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Monday, November 2, 2015

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Night Film by Marisha Pessl 
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: July 1st, 2014
Pages: 592
Song I Played While Reading: Dark Times by The Weeknd
Rating: 4 stars

Ashley Cordova, the mysterious, gifted daughter of the reclusive film director Stanislas Cordova, is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Her death is ruled a suicide, but veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. What happened to Ashley? As McGrath tries to uncover the truth, he is drawn into a spell-binding quest in the underworld of the Cordova family's life. 

All I'm gonna ask is this: WHAT was Marisha Pessl smoking when she wrote this book? What, and how the hell can I get some because this woman is a genius. Night Film is unlike anything I've ever read before, thrilling and twisted and shocking and dark and electrifying. I honestly cannot fathom how someone could have written this. Kudos to you Pessl, KUDOS.
The writing was magnificent, so simplistic yet otherworldly, reeling you in with it's dark and eerily relatable story. Night Film features pictures, emails, websites, magazine articles, and notes, something that I absolutely adore because it really gives you a sense that you're in the story alongside the characters, following the clues and wondering exactly who this Cordova guy is.
I loved the characters, especially our three main ones, Scott, Nora, and Hopper. They were a fantastic team and absolutely hilarious, which was much needed during some of the more oppressive scenes that kind of made you feel like you weren't gong to be able to sleep that night, which happened to me a lot. I don't get freaked out easily with books, but with the pictures in here and the websites we went on... *shudders*
Night Film features one of those summaries that is purposely left vague, so if it doesn't hook you in right away, give it a chance. There's much, much, MUCH more hidden in this creeptastic book and I'm bursting to name off a few but I don't want to spoil anything, so PLEASE JUST TAKE MY WORD. Unless you don't like scary books, then don't take my word. Run far away from this book!
Overall, this was such an unexpectedly deep and exhilarating read. I definitely plan on reading more from Pessl in the future!

Quotes
"Mortal fear is as crucial a thing to our lives as love. It cuts to the core of our being and shows us what we are. Will you step back and cover your eyes? Or will you have the strength to walk to the precipice and look out?"

"She looked at me. "Moe was a triple threat."
"He could sing, dance, and act?"
She shook her head. "He could speak Armenian, saddle break a stallion, and pass for a female in drag."
"That is extremely threatening."
"When he got dressed up, even you'd think he was female."
"Speak for yourself."

"Freak the ferocious out- there were quite a few pages on the site devoted to Cordova's supposed life philosophy, which meant, in a nutshell, that to be terrified, to be scared out of your skin, was the beginning of freedom, of opening your eyes to what was graphic and dark and gorgeous about life, thereby conquering the monsters of your mind."

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