant and macabre.
This novel essentially starts with a bedtime story: Of all of the cold, elaborate tales that Luke’s mother spun for him as a child growing up, the experiment of the "Gang Mahal," or Dumb House, left its mark the deepest. This experiment, set in the ancient world of India, centered around one simple question that would haunt and motivate Luke for the rest of the novel: “whether a child is born with the innate, God-given ability to speak” or if it is a learned behavior. The Gang Mahal was erected to find the answer to this question, tasking a court of mutes to care for newborn babies who were never to be exposed to human speech. Inside its walls there was only silence; the children never learned to speak. But the experiment, to Luke, feels incomplete. The nature of communication and its possible correspondence to the soul obsesses him. Did it correspond to the soul, and, if so, how could one see it? Could you touch it, see it, cut into it…
It is the tone of this novel that does a lot of the work. The tone of the protagonist, the tone of setting. Together, they build an intense fusion of the former’s analytical voyeurism and the latter’s airy and wraith-like qualities. It is like watching a madman inside a dream, complete with a Sleepy Hollow-like sort of haze that covers everything and turns the everyday interaction—a chance meeting at a library, an innocent letter sent through the post—into catalysts for sexual deviance and callous violence. The characters felt almost ethereal and had a dream-like quality, as if they, and likewise, their entire world, were constantly shrouded in a sepia haze. That almost-surreal quality reminded me of The Vegetarian, House of Leaves and even 1Q84.
Yet, for so many of us readers, it is the protagonist that we most care about. We want to feel what it is like to slip into their shoes; we want to crawl into their minds and understand the mechanisms of it. But, readers beware. For in The Dumb House, Burnside managed to create a character who is as cold in his natural eloquence as he is almost detached in emotion in narration. The narrator is like a slick block of ice, rounded at the edges so as not to be overtly or obviously menacing and dangerous to the outside word, to the everyday onlooker. For some, the inner workings of his mind will utterly intrigue. Others will find him utterly deplorable. For there were two things about Luke that I slowly began to grasp as the narrative went on: he suffers from “Rich and Entitled Syndrome” as much as he does from severe ego maniacal delusions. He believes himself to be always laboring under the guise of curiosity and exploration of what it means to be human, even as he slowly destroys the humanity around him in search of this purpose. And this delusional quality is what made the narration so piercing, because it was consistently eloquent and disturbingly calculating in the coldest of manners simultaneously.
“…how easy it would be to find a young runaway on her first or second night: someone inexperienced, someone vulnerable. I’d read about men who wandered around the stations and backstreets at night, hunting down such girls. If they could do it, I could…Even if she wasn’t a willing partner, even if she didn’t understand what was happening, or what her true purpose was, she would be comfortable and well looked after, for a time at least. Most importantly, she would be engaged in something worthwhile…”
There is no mistaking that the prose is both elegant and intellectual throughout, no matter your feelings about the protagonist. This novel was unmistakably Gothic, with all of the subtle touches and fine-hair-raising moments requisite to earn such a title. From crop circles to human dissections, you can find an alternate world within these pages, one that will stretch the breadth of what you’re comfortable with and is altogether unlike anything else you’ve ever read. The Dumb House earned itself a solid 4 stars ****
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September 3, 2016
I was surfing around for other people’s reviews of this short mad novel in order to steal their ideas when I came across the book reviewing girls and boys on Youtube, to whom I have heretofore paid little attention. And I do confess to being slightly fascinated – how these people can just switch on a camera and rabbit extemporaneously for 4 or 5 minutes about a book and then pick up another and do the same, all with a breathless perkiness and absolute lashings of Bright Red Lipstick, I can’t imagine. What confidence, what pazzaz. I would love to be that confident, have my own youtube book review channel and all, but bright red lipstick has never suited me, so I’m told. And despondent mumblings instead of upful smiley energy would not win me followers and sponsors, except maybe the ones you wouldn’t want.
So where was I, oh yes. This Youtuber just loved The Dumb House, which was reissued last year and has been picking up steam ever since.
The Wasp Factory, Lolita and the Patrick Melrose series, plus a lot of Will Self and Martin Amis novels all have first person narrators doing fairly dreadful things, as does The Dumb House, in spades. Sometimes, like Frank in The Wasp Factory, they don’t care a tuppeny-ha’penny how their revolting acts would be perceived by anyone else, it never occurs to them that there might be anything abnormal going on. Sometimes, our first person perve is well aware of how the outside world will perceive him – so Humbert Humbert spins his story as a real unconventional-but-genuine LOVE story. And some readers have even fallen for his line! That unctuous sweet-talker.
In The Dumb House Luke, our psychopathic narrator, thinks he’s got the right attitude to everything and anyone thinking it might be wrong to kill and dissect animals or human beings (adults or children) is just being conventionally squeamish or sentimental, which are the signs of an inferior intellect. Because Luke is a scientist. He’s after finding the source of language, that’s his obsession Is it innate or learned? And does it have something to do with the Soul?
No matter what I did, there was something that slipped through my fingers, something that evaded the tip of the blade. I began to think of other possibilities, new horizons. I did not know where the soul resided, but suddenly I suspected that it was not in the body as such. Yet – if not there, where? … Perhaps it was a process, like thought or conversation. If the components of the body were organs and veins and cells, then the components of thought and language were words and grammar. It was just what Mother had been telling me all along : a creature without language is a creature without a soul.
So Luke is a classic Mad Scientist (with Mommy issues) and since he’s a young man in possession of a good fortune whose parents are now most conveniently dead he’s able to get busy with his grand experiment, which is to find out if children, deprived of human language from birth, will spontaneously generate their own language. To do this, he will require a young complaisant female who won’t be around to see what he does with their children. Ew!
Well, a lot of readers have been whacked upside their heads by this nasty-but-compelling story. Gotta say, it’s an elegantly written penny dreadful horror story which I found to be completely far fetched. (I did not buy the stuff about Luke trying to find the Soul – seems to me a flinty no-nonsense scientist would dismiss such a notion out of hand; but maybe he was a little conflicted. But it seemed like a fake motive to me, and kind of boringly Frankensteinian.) But like other readers I found pleasure in reading such a reasonable account of complete insanity from the inside. So that’s a half-recommendation.
So where was I, oh yes. This Youtuber just loved The Dumb House, which was reissued last year and has been picking up steam ever since.
The Wasp Factory, Lolita and the Patrick Melrose series, plus a lot of Will Self and Martin Amis novels all have first person narrators doing fairly dreadful things, as does The Dumb House, in spades. Sometimes, like Frank in The Wasp Factory, they don’t care a tuppeny-ha’penny how their revolting acts would be perceived by anyone else, it never occurs to them that there might be anything abnormal going on. Sometimes, our first person perve is well aware of how the outside world will perceive him – so Humbert Humbert spins his story as a real unconventional-but-genuine LOVE story. And some readers have even fallen for his line! That unctuous sweet-talker.
In The Dumb House Luke, our psychopathic narrator, thinks he’s got the right attitude to everything and anyone thinking it might be wrong to kill and dissect animals or human beings (adults or children) is just being conventionally squeamish or sentimental, which are the signs of an inferior intellect. Because Luke is a scientist. He’s after finding the source of language, that’s his obsession Is it innate or learned? And does it have something to do with the Soul?
