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The Gray House
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
The Gray House is an astounding tale of how what others understand as liabilities can be leveraged into strengths. Bound to wheelchairs and dependent on prosthetic limbs, the physically disabled students living in the House are overlooked by the Outsides. Not that it matters to anyone living in the House, a hulking old structure that its residents know is alive. From the corridors and crawl spaces to the classrooms and dorms, the House is full of tribes, tinctures, scared teachers, and laws--all seen and understood through a prismatic array of teenagers' eyes. But student deaths and mounting pressure from the Outsides put the time-defying order of the House in danger. As the tribe leaders struggle to maintain power, they defer to the awesome power of the House, attempting to make it through days and nights that pass in ways that clocks and watches cannot record.
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peanutnine
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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September #Roll100
I'm currently reading the 4 pick from August and have already read 79 so that just leaves 47: The Gray House
I've had this on my kindle for years so I'm excited to finally get to it
@PuddleJumper

PuddleJumper 🎉🎉 1y
31 likes1 comment
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Ast_Arslan
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 95th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

review
BarbaraTheBibliophage
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Panpan

Well, there‘s 36 hours of listening time I‘ll never get back. Some reviewers found this debut novel charming. For me, it was somewhere between weird and annoying. Amateurish writing with no logical story arc until about 85%. And then only maybe. Pick something else for #Armenia my #readingasia friends.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2021 #readingasia2021

TrishB Love the graphic! 3y
DGRachel Thanks for the warning! Why would you suffer like for that 36 hours, though? It‘s sounds completely miserable. 🥺 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @DGRachel Honestly, I did think it would get better. And then I was so invested. I don‘t know. It‘s also this thing I might call “the dark side of reading challenges for perfectionists.” 🤷🏼‍♀️🙇🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🙇🏼‍♀️ 3y
See All 16 Comments
Lcsmcat I rarely bail on books, but I got this as an ebook and I bailed at 10%. It made no sense and couldn‘t hold my interest. I can‘t imagine listening to it for 36 hours! 3y
DGRachel No judgement - I‘ve definitely listened to books for this challenge that I wouldn‘t have in other circumstances. 36 hours, though. 😭😭 3y
Librarybelle Way to persevere! 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Lcsmcat It was a slog. Perhaps you were the smarter reader. I did start switching between e-book and audio towards the end. I‘m a faster reader with eyes than with ears! 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @DGRachel I knew you weren‘t judging. We understand the tendencies of other readers! I did start using the ebook at the end. I read faster with eyes than ears! 👀 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Librarybelle Thanks! Happy to provide a warning to other challenge folks. 🤪 3y
Tamra Oh dear, that‘s a lot of hours! I wish there had been a better payoff. Thanks for taking the bullet for us here. 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Tamra You‘re welcome. Happy to take one (or 900 pages) for the team! 🤪 3y
BethM Woah- I would‘ve bailed! 3y
BarbaraBB Kudos for finishing it! 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @BethM Yup, I‘m a little nuts for finishing! 🤪 3y
70 likes16 comments
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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I picked this up at World Book Day three years ago. The author is Armenian, so I‘m hoping to use it for #readingasia #armenia. That said, the reviews are clear … it is weird magical realism. And it‘s 36 hours long on audio! So far it‘s intriguing but I can see I need to really put some time into it and hopefully it will grab me.

Librarybelle I have a few selections I picked up through past World Book Days that I hope to read for #ReadingAsia2021 too! 3y
59 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Echo
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Echo
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
This post contains spoilers
show me

Woo boy do we need to talk about this book! I have questions! Where are the adults? How do they get things from the Outsides? What about their former lives? When do they phase out? Where do they go?

review
cherinium
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Panpan

700+ pages of constant confusion. I still don't think I fully understand what happened.

