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The Dumb House is ostensibly concerned with the soul & where it resides. The novel's narrator, Luke, decides that the soul resides in linguistic ability & he recounts a childhood story about, an ancient experiment to discover where language first forms. Is language innate, or is it acquired? If it is acquired, then how? Only a small portion of the 200 page novel concerns the experiments themselves, the vast majority are occupied with the lead-up👇

This book reminded me of The Collector and The Wasp Factory. Books with main characters who are cold and ruthless in an intelligent and argumentative way. I don‘t know what it says about me 🙈 but I did enjoy this freaky read about a man using his own kids to create a ‘Dumb House‘ experiment.

Thanks for sharing @Cinfhen 💕 and for putting it on my radar @Kalalalatja 😘

(Pic: Drents Museum, Assen, NL)

This book was massively twisted ~ really disturbing. I was hoping for an ending that would provide a reveal or surprise that might change my view but sadly that wasn‘t the case. While there were some interesting ideas about language, words, and the way we communicate ultimately this book was not satisfying. Thanks for passing it along @Kalalalatja it made for a quick read today.

Holy 💩-balls!! I feel like I wasn‘t given the proper warning label before I began reading this book!!! It is majorly EFFED-UP 🙈 I‘m deeply disturbed and equally compelled to read further. I don‘t usually do scary reads but this one would fall into the category 💯

#BookMail #WelcomeHomeCheer Thank you so much @Kalalalatja 💕💕💕💕what a lovely surprise to come home to 😁After two long but uneventful flights, followed by a luggage snafu in Israel, I found myself in a deep #SleepingSatellite today. Just waking up to an empty fridge and a huge amount of unpacking and organizing to deal with. Can‘t wait to settle in with my new books📚 #AyUpAugust

It's good, but brace yourself. Completely inside the mind of a sociopath who sees human beings (and animals for that matter) as tools or experiments. There are some gorgeous passages describing the natural world & some questionable musings about human nature/language, all juxtaposed against horrific acts. Luke is a supremely unreliable narrator. So much rationalization & ascribing dubious motives and feelings to the people around him. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm reusing The Dumb House because I came across this line today and it jumped out at me and made me think of the #youngandbeautiful prompt: "Ten years before, she would have been considered pretty; now, with the lines around her mouth and the stain of persistent disappointment in her eyes, she was almost beautiful."

I think that's a compliment?? ?

#maymoviemagic #besticoulddo #ipromisenottousethisbookforeveryprompt
@Cinfhen @rohit-sawant

#weveonlyjustbegun this book and I, but I'm already disturbed and hooked. The first line is: "No one could say it was my choice to kill the twins, any more than it was my decision to bring them into the world." ?

#maymoviemagic
@Cinfhen @rohit-sawant

So many #dumbthings and weird things and creepy things are going on in this novel. 🤐

#MarchintoOz

In this weird and very disturbing novel, Burnside introduces us to Luke, who likes to #playlikegod. Luke wants to learn where in the body the soul resides, and he goes to great lenghts to find the answer to his question.

#NuYear

Deeply disturbing yet beautifully written, The Dumb House explores grief like no other novel I've read. Simply incredible.

An ordered illusion is necessarily preferable to the chaotic truth of the world.

Very strange, so screwed up, but entrancing, I couldn't read it quick enough

Luke from The Dumb House is a #completepsycho. He makes experiments to find out if the ability to speach is what makes us uniquely human. But the way he does this is all kind of f*ed up! Great book though 👌

#Character2017

Well, this was disturbing!! But also very thought provoking. Burnside surely knows how to balance incredible prose with nauseating episodes. 5/5 stars

I love an #UnreliableNarrator when it is done well, which is the case with The Dumb House. An unnamed narrator wants to find out if language is acquired or innate, and from there everything gets really dark and twisted.

#MayBookFlowers

Bookish #SandM - my take on today's prompt for #BookLove17.

Books that hurt to read, but you enjoy reading them 😶

Oh Google Image search, you just get me.

I haven't bought any Christmas candy yet, so my #candycane will have to be of books. Which are better for you anyway, so I guess It's okay 😄

#12daysofxmasphoto

A collection of #dysfunctionalfamilies. I love me something weird and dysfunctional, so these books are so in my wheelhouse. They are all dysfunctional in their own way, and some more than others. I would recommend all of them 👌

#photoadaynov16

Holy absolute shit balls!!! What a ride, and a MOST uncomfortable read. There were some very shady bus journeys where I was doing a lot of wincing, and glancing furtively over my shoulder for fear of...something. I'm not even sure what I can call this something, but it was so creepy I could taste it.

I cannot express my excitement about getting stuck into this 😍

This book was deeply unsettling. Man experiments on own children by limiting their speech. If you ever wanted to wander into a mind of a sociopath, pick this one up. Along with the psychological aspects, I really enjoyed the pondering on linguistics and how it links to human social interactions.