No matter what I did, there was something that slipped through my fingers, something that evaded the tip of the blade. I began to think of other possibilities, new horizons. I did not know where the soul resided, but suddenly I suspected that it was not in the body as such. Yet – if not there, where? … Perhaps it was a process, like thought or conversation. If the components of the body were organs and veins and cells, then the components of thought and language were words and grammar. It was just what Mother had been telling me all along : a creature without language is a creature without a soul.
So Luke is a classic Mad Scientist (with Mommy issues) and since he’s a young man in possession of a good fortune whose parents are now most conveniently dead he’s able to get busy with his grand experiment, which is to find out if children, deprived of human language from birth, will spontaneously generate their own language. To do this, he will require a young complaisant female who won’t be around to see what he does with their children. Ew!
Well, a lot of readers have been whacked upside their heads by this nasty-but-compelling story. Gotta say, it’s an elegantly written penny dreadful horror story which I found to be completely far fetched. (I did not buy the stuff about Luke trying to find the Soul – seems to me a flinty no-nonsense scientist would dismiss such a notion out of hand; but maybe he was a little conflicted. But it seemed like a fake motive to me, and kind of boringly Frankensteinian.) But like other readers I found pleasure in reading such a reasonable account of complete insanity from the inside. So that’s a half-recommendation.
December 20, 2015
After my forays into fantasy, sci-fi and historical fiction, it seemed about time to return to my go-to categorisation, literary fiction. The Dumb House is a book that has recently been re-released by Vintage in a collection of Scottish classics. It’s a book that was first published in 1997, but it has recently been getting a lot of attention on the Internet, thanks to Jen Campbell’s mention of it on her YouTube channel. It has even resulted in a new term and subsequent Twitter hashtag: #Burnsided. That should give some indication of how impactful this book is. It’s about a man who is perhaps the least reliable narrator I have ever encountered. He decides to do an experiment with children to see if language is inherent or acquired. This is based on the story of Akbar the Great, who reportedly raised children in isolation to see if they would develop language on their own. It is a very unsettling book, but morbidly fascinating. It raises a lot of questions about language and humanity, and also calls the reader’s morality into question. This isn’t a book for the faint of heart, but it is thoroughly engrossing.
January 15, 2016
Flinchingly horrifying. This is not really a novel about an experiment gone wrong while on the search for the essence of life, but of a person (possibly a sociopath) with an Oedipus complex who can't separate power from death from childhood from sex from decay from love. The Norman Bates-ish main character is a narcissist and being in his head is so incredibly disturbing--not only because he does some abhorrent things, but because it's easy to be fused to him, to almost become him, while reading. I loved it!
October 16, 2017
Moja nowa ulubiona książka
• To bardzo brutalna, nienormalna i dziwna historia, ale jednocześnie jest w niej coś pięknego.
• Burnside ma niesamowitą zdolność do pokazywania piękna w brzydocie i brzydoty w pięknie. Zresztą często nawet to, co okrutne może być dla czytelnika interesujące - aż zaczynamy się zastanawiać czy sami nie jesteśmy psychopatami.
• Język Burnside'a i jego płynność w prowadzeniu całej akcji jest nie do porównania z niczym innym. Tę książkę dosłownie się połyka, nawet nie wiedząc kiedy jest się u jej końca.
• Jeden z najważniejszych i najlepszych aspektów tej książki to według mnie badanie psychiki głównego bohatera. Mamy do czynienia z osobą, która ma naprawdę pomieszane w głowie, zaburzoną hierarchię wartości i dziwne pasje, które dla każdego człowieka wydają się nienaturalne i brutalne. To nie jest bohater, którego pokochamy, ale którego się boimy. Jednocześnie tak bardzo ciekawie jest czytać książkę z jego punktu widzenia, obserwując jego postępującą obsesję i pewnego rodzaju szaleństwo.
• I oczywiście uwielbiam Burnside'a za rozważania na temat lingwistyki i moralności.
• Ale to nie jest historia dla wszystkich - trzeba mieć naprawdę mocne nerwy i być przygotowanym na tę dozę okrucieństwa, którą otrzymamy. Jednak zdecydowanie warto ją przeczytać.
Chyba nie ma rzeczy, której bym nie kochała w tej książce.
• To bardzo brutalna, nienormalna i dziwna historia, ale jednocześnie jest w niej coś pięknego.
• Burnside ma niesamowitą zdolność do pokazywania piękna w brzydocie i brzydoty w pięknie. Zresztą często nawet to, co okrutne może być dla czytelnika interesujące - aż zaczynamy się zastanawiać czy sami nie jesteśmy psychopatami.
• Język Burnside'a i jego płynność w prowadzeniu całej akcji jest nie do porównania z niczym innym. Tę książkę dosłownie się połyka, nawet nie wiedząc kiedy jest się u jej końca.
• Jeden z najważniejszych i najlepszych aspektów tej książki to według mnie badanie psychiki głównego bohatera. Mamy do czynienia z osobą, która ma naprawdę pomieszane w głowie, zaburzoną hierarchię wartości i dziwne pasje, które dla każdego człowieka wydają się nienaturalne i brutalne. To nie jest bohater, którego pokochamy, ale którego się boimy. Jednocześnie tak bardzo ciekawie jest czytać książkę z jego punktu widzenia, obserwując jego postępującą obsesję i pewnego rodzaju szaleństwo.
• I oczywiście uwielbiam Burnside'a za rozważania na temat lingwistyki i moralności.
• Ale to nie jest historia dla wszystkich - trzeba mieć naprawdę mocne nerwy i być przygotowanym na tę dozę okrucieństwa, którą otrzymamy. Jednak zdecydowanie warto ją przeczytać.
Chyba nie ma rzeczy, której bym nie kochała w tej książce.
September 2, 2015
4.5 stars.
After futher consideration, I have raised my review of The Dumb House from 4 to 4.5 stars because... well it was very very good. I had previously never heard of John Burnside, but then I saw Jen Campbell gush about it on her channel, and I had to immediately pick it up and read it as soon as possible.
This novel follows the narrator, Luke, who as a child was told the story of 'The Dumb House' by his mother. In this story, Akbar the Great filled a palace with newborn children, attended to only by mutes, in order to to learn whether language was innate or acquired. Of course the children never learned to speak, but Luke's obsession with this idea leads him to carry out his own experiment, creating his own dumb house in later life.
As a narrator, Luke was incredibly unreliable. His name is barely mentioned throughout the book, so when it did crop up now and again I was always surprised to realise that I hadn't known it already. This gives him a certain faceless quality - he is a blank canvas to the reader, someone we can neither picture nor imagine is real. All we know are his thoughts, which are at times movingly aware, and at other times completely deranged. Luke's thoughts and narrative are communicated in a very cold and distant manner - I wouldn't go as far as to say they were clinical, because he does express desire and emotion at different points, but his nature towards people and towards his own actions and his own reasoning can only be described as almost analytical. He carries out horrific deeds, and his relationships to people are bizarre and twisted. He is completely unlikeable, and completely inpenetrable, and I loved that about this book.
The story is told in three very succinct parts, and we are introduced to a number of characters throughout, although what we see is ultimately controlled by Luke. The other male characters are few and far between, and painted as either animalistic or weak. Luke's relationship with the women in this novel are gone into in a lot more detail, and his relationships at times hinted at a very strong Oedipus complex. He took pleasure in caring for them, but in a way that came across less like caring and loving, and more controlling - every encounter with a woman seemed moulded to what he wanted them to be in relation to him, and what he desired from them.