This was an award winning book in Russia, where it was initially published. A quick search online unearthed a healthy number of fans. This was a big reason I stayed with it when I wanted to bail. In the end, I must admit perhaps magical realism just isn't in my wheelhouse.
#wtf #chunkster #ReadingEurope2020 #armenianauthor @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

cherinium Every character in this book is eccentric, so this also counts for #Booked2020 #EccentricMC @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Good job hanging in there!! 4y
cherinium @BarbaraTheBibliophage Although I thought about quitting several times, there was a part of me that believed I would have an Aha! moment and it would just all come together. Unfortunately, that never happened.🤷🏼‍♀️ 4y
See All 7 Comments
BarbaraBB Impressive that you didn‘t bail! 4y
Librarybelle I agree with @BarbaraBB ! 4y
Cinfhen Wow!!!! That‘s a commitment 🙌🏻 at least it blocked off 2 challenges 😉❣️ 4y
31 likes1 stack add7 comments
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KimM
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Pickpick

This reminded me a little of Lord of the Flies but with disabled kids. It‘s very long. The audio wouldn‘t hold my attention so I had to put it down. I chose it for “Women in Translation” so I may revisit it at a later date when I can focus better. The writing is excellent and I love stories where the house is a character.

#womenintranslation

Lcsmcat I tried this (twice) in print, not audio, and I couldn‘t stick with it. More power to you. 5y
17 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Cecil
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Pickpick

August is Women in Translation Month, and I will take any opportunity to rave about this book. It‘s one of my favourite novels, truly. It has nuanced characters I was deeply invested in. I will admit it‘s dense and almost shyly obtuse, but it‘s a world you can really sink into, and it will reward a reader willing to spend time with it. I‘ve read it twice and expect I‘ll still be discovering its secrets on my third pass. #womenintranslation

Echo This one has been so easy to get lost in! It's such a trippy book! 4y
3 likes1 comment
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BeansPage
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Bailedbailed

I really don't know if I can recommend this one for all the reasons stated above. It was not a very enjoyable read for me. I had to bail.

Please read my full review here:
TamaraTheReadingMermaid.weebly.com

jdiehr I think I have this on my Kindle...😟 6y
BeansPage @jdiehr try it out for yourself first and see if you can get past the reading style. I think that's half the battle. The translation seems to be extremely blocky sounding but that might be just me. 6y
jdiehr @TheReadingMermaid If I remember correctly, this was a free book from "Read the World Day" or something like that. I've had it for a long time. We'll see. I have lots of others in line before this one. 6y
BeansPage @jdiehr yep that's where I got it too LOL 😋 6y
77 likes1 stack add4 comments
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mab-solenne
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Having a hard time getting through this in the kindle app. Love the amazon #readtheworld giveaway, but i think this is a book i need in paper. Keep wanting to flip to beginning to check character names, and just overall hard for me to get into language flow w constant swiping. Plus this is an 800 pg book, but it's 3 or 4 x that in the app bc of the short digital pages. Also the litsy 'add image' module stinks.

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Kathrin
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
Bailedbailed

I see that many are just enchanted by the story, but I honestly don't get it. There were a couple of occasions when I thought I finally discovered the plot, just to see that there is none. I made it through around 30 hours of the audio book and then decided that I cannot listen to this one minute longer. I tried.... I really did.

tpixie It‘s good to spend your valuable time enjoying it 6y
15 likes1 comment
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Kathrin
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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I have invested 15 hours into this book and still have 22 more to go... unfortunately, I am still pretty clueless what this book is about, but if I finish it, I can cross off #trilogy from one of my reading challenges. Help! Does anybody know what‘s going on???

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Nutmegnc
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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I haven't started this yet, but WOW the cover.

readordierachel I read the first few chapters and really liked them. It's weird and interesting. 7y
Nutmegnc @ReadOrDieRachel weird and interesting are what I like best. Can't wait. This moves to the top of mount tbr! 7y
24 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Kathrin
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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I did you a little crazy yesterday at the World Book Day sale! 😣😣😣

beaconhillbooks I did the same thing! 7y
20 likes1 comment
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mab-solenne
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Super excited to read more international fiction with free ebooks for World Book Day! http://amzn.to/2Gdw6p0 #readtheworld #freebooks #international

12 likes1 stack add
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JPeterson
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Sharing, because this is too good to pass up on!
For #WorldBookDay, Amazon is celebrating by allowing free downloads of 9 books!