Overall, I thought this was a fascinating book. The more I think about it, the more little points come up in my mind. It's an excellent talking point, and one that after finishing I immediately wanted to pick up again. I feel like I may have enjoyed it even more if my reading experience hadn't been so disjointed - I read it over the course of around 4 days on and off. When I re-read it, I'll do my best to read it in as few sittings as possible, so I can properly immerse myself in the horrible and fantastic world that John Burnside has created.
And as Jen said, this book does indeed reek of both Lolita, Poor Things, and Perfume vibes - which can only be a good thing in my opinion.
After futher consideration, I have raised my review of The Dumb House from 4 to 4.5 stars because... well it was very very good. I had previously never heard of John Burnside, but then I saw Jen Campbell gush about it on her channel, and I had to immediately pick it up and read it as soon as possible.
This novel follows the narrator, Luke, who as a child was told the story of 'The Dumb House' by his mother. In this story, Akbar the Great filled a palace with newborn children, attended to only by mutes, in order to to learn whether language was innate or acquired. Of course the children never learned to speak, but Luke's obsession with this idea leads him to carry out his own experiment, creating his own dumb house in later life.
As a narrator, Luke was incredibly unreliable. His name is barely mentioned throughout the book, so when it did crop up now and again I was always surprised to realise that I hadn't known it already. This gives him a certain faceless quality - he is a blank canvas to the reader, someone we can neither picture nor imagine is real. All we know are his thoughts, which are at times movingly aware, and at other times completely deranged. Luke's thoughts and narrative are communicated in a very cold and distant manner - I wouldn't go as far as to say they were clinical, because he does express desire and emotion at different points, but his nature towards people and towards his own actions and his own reasoning can only be described as almost analytical. He carries out horrific deeds, and his relationships to people are bizarre and twisted. He is completely unlikeable, and completely inpenetrable, and I loved that about this book.
The story is told in three very succinct parts, and we are introduced to a number of characters throughout, although what we see is ultimately controlled by Luke. The other male characters are few and far between, and painted as either animalistic or weak. Luke's relationship with the women in this novel are gone into in a lot more detail, and his relationships at times hinted at a very strong Oedipus complex. He took pleasure in caring for them, but in a way that came across less like caring and loving, and more controlling - every encounter with a woman seemed moulded to what he wanted them to be in relation to him, and what he desired from them.
Overall, I thought this was a fascinating book. The more I think about it, the more little points come up in my mind. It's an excellent talking point, and one that after finishing I immediately wanted to pick up again. I feel like I may have enjoyed it even more if my reading experience hadn't been so disjointed - I read it over the course of around 4 days on and off. When I re-read it, I'll do my best to read it in as few sittings as possible, so I can properly immerse myself in the horrible and fantastic world that John Burnside has created.
And as Jen said, this book does indeed reek of both Lolita, Poor Things, and Perfume vibes - which can only be a good thing in my opinion.
June 29, 2016
Okay, so I picked this up after seeing a rave review from the lovely Jen Campbell. As a bookseller she knows what she's talking about when it comes to books, she reads very diversely too, and I was in the mood to read something dark and twisted.
Unfortunately The Dumb House just wasn't for me. I thought the book was going to be a lot more about what it says in the blurb, because that premise sounded fascinating, but instead it was a pointless book in which I had to follow around a wholly unlikeable character while he sexually abused women, broke children's fingers and murdered the homeless, all while being so privileged he didn't need to work. It was only in the last 40 pages that the story finally got to the children, so before that it was just another story about a man who's an arsehole but that's okay because oh isn't it written beautifully?
The answer is no, not really. At least I didn't feel like it was anything spectacular, and I'm so tired of reading about the sexcapades of boring, unhinged white men in western literature. I feel as though Burnside got distracted from the story he was initially trying to tell by trying to make the book sound as 'deep' as possible. Oh what a tortured, twisted protagonist!
In fact while writing this review I've lowered my rating from 2 stars to 1, because I just despised it. Maybe I'm missing something, but this wasn't for me and I'm probably going to give my copy away.
Unfortunately The Dumb House just wasn't for me. I thought the book was going to be a lot more about what it says in the blurb, because that premise sounded fascinating, but instead it was a pointless book in which I had to follow around a wholly unlikeable character while he sexually abused women, broke children's fingers and murdered the homeless, all while being so privileged he didn't need to work. It was only in the last 40 pages that the story finally got to the children, so before that it was just another story about a man who's an arsehole but that's okay because oh isn't it written beautifully?
The answer is no, not really. At least I didn't feel like it was anything spectacular, and I'm so tired of reading about the sexcapades of boring, unhinged white men in western literature. I feel as though Burnside got distracted from the story he was initially trying to tell by trying to make the book sound as 'deep' as possible. Oh what a tortured, twisted protagonist!
In fact while writing this review I've lowered my rating from 2 stars to 1, because I just despised it. Maybe I'm missing something, but this wasn't for me and I'm probably going to give my copy away.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2018
This book was nothing like what I thought it would, and for that reason, it disappointed me.
I believed this novel was going to be a creepy, man-holds-children-captive kind of story, but unfortunately it wasn’t. This was far more intelligent, with lots of complex writing than I had expected, and due to that, I couldn’t really get into it. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so I feel like a lot of this book went over my head.
There’s no doubt about it, our narrator is one of the most terrifying and disturbed narrators I’ve ever come across, and thanks to my love for the macabre, this made reading his story sometimes enjoyable. When he was simply recalling his actions in the here and now, I was interested, but when he got into his ramblings about his ideas on testing the innateness of language, my mind moved onto different things. Hence it taking me almost a week and a half to read 204 pages.
Burnside is an incredibly beautiful writer, it doesn’t surprise me to see he’s a poetry writer as well as a fiction writer. I’m always one to praise an author for their poetic prose, but sometimes things get a little too complex for me and all meaning is lost on me. This happened a lot throughout reading The Dumb House.
In terms of the story, this wasn’t exactly what I had hoped it would be. It was very slow to get anywhere, and even when we did get to learning his experiment on his children, that whole section was equally slow-moving. It didn’t feel like an awful lot happened other than several uncomfortable sex scenes and some horrifying violence.
Unfortunately, this one didn’t do it for me, which is a shame, because I was so looking forward to reading it. I suppose if you love intelligent fiction that is reasonably ambiguous, this might be great for you. I personally like a book that challenges my mind, but this one went too far for me.
I believed this novel was going to be a creepy, man-holds-children-captive kind of story, but unfortunately it wasn’t. This was far more intelligent, with lots of complex writing than I had expected, and due to that, I couldn’t really get into it. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so I feel like a lot of this book went over my head.
There’s no doubt about it, our narrator is one of the most terrifying and disturbed narrators I’ve ever come across, and thanks to my love for the macabre, this made reading his story sometimes enjoyable. When he was simply recalling his actions in the here and now, I was interested, but when he got into his ramblings about his ideas on testing the innateness of language, my mind moved onto different things. Hence it taking me almost a week and a half to read 204 pages.
Burnside is an incredibly beautiful writer, it doesn’t surprise me to see he’s a poetry writer as well as a fiction writer. I’m always one to praise an author for their poetic prose, but sometimes things get a little too complex for me and all meaning is lost on me. This happened a lot throughout reading The Dumb House.
In terms of the story, this wasn’t exactly what I had hoped it would be. It was very slow to get anywhere, and even when we did get to learning his experiment on his children, that whole section was equally slow-moving. It didn’t feel like an awful lot happened other than several uncomfortable sex scenes and some horrifying violence.
Unfortunately, this one didn’t do it for me, which is a shame, because I was so looking forward to reading it. I suppose if you love intelligent fiction that is reasonably ambiguous, this might be great for you. I personally like a book that challenges my mind, but this one went too far for me.
December 8, 2022
اگر نوزاداني رو در يك فضاي محدود و در سكوت مطلق ، بدون كوچكترين كلامي تحت مراقبت نگه داريم تا رشد پيدا كنند ، آيا شاهد ابداع زباني جديد براي برقراري ارتباط خواهيم بود؟
آيا آرزوي ديرينه زبان مشترك جهاني امري ممكنه؟
كتاب رو راوي روان پريش بر اساس آزمايش "اكبرشاه گوركاني" شروع ميكنه و ادامه ميده .
زماني كه "اكبرشاه" محلي رو تحت عنوان گنگ محل يا dumb house ميسازه و چندين نوزاد رو تحت مراقبت پرستاران كر و لال قرار ميده
ايده كتاب به شدت جذاب بود ، شيوه روايت متناسب با فضاي منزجر كننده و وحشتناك كتاب بود . به هيچ وجه نميتونم به اين موضوع فكر كنم كه چنين داستاني زاده يك ذهن سالم بوده باشه.
شكنجه نوزاد دوقلو براي آزمايش و كشتنشون ، له كردن و آتش زدن انسان كه بعده ها راوي متوجه ميشه بيگناه بوده ، خرد كردن دست و پاي يك پسر ناتوان و تجاوز به مادرش زماني كه بيهوش بوده اون هم به كرات.
اينا واقعا زيبا نيست.
راوي بشدت روي بعد وحشيانه داستان تمركز كرده تا ايده ي ناب "گنگ محل"
در ضمن هيچ توضيحي از زندگي راوي ، نحوه امرار و معاش ، ابعاد ديگر زندگي روزانه و ... داده نشده بود.
راوي صرفا تحت تاثير داستان اكبرشاه و مسائل پيرامون مربوط به آزمايش اون در زمان حال در حال پرسه زدن بود و انگار تمام عالم و آدم دست به دست هم دادن كه راوي روانپريش به كاراش ادامه بده و در عين حال مثل يك روح ناديده گرفته بشه.
خوندنش بشدت سخت بود برام و پايان عجيبي هم داشت.
آيا آرزوي ديرينه زبان مشترك جهاني امري ممكنه؟
كتاب رو راوي روان پريش بر اساس آزمايش "اكبرشاه گوركاني" شروع ميكنه و ادامه ميده .
زماني كه "اكبرشاه" محلي رو تحت عنوان گنگ محل يا dumb house ميسازه و چندين نوزاد رو تحت مراقبت پرستاران كر و لال قرار ميده
ايده كتاب به شدت جذاب بود ، شيوه روايت متناسب با فضاي منزجر كننده و وحشتناك كتاب بود . به هيچ وجه نميتونم به اين موضوع فكر كنم كه چنين داستاني زاده يك ذهن سالم بوده باشه.
شكنجه نوزاد دوقلو براي آزمايش و كشتنشون ، له كردن و آتش زدن انسان كه بعده ها راوي متوجه ميشه بيگناه بوده ، خرد كردن دست و پاي يك پسر ناتوان و تجاوز به مادرش زماني كه بيهوش بوده اون هم به كرات.
اينا واقعا زيبا نيست.
راوي بشدت روي بعد وحشيانه داستان تمركز كرده تا ايده ي ناب "گنگ محل"
در ضمن هيچ توضيحي از زندگي راوي ، نحوه امرار و معاش ، ابعاد ديگر زندگي روزانه و ... داده نشده بود.
راوي صرفا تحت تاثير داستان اكبرشاه و مسائل پيرامون مربوط به آزمايش اون در زمان حال در حال پرسه زدن بود و انگار تمام عالم و آدم دست به دست هم دادن كه راوي روانپريش به كاراش ادامه بده و در عين حال مثل يك روح ناديده گرفته بشه.
خوندنش بشدت سخت بود برام و پايان عجيبي هم داشت.
January 5, 2019
The narrator of The Dumb House seeks the source of the soul. Mommy issues and paranoia plague our unreliable protagonist, but he will achieve his goal.
The greatest scientific discoveries in history were conducted by individuals willing to do the unthinkable in pursuit of knowledge. The Dumb House features one such individual.
The greatest scientific discoveries in history were conducted by individuals willing to do the unthinkable in pursuit of knowledge. The Dumb House features one such individual.
April 15, 2018
گاهی اوقات هی فراموش میکردم که این داستان روایت میشه و هی با خودم میگفتم نکنه نویسنده واقعا اینکارا رو کرده؟ انقدری خوب این حس رو بمن القا میکرد ک من محال بود فکر کنم این نوشته ها رو یه ادم سالم نوشته. قشنگ انگار یه روانپریش دیوانه خاطراتش و به رشته تحریر در اورده و از جنایات وحشتناکی ک کرده با نام علم و ازمایش و تحقیق یاد میکنه. جدای همه اینا موضوع کتاب رو خیلی دوست داشتم. بنظرم ایده اش خ غیر ممکن به ذهن ادما میرسه و شاید اگه این کتاب و نمیخوندم تا اخر عمرم حتی یک بار هم به این موضوع فکر نمیکردم که لال مادرزاد به چه زبانی فکر میکنه.
September 6, 2015
4.5 stars
I could not pass up reading this book, considering how much hype it has been getting in my corner of the bookternet. I have to say that I am not disappointed. Burnside delivers a profoundly disturbing book featuring an extremely disturbed narrator. The narrator of The Dumb House talks to you like a friend, a confidant, in his journey to discover the nature of the human soul. We follow him through years of "experiments" to learn about the soul, particularly focusing on the development of speech in children, and whether or not this is a innate part of humanity. This is a book, despite its disturbing nature, that I want to read again. I'll be thinking about it for a long time. Not my perfect book, but definitely worth the attention.
I could not pass up reading this book, considering how much hype it has been getting in my corner of the bookternet. I have to say that I am not disappointed. Burnside delivers a profoundly disturbing book featuring an extremely disturbed narrator. The narrator of The Dumb House talks to you like a friend, a confidant, in his journey to discover the nature of the human soul. We follow him through years of "experiments" to learn about the soul, particularly focusing on the development of speech in children, and whether or not this is a innate part of humanity. This is a book, despite its disturbing nature, that I want to read again. I'll be thinking about it for a long time. Not my perfect book, but definitely worth the attention.
February 16, 2018
phew am I glad this is over.
This was the shortest book I read this month but it still took me the longest to read... because. it. is. so. dull. Maybe it's just me, but the point of this book went completely over my head. I thought this was going to be a book about a guy recreating the dumb house experiment, and while that is definitely part of it, most of the time it's just about this dude going about his way. Oh and also he's a psychopath so he does a bunch of morally wrong stuff. Wow.
I don't know about you, but I am SO OVER psycho/sociopathic main characters. To me there is nothing more tedious. I'd much rather read about a "normal" person committing a crime than someone completely lacking empathy and morals. There's very little element of surprise in that and it's also just such an overused plot device. Plus there's literally NOTHING ELSE to his character. He also comes with the most stereotypical family background (controlling mother leads to mummy complex) and you essentially know from the beginning how it's going to end, so... what was the point again? [Plus it does this annoying thing where the MC apparently has a ton of money because he can buy all of the things, but he never seems to go to work? I know this might be a random point to note, but it bothered me.]