I had planned to just grab a few, but couldn‘t resist getting all. Happy reading, Littens! 😄

#ReadTheWorld

https://www.amazon.com/article/read-the-world

Ingerella I got 7 of the 9. I'm excited to read them! 7y
JPeterson @Ingerella Yes! I‘m thinking of starting The Gray House tonight. 😊 7y
bridge12 I totally got them all too! They all look SO good! 7y
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Cortg Thanks! I got them! 7y
Copwithabook I got all of them too. Why not, they were free 7y
JPeterson @bridge12 @Copwithabook @Cortg Yay! Plus, it‘s perfect for mood reading, with all the different options 7y
Cortg @JPeterson Exactly! Do I want to go to Istanbul this week or Greece 🤔😀 7y
JPeterson @Cortg Both 😉 7y
89 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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"There is #nothing except the house." #quotsyjan18

vivastory Your posts about this book reminds me of one of my favorite Latin American novels 7y
Moray_Reads @vivastory I've never heard of that one, it sounds great. Even if the blurb used one of my least favourite words 😝 7y
vivastory I'm going to guess it's either fecundity, freaks or deformity 7y
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Moray_Reads @vivastory Fecundity. Overuse is one of several reasons I can't bear DH Lawrence! 7y
vivastory I love Lawrence's poetry, I have yet to try his prose. I think I'd either love it or hate it. 7y
Moray_Reads @vivastory he loves the word fecund about as much as I hate it! 7y
36 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Pickpick

The Guardian calls this "Rowling meets Rushdie via Tartt". I disagree. It's more like China Miéville and Chris Adrian rewrote the ETA parts of Infinite Jest (sans tennis), added a healthy pinch of William Golding and then went to Mark Danielewski for an extra dash of crazy. Dark, labyrinthine and complex, it's totally engrossing with a loveable (if psychotic) cast and a claustrophobic, brooding atmosphere. It's early but this is the one to beat.

OwenBanner This looks brilliant 7y
Moray_Reads @OwenBanner it was so mad and so good! 7y
DivaDiane This sounds like a book I must read. 7y
See All 12 Comments
OwenBanner Added! 7y
Kalalalatja Stacked! 7y
Heideschrampf Erm.... best review ever!? 7y
saresmoore Gimme this. 7y
Moray_Reads @DivaDiane @Kalalalatja @Heideschrampf @saresmoore it's so, so good and I'll be amazed is I read anything stranger this year! 7y
vivastory This will definitely be moving up my TBR. Excellent review! 7y
batsy What a review! 7y
mab-solenne This review makes me want to read the book just so i can follow along w your references/readalikes. 7y
Moray_Reads @makovienka it's fantastic by every definition. Still one of the most surprising, original books I've read this year. I loved it! 7y
46 likes6 stack adds12 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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This book is just utterly, sublimely bonkers. I have no idea what is happening or where is going but it's completely engrossing.

athorne Did you use an app for this? :o 7y
vivastory This has been on my TBR for awhile. 7y
Moray_Reads @vivastory it's taking forever to read, I've been at it all day and I'm just a third in but it's brilliant, in a boggling, disturbing way 7y
Moray_Reads @TheGhastlyGrimoire it's an android app called quotes creator 😊 7y
43 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Saturday ♥️♥️♥️

julesG What a lovely teapot! 7y
Betty So cozy! 7y
Blaire Nice mug! 7y
See All 9 Comments
erzascarletbookgasm I like your teapot! 7y
Kalalalatja That mug 😍 7y
DimeryRene What a beautiful picture. 7y
Simona 😍Beautiful teapot and mug! 7y
LeahBergen I love your little teacup 💕 7y
saresmoore Absolutely lovely! 7y
62 likes9 comments
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Bambolina_81
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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I heard about this one on the Get Booked (Book Riot) podcast and I was instantly intrigued so I bought it...It's enormous!

Notafraidofwords Oh yeah. I'm intrigued. 7y
54 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Caterina
The Gray House | Mariam Petrosyan
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Hey, fellow #WelcometotheJungle #SerialReader #readalong folks, our reading ties into this passage of my #NetGalley read! Tabaqui and Bandar-Logs!

Echo Am I the only one thinking this might be casual reference to the jungle book? 4y
23 likes1 comment