I get that a lot of people love this book because of the pretty prose but for me that really isn't enough to make reading this worthwhile. I found myself drifting off so many times while reading and genuinely fell asleep like THRICE. That never usually happens.
This book had the potential to be great but lacking both substance and genuine elements of horror I ended up reaaaalllyy not caring about it. I hope you had/have a better experience with this, but it's a NO from me.
This was the shortest book I read this month but it still took me the longest to read... because. it. is. so. dull. Maybe it's just me, but the point of this book went completely over my head. I thought this was going to be a book about a guy recreating the dumb house experiment, and while that is definitely part of it, most of the time it's just about this dude going about his way. Oh and also he's a psychopath so he does a bunch of morally wrong stuff. Wow.
I don't know about you, but I am SO OVER psycho/sociopathic main characters. To me there is nothing more tedious. I'd much rather read about a "normal" person committing a crime than someone completely lacking empathy and morals. There's very little element of surprise in that and it's also just such an overused plot device. Plus there's literally NOTHING ELSE to his character. He also comes with the most stereotypical family background (controlling mother leads to mummy complex) and you essentially know from the beginning how it's going to end, so... what was the point again? [Plus it does this annoying thing where the MC apparently has a ton of money because he can buy all of the things, but he never seems to go to work? I know this might be a random point to note, but it bothered me.]
I get that a lot of people love this book because of the pretty prose but for me that really isn't enough to make reading this worthwhile. I found myself drifting off so many times while reading and genuinely fell asleep like THRICE. That never usually happens.
This book had the potential to be great but lacking both substance and genuine elements of horror I ended up reaaaalllyy not caring about it. I hope you had/have a better experience with this, but it's a NO from me.
October 9, 2016
Jezivo, uznemirujuće, mračno, fascinantno i savršeno napisano! 5++
April 14, 2016
An utterly fascinating character study of a very disturbed man. Wonderfully written and enticing.
September 24, 2015
Disturbing, compelling and completely brilliant. Now excuse me while I go buy everything John Burnside has ever written.
November 14, 2016
3.5
Really good. I liked it a lot! Wish some description of the mother and her relationship with the father was given because I'm a bit lost on that. I didn't quite get what was going on.
Really good. I liked it a lot! Wish some description of the mother and her relationship with the father was given because I'm a bit lost on that. I didn't quite get what was going on.
January 15, 2022
I had came across this book quite accidentally, while searching for another book, here on GR. I skimmed a couple of reviews on here, and those satisfied my desire to go on and read it.
This was a delicately written book, that was incredibly engaging, with a seasoning of lunacy. Our narrator is Luke, who had heard stories of a 'Dumb house' from his mother as a child, which is a place filled with newborns, and ran by mutes, and the purpose of this was to discover whether language was innate, or something that was obtained later on. This became the reason for Luke's fascination with these experiments, and led to him building his own 'Dumb house.'
Throughout the book, Luke's actual name is barely mentioned, so it is possible to get lost in the text, and forget entirely who is telling the story. Luke is portrayed by Burnside as a character with a certain coldness, that can be clearly felt within his words, and although we know Luke is for the most part, deranged, he does show emotion from time to time. If I said I liked Luke, I'd be lying, but that is what makes this book grand. He relentlessly carries out terrifying acts, some of which, made made me feel nauseated, but in a way, that also pushed me to read on.
We meet a fair few characters in this book, most of which are women. He has a strange way in which he cares for women, that certainly isn't loving, but is almost mother-like, which turns, in the end, to totally controlling the woman. The relationships he does have feel wrong, and really quite uncomfortable to read about, and they all seem to revolve around him having sex with them.
Overall, this was a book I'm glad I found, as this was weird, delicious and terrifying all at the same time, and I'd recommend it to anyone that wishes to take a break from the norm.
This was a delicately written book, that was incredibly engaging, with a seasoning of lunacy. Our narrator is Luke, who had heard stories of a 'Dumb house' from his mother as a child, which is a place filled with newborns, and ran by mutes, and the purpose of this was to discover whether language was innate, or something that was obtained later on. This became the reason for Luke's fascination with these experiments, and led to him building his own 'Dumb house.'
Throughout the book, Luke's actual name is barely mentioned, so it is possible to get lost in the text, and forget entirely who is telling the story. Luke is portrayed by Burnside as a character with a certain coldness, that can be clearly felt within his words, and although we know Luke is for the most part, deranged, he does show emotion from time to time. If I said I liked Luke, I'd be lying, but that is what makes this book grand. He relentlessly carries out terrifying acts, some of which, made made me feel nauseated, but in a way, that also pushed me to read on.
We meet a fair few characters in this book, most of which are women. He has a strange way in which he cares for women, that certainly isn't loving, but is almost mother-like, which turns, in the end, to totally controlling the woman. The relationships he does have feel wrong, and really quite uncomfortable to read about, and they all seem to revolve around him having sex with them.
Overall, this was a book I'm glad I found, as this was weird, delicious and terrifying all at the same time, and I'd recommend it to anyone that wishes to take a break from the norm.
August 2, 2024
میگویند هر شخصی به زبان مادریاش فکر میکند.سوال اینجاست که لال مادرزاد به چه زبانی فکر میکند؟
.
مطابق با افسانه،اکبر شاه گورکانی فرمان داد کاخی در بیابانی دورافتاده بسازند.
وی دوازده نوزاد را از سرتاسر امپراتوری جمع آوری کرده، در آن کاخ قرار داد و پرستاری از آن ها را به خدمتکارانی خاموش محول کرد، تا از این طریق به پرسش دیرینه انسان در باب زبان تکلم پاسخ دهد: زبان تکلم فطریست یا اکتسابی؟ .
این کاخ گُنگ محل نام گرفت. .
📝راوی روانپریش این رمان پس از شنیدن افسانهی گنگ محل از مادرش،تصمیم میگیرد نسخهی مدرنی از گنگ محل بیافریند تا به پاسخ پرسشهایش در باب ماهیت روح برسد.او به دنبال ارتباط میان روح و تولد و تکلم است و اینکه به نظرش زبان ارتباط تنگاتنگ با پدیدههای دنیا دارد.در این رمان او از مرگ مادرش با تمام جزییات ، تغییرات روحی و روانی او میگوید.با زنانی آشنا میشود و سعی میکند از طریق آنها به نتایجی که در سر دارد برسد.جاهایی از کتاب هم حیوانات و... رو کالبدشکافی میکند و از دیدن جریان زندگی در اونها به وجد میاد🙄اگه از این مسائل خوشتون میاد کتاب جالبی هست و موضوعش هم جدیده
#گنگ_محل
#جان_برن_ساید
#رضا_اسکندری_آذر
.
مطابق با افسانه،اکبر شاه گورکانی فرمان داد کاخی در بیابانی دورافتاده بسازند.
وی دوازده نوزاد را از سرتاسر امپراتوری جمع آوری کرده، در آن کاخ قرار داد و پرستاری از آن ها را به خدمتکارانی خاموش محول کرد، تا از این طریق به پرسش دیرینه انسان در باب زبان تکلم پاسخ دهد: زبان تکلم فطریست یا اکتسابی؟ .
این کاخ گُنگ محل نام گرفت. .
📝راوی روانپریش این رمان پس از شنیدن افسانهی گنگ محل از مادرش،تصمیم میگیرد نسخهی مدرنی از گنگ محل بیافریند تا به پاسخ پرسشهایش در باب ماهیت روح برسد.او به دنبال ارتباط میان روح و تولد و تکلم است و اینکه به نظرش زبان ارتباط تنگاتنگ با پدیدههای دنیا دارد.در این رمان او از مرگ مادرش با تمام جزییات ، تغییرات روحی و روانی او میگوید.با زنانی آشنا میشود و سعی میکند از طریق آنها به نتایجی که در سر دارد برسد.جاهایی از کتاب هم حیوانات و... رو کالبدشکافی میکند و از دیدن جریان زندگی در اونها به وجد میاد🙄اگه از این مسائل خوشتون میاد کتاب جالبی هست و موضوعش هم جدیده
#گنگ_محل
#جان_برن_ساید
#رضا_اسکندری_آذر
September 15, 2022
خیلیییی جالب بود ولی توقع داشتم داستان به شکل دیگری ادامه پیداکنه. یعنی توضیحاتی که ازش خونده بودم اینطور به نظر میومد که نوع روایت داستان خیلی متفاوت تر باشه. کتاب رو اگر پیدا کردین حتما بخونین مخصوصا اگر از شخصیت هایی که درگیری های روانی دارن، لذت می برین. داستان واقعا تو هر صفحه ای که میره جلو شما رو غافلگیر می کنه
March 13, 2016
Closer to a 3.5
From its synopsis and the reviews I'd seen, this book sounded like it was going to be a solid Five Star Read for me. Unfortunately, while I did enjoy it and there are some disturbing scenes, it was a little too slow for me. My favourite thing about this book was definitely its linguistic subject matter - some of the questions raised were just mind-bendingly fascinating and it really made me want to dig out my old uni textbooks!
Video review: https://youtu.be/B4Ujz1BqTaw
From its synopsis and the reviews I'd seen, this book sounded like it was going to be a solid Five Star Read for me. Unfortunately, while I did enjoy it and there are some disturbing scenes, it was a little too slow for me. My favourite thing about this book was definitely its linguistic subject matter - some of the questions raised were just mind-bendingly fascinating and it really made me want to dig out my old uni textbooks!
Video review: https://youtu.be/B4Ujz1BqTaw
August 17, 2015
Well gee....that was one twisted little mind-fuck! Holy moly!
This was an unsettling book to read. It is beautifully written and quite poetic, but at the same time, it is utterly, unforgivingly brutal and stark. Burnside doesn't hold back, so prepare yourself if you are easily sickened!
I liked it how Burnside drew us into Luke's world. We are made to feel quite intimiate with Luke and his life and 'studies' - he tells us everything he wants to do with his experiments. But, at the same time, Burnside has written this book in a very blunt manner, in which we are also kept at a distance, an outsider looking through the windows to Luke's cottage, if you will. A viewer. It's a strange combination of these intimate secrets told to us by Luke, but the conflicting distant writing that creates an odd sense of dislocation and disturbance. You certainly feel like you can't do anything to stop Luke, and you are kept at a distance. Names aren't used so often, either, it's a lot of him or her, or I, maybe until Luke has 'owned' these characters that their actual names are used? I think Luke's name is said a couple of times in the book.
It's an odd read, but a brilliant one. You are utterly sickened by Luke's experiments, but you also kind of admire, in a twisted way, his obvious intelligence and diligence. You are kept on your toes and one minute you think, "oh that's interesting", and the next you're like "er, what the hell, you twisted bastard!"
The manner of writing and the tone of the book (aka - general nasty shit a messed up prick can do)reminds me a bit of 'The Wasp Factory' by the late Iain Banks (another excellent Scottish novelist).
So, please read this if you aren't too squeemish and enjoy an extremely intriguing and well-crafted novel.
This was an unsettling book to read. It is beautifully written and quite poetic, but at the same time, it is utterly, unforgivingly brutal and stark. Burnside doesn't hold back, so prepare yourself if you are easily sickened!
I liked it how Burnside drew us into Luke's world. We are made to feel quite intimiate with Luke and his life and 'studies' - he tells us everything he wants to do with his experiments. But, at the same time, Burnside has written this book in a very blunt manner, in which we are also kept at a distance, an outsider looking through the windows to Luke's cottage, if you will. A viewer. It's a strange combination of these intimate secrets told to us by Luke, but the conflicting distant writing that creates an odd sense of dislocation and disturbance. You certainly feel like you can't do anything to stop Luke, and you are kept at a distance. Names aren't used so often, either, it's a lot of him or her, or I, maybe until Luke has 'owned' these characters that their actual names are used? I think Luke's name is said a couple of times in the book.
It's an odd read, but a brilliant one. You are utterly sickened by Luke's experiments, but you also kind of admire, in a twisted way, his obvious intelligence and diligence. You are kept on your toes and one minute you think, "oh that's interesting", and the next you're like "er, what the hell, you twisted bastard!"
The manner of writing and the tone of the book (aka - general nasty shit a messed up prick can do)reminds me a bit of 'The Wasp Factory' by the late Iain Banks (another excellent Scottish novelist).
So, please read this if you aren't too squeemish and enjoy an extremely intriguing and well-crafted novel.
February 9, 2017
When I began The Dumb House, it reminded me somewhat of John Fowles' The Collector and Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory. Regardless, it was so much creepier. Chilling from the very start, The Dumb House is as compelling as it is bloodcurdlingly disturbing. Horribly fantastic, and creepily believable is the narrator, Luke, whose ideas are undoubtedly sickening but related to paper so well by Burnside. Tautly written, and powerful. A memorable and fantastic book - one which I loved due to its scope and no-holds-barred approach, but one which I sincerely doubt I'll have the courage to pick up again in a hurry!
February 21, 2017
Wow. 4.5 stars. This is the most disturbing book I've ever read, and not because of its subject matter or any specific scenes - it's the execution that makes it haunting. Burnside has an uncanny ability to walk the thinnest of lines time and again - never straying from gruesome to grotesque, from rapturous to indulgent, from philosophical to pretentious. Absolutely superb writing that'll stay with me for a long time.
December 24, 2018
This book was odd. It was definitely interesting, and very disturbing, but I found myself disappointed. I wanted more. It had such a unique and messed-up premise and then very little happened.
January 24, 2018
Knjižica koja me je u svakom smislu iznenadila.
Oslanjajući se na sinopsis, nisam očekivao da roman bude u ovoj meri posvećen likovima (tojest jednom liku, naratoru) i njegovom razvoju – Burnsajd gotovo da sa svojim protagonistom/pripovedačem može da parira Hambertu Hambertu po nivou dvosmislenosti pripovedanja i onom posebnom osećaju šarmantne jezivosti kojom zrači. Isprva mi je bilo malo mrsko da čitam, jer očekivao sam nešto drugo (sinopsis!), ali impresivno je to što Burnsajd radi. Zastrašujuće, ali impresivno.
Sa druge strane, ovo je još jedno u nizu ljubavnih pisama jeziku i rečima, koje se medjutim ističe svojom britkošću i slojevitošću, plus uspeva da u sve utka izrazit ton melanholije. I ostaviću na tome, da ne dangubim sad sa silnim paralelama koje se mogu povući od centralne teme romana, urodjenosti i prirode jezika. Svakako jedinstven roman, samo mi je žao što je tako kratak. Mislim da bi knjižici dobro stajalo još malo sala.
4+
Oslanjajući se na sinopsis, nisam očekivao da roman bude u ovoj meri posvećen likovima (tojest jednom liku, naratoru) i njegovom razvoju – Burnsajd gotovo da sa svojim protagonistom/pripovedačem može da parira Hambertu Hambertu po nivou dvosmislenosti pripovedanja i onom posebnom osećaju šarmantne jezivosti kojom zrači. Isprva mi je bilo malo mrsko da čitam, jer očekivao sam nešto drugo (sinopsis!), ali impresivno je to što Burnsajd radi. Zastrašujuće, ali impresivno.
Sa druge strane, ovo je još jedno u nizu ljubavnih pisama jeziku i rečima, koje se medjutim ističe svojom britkošću i slojevitošću, plus uspeva da u sve utka izrazit ton melanholije. I ostaviću na tome, da ne dangubim sad sa silnim paralelama koje se mogu povući od centralne teme romana, urodjenosti i prirode jezika. Svakako jedinstven roman, samo mi je žao što je tako kratak. Mislim da bi knjižici dobro stajalo još malo sala.
4+
February 7, 2015
Der Roman beschreibt aus Innensicht (Ich-Erzählungsstil) die Welt eines Psychopaten, der sich für einen Wissenschaftler hält, mit abscheulichen menschlichen Sprachexperimenten die Anlage-Umweltproblematik der Entwicklungspsychologie bzgl. Sprachentwicklung erforschen möchte und eigentlich doch nur seinem Verlangen nach Macht, Kontrolle und Sadismus frönt.
Die Geschichte von John Burnside geht sogar in zwei getrennt voneinander konzipierten Ebenen auf die Gen/Umweltproblematik ein, die sich damit beschäftigt, ob bestimmte Entwicklungen des Menschen angeboren sind oder erlernt werden, in welchem Ausmaß die Faktoren wirken und ob sie und in welchem Rahmen nachträglich (nach Abschluss der Gehirnentwicklung) noch verändert werden können
Dies geschieht einerseits durch die Gedanken und geplanten Experimente des Hauptprotagonisten mit Kindern zur Sprache, indem man sie völlig ohne Sprachreize in absoluter Stille und Isolation aufwachsen läßt, andererseits auch durch die Geschichte des psychopatischen Erzählers, der erst nach und nach seine antizsoziale Persönlichkeitsstörung voll entwickelt und auslebt. Von der Kindheit an kann man aus einer dekonstruierten, fokussierten minimalistischen Innensicht die Welt eines Psychos erkennen: Wie die ersten Traumata passieren und wie damit umgegangen wird, wie die Außenwelt bzw. die Reflexion des Hauptprotagonisten darauf wahrgenommen wird, wie die ersten Grausamkeiten an Tieren passieren, wie immer mehr die Empathie und der Kontakt zur Umwelt abreisst und dies schlussendlich in gnadenlosen meist beiläufigen Gewalttaten gipfelt. Der Roman bietet insofern einen innovativen spannenden Zugang zum Thema Psychopath weil er anders als die Fitzek Thriller oder wie sie alle heißen bzw. im Gegensatz zu den Sachbüchern und Beschreibungen der Kriminalpsychologen nur die Innensicht dieser antizozialen Persönlichkeitsstörung abbildet.
Selten hat mich ein Buch derart dazu animiert, so viel Hintergrundmaterial zu recherchieren und zu lesen, denn ich wollte einfach folgende Fragen klären: Was sind die Kennzeichen eines Psychopaten und wie wird man zum Psycho ? Wieviel ist genetisch und wieviel ist erlernt durch Gewalterfahrungen und Traumata in der Kindheit? Dieselbe Frage musste ich auch bzgl. Sprache klären: Hat Sprache eine angeborene Komponente oder ist alles als Kulturleistung erlernt? Neuere wissenschaftliche Forschungen geben der Genetik als Einflussfaktor sehr viel Raum. Alle beiden Forschungsgebiete wurden auch vom Autor sehr sauber recherchiert und ganz subtil in die Geschichte eingebaut, sonst wäre der Roman nicht so geschrieben.
Ausserdem muss ich noch über eine sehr erfreuliche Leseerfahrung berichten. Ich habe die Geschichte zusammen mit einer Lesegruppe erfolgreich bewältigt. Auch in der Vergangenheit habe ich schon an Lesegruppen teilgenommen, aber bisher hatte ich keine so positiven Erlebnisse, wobei dies meist nicht an der Gruppe sondern an den Büchern lag. Die konstruktiven bis genialenen Diskussionen haben mir diesmal sehr gut gefallen.
Die Geschichte ist teilweise fast nicht erträglich durch ihre lapidare Grausamkeit, ihre banalen, aber ungeheuerlichen Verstöße gegen die gesellschaftlichen Normen, und wirkt durch den labilen ziellosen Charakter des Protagonisten manchmal sprunghaft und selbst ohne Absicht, dies ist aber nicht der Grund, warum ich einen Stern abziehe.
Es ist das Ende, das mich so gestört hat. In einer weiteren Ablaufschleife scheitert der Psycho an seinen eigenen Experimentalzielen, vernichtet die Untersuchungsgegenstände, wird nicht entdeckt, sucht sich ein neues Opfer und beginnt erneut von vorne... dieses Ende mag zwar durchaus realistisch sein, befriedigt aber weder mich noch schöpft es sein eigenes Potenzial aus.
Denn was mich noch brennend interessiert hätte: Wie reagiert der Psycho aus Innensicht wenn er erwischt wird? Mit welchen Argumenten rechtfertigt er sich vor der Gesellschaft und der Justiz, den Therapeuten..... da wäre noch viel zu entdecken gewesen, das mir der Autor vorenthalten hat.
Fazit: Ausgezeichnetes spannendes, grausames Psychogramm einer gestörten Persönlichkeit, aber nicht für jedermann geeignet
Die Geschichte von John Burnside geht sogar in zwei getrennt voneinander konzipierten Ebenen auf die Gen/Umweltproblematik ein, die sich damit beschäftigt, ob bestimmte Entwicklungen des Menschen angeboren sind oder erlernt werden, in welchem Ausmaß die Faktoren wirken und ob sie und in welchem Rahmen nachträglich (nach Abschluss der Gehirnentwicklung) noch verändert werden können
Dies geschieht einerseits durch die Gedanken und geplanten Experimente des Hauptprotagonisten mit Kindern zur Sprache, indem man sie völlig ohne Sprachreize in absoluter Stille und Isolation aufwachsen läßt, andererseits auch durch die Geschichte des psychopatischen Erzählers, der erst nach und nach seine antizsoziale Persönlichkeitsstörung voll entwickelt und auslebt. Von der Kindheit an kann man aus einer dekonstruierten, fokussierten minimalistischen Innensicht die Welt eines Psychos erkennen: Wie die ersten Traumata passieren und wie damit umgegangen wird, wie die Außenwelt bzw. die Reflexion des Hauptprotagonisten darauf wahrgenommen wird, wie die ersten Grausamkeiten an Tieren passieren, wie immer mehr die Empathie und der Kontakt zur Umwelt abreisst und dies schlussendlich in gnadenlosen meist beiläufigen Gewalttaten gipfelt. Der Roman bietet insofern einen innovativen spannenden Zugang zum Thema Psychopath weil er anders als die Fitzek Thriller oder wie sie alle heißen bzw. im Gegensatz zu den Sachbüchern und Beschreibungen der Kriminalpsychologen nur die Innensicht dieser antizozialen Persönlichkeitsstörung abbildet.
Selten hat mich ein Buch derart dazu animiert, so viel Hintergrundmaterial zu recherchieren und zu lesen, denn ich wollte einfach folgende Fragen klären: Was sind die Kennzeichen eines Psychopaten und wie wird man zum Psycho ? Wieviel ist genetisch und wieviel ist erlernt durch Gewalterfahrungen und Traumata in der Kindheit? Dieselbe Frage musste ich auch bzgl. Sprache klären: Hat Sprache eine angeborene Komponente oder ist alles als Kulturleistung erlernt? Neuere wissenschaftliche Forschungen geben der Genetik als Einflussfaktor sehr viel Raum. Alle beiden Forschungsgebiete wurden auch vom Autor sehr sauber recherchiert und ganz subtil in die Geschichte eingebaut, sonst wäre der Roman nicht so geschrieben.
Ausserdem muss ich noch über eine sehr erfreuliche Leseerfahrung berichten. Ich habe die Geschichte zusammen mit einer Lesegruppe erfolgreich bewältigt. Auch in der Vergangenheit habe ich schon an Lesegruppen teilgenommen, aber bisher hatte ich keine so positiven Erlebnisse, wobei dies meist nicht an der Gruppe sondern an den Büchern lag. Die konstruktiven bis genialenen Diskussionen haben mir diesmal sehr gut gefallen.
Die Geschichte ist teilweise fast nicht erträglich durch ihre lapidare Grausamkeit, ihre banalen, aber ungeheuerlichen Verstöße gegen die gesellschaftlichen Normen, und wirkt durch den labilen ziellosen Charakter des Protagonisten manchmal sprunghaft und selbst ohne Absicht, dies ist aber nicht der Grund, warum ich einen Stern abziehe.
Es ist das Ende, das mich so gestört hat. In einer weiteren Ablaufschleife scheitert der Psycho an seinen eigenen Experimentalzielen, vernichtet die Untersuchungsgegenstände, wird nicht entdeckt, sucht sich ein neues Opfer und beginnt erneut von vorne... dieses Ende mag zwar durchaus realistisch sein, befriedigt aber weder mich noch schöpft es sein eigenes Potenzial aus.
Denn was mich noch brennend interessiert hätte: Wie reagiert der Psycho aus Innensicht wenn er erwischt wird? Mit welchen Argumenten rechtfertigt er sich vor der Gesellschaft und der Justiz, den Therapeuten..... da wäre noch viel zu entdecken gewesen, das mir der Autor vorenthalten hat.
Fazit: Ausgezeichnetes spannendes, grausames Psychogramm einer gestörten Persönlichkeit, aber nicht für jedermann geeignet
March 13, 2017
4.5/5stars
holy crap that was so fucked up.
But I LOVED it.
Okay, so, I'm not totally sure why but this book really reminded me of "The Vegetarian" by Han Kang - or, maybe not the book, but the FEELING I got from reading it. It's sort of beautiful, analytical, and entirely fucked up, and I found myself enjoying it immensely.
This book follows a man (Luke? I think? We only got his name once or twice) who is a bit obsessed with language. He believes that, without language the body does not have a soul. He's a bit obsessed with this whole idea and souls and such because of his mother who died while he was still quite young. Luke accounts tons of experiments/specific cases of children who weren't exposed to speech when they were young - whether they were deaf, locked away, or didn't have contact with humans. He's so obsessed with this whole idea, that he decides to perform his own experiment.
This book was CREEPY. The guy in this book is CREEPY. And I LOVED it. like how I liked both Han Kang's works - I just adore books that don't cover anything up, and are unapologetic about exploring a topic entirely raw.
But seriously, the main guy in this book is seriously fucked up and being in his head was intense.
I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone with an interest in psychology.
MAJOR triggers for; child abuse/neglect, death, rape (the woman is unconscious when it happens), and just some seriously fucked up thinking about humans and who deserves to live and whose lives can be thrown away and such
holy crap that was so fucked up.
But I LOVED it.
Okay, so, I'm not totally sure why but this book really reminded me of "The Vegetarian" by Han Kang - or, maybe not the book, but the FEELING I got from reading it. It's sort of beautiful, analytical, and entirely fucked up, and I found myself enjoying it immensely.
This book follows a man (Luke? I think? We only got his name once or twice) who is a bit obsessed with language. He believes that, without language the body does not have a soul. He's a bit obsessed with this whole idea and souls and such because of his mother who died while he was still quite young. Luke accounts tons of experiments/specific cases of children who weren't exposed to speech when they were young - whether they were deaf, locked away, or didn't have contact with humans. He's so obsessed with this whole idea, that he decides to perform his own experiment.
This book was CREEPY. The guy in this book is CREEPY. And I LOVED it. like how I liked both Han Kang's works - I just adore books that don't cover anything up, and are unapologetic about exploring a topic entirely raw.
But seriously, the main guy in this book is seriously fucked up and being in his head was intense.
I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone with an interest in psychology.
MAJOR triggers for; child abuse/neglect, death, rape (the woman is unconscious when it happens), and just some seriously fucked up thinking about humans and who deserves to live and whose lives can be thrown away and such
August 6, 2023
Great scary stuff from Scotland, sickening even in the common-sense way of giving voice to an extremely disturbed mind -this narrator is a Freudian wet dream really but there is barely any gore, yet it is an intense horror story seen through the eyes of a man who is a tad too obsessed with Anatomy and Linguistics.
Why?
"Mother disliked sentimentality."
But she liked telling bedtime stories. Stories about The Forbidden Experiment, about language depravation experiments, about James IV of Scotland who was said to have sent two children to be raised by a mute woman on the island of Inchkeith, to determine if language was learned or innate(see here); or about the dyslexic 16th century Mughal Emperor Akbar who wanted to discover the natural origin of language by having several children raised by “tongue-tied” wetnurses, confined to a building that came to be called the Gang Mahal, the “dumb house.” When Akbar visited the house four years later in 1582, he heard “no cry…nor any speech…no talisman of speech, and nothing came out except the noise of the dumb.” (see here.)
"And then it was as if I was the one who could not speak, as if, for me, the world was nothing more than a jumble of meaningless and disquieting sensations - and it came to me, then, that I was the one who had been placed in the Dumb House."
Why?
"Mother disliked sentimentality."
But she liked telling bedtime stories. Stories about The Forbidden Experiment, about language depravation experiments, about James IV of Scotland who was said to have sent two children to be raised by a mute woman on the island of Inchkeith, to determine if language was learned or innate(see here); or about the dyslexic 16th century Mughal Emperor Akbar who wanted to discover the natural origin of language by having several children raised by “tongue-tied” wetnurses, confined to a building that came to be called the Gang Mahal, the “dumb house.” When Akbar visited the house four years later in 1582, he heard “no cry…nor any speech…no talisman of speech, and nothing came out except the noise of the dumb.” (see here.)
"And then it was as if I was the one who could not speak, as if, for me, the world was nothing more than a jumble of meaningless and disquieting sensations - and it came to me, then, that I was the one who had been placed in the Dumb House."
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