Customer Reviews

Adams Fall

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After finishing the intriguing novel called "Adams Fall" by Sean Desmond, I was blown away and a bit freaked out. I couldn't put it down, and was fascinated with the story. Several times while reading the book I actually got the chills, and was afraid to be by myself. It is packed with paragraphs that are hilarious and wonderfully descriptive. I really was drawn into the main character's perspective of the college, and it was very easy to identify with him. It is a novel that is cloaked in secrecy, yet it reveals a powerful insight into the depths of the dark side of the human experience. After reading "Adams Fall," the first thing I did was flip back to the first page to start the ride all over again.

Warning: this book will cause insomnia! I reached a point while reading this novel where I was terrified to continue reading, but I was equally terrified to close the book and turn off the light. (I opted to keep reading, and boy am I glad to be 3,000 miles away from Harvard's blood-soaked bricks.) My favorite scene was set on Halloween night in the steam tunnels beneath the library - don't expect to fall asleep after reading that chapter.

Sean Desmond is a master of terror and I am certain that his horrifying portrait of Adams House circa 1994 will haunt me for years to come.

I have been to Boston twice in my lifetime and during my time there, I have visited Harvard on more than a couple of occassions. The atmosphere is dark, grim and not the oh so cheerful college-style freedom you come to get acquainted with when visiting any other university in any other part of the world. I always thought that was because of the Harvard demeanour and the fact that going to one of world's most respected school kind of does that to you. This book takes that personally contrived notion, gulps it up, spits it back out and forms a whole different and darker image of the place.

We start off with the length, which is very right for this book in more than a different count. First being that Sean Desmond is a first time author where mistakes could be masked by making things up to the point and another is the fact that a story like this one is greatly told in a hit and run fashion. Desmond is successful enough to take us into a journey deep in the mind of the narrator, who through the novel is nameless. His thoughts, desires and fall from grace is well depicted throughout. The story moves more like a fall from grace style of writing and holds true to many biblical mythos and figures.

Is it scary? I have read scarier books, but this book holds a suspense factor of 9 on a 10 scale. You just want to know what might happen. The only thing that the book fails to answer is why things are happening. The book will leave you wanting more, but I won't necessary think it would make an insomniac out of you.

For a first time author, Desmond is good and his lacking are only apparent when it comes to naming places in the Boston area in great detail with names and such. This creates a lot of confusion with those not familiar with the place, especially knowing that these places actually exist in reality.

I'm planning to visit Boston this summer and I would definitely have to make time to spend in Adams House and walk in the steps that this story's charcater walked in. Harvard will never be the same in my eyes after reading this piece. For once, the danky old place has become a tad bit exciting.

I love reading books in which you can lose yourself. The characters become so real you feel you know them. The story so intriguing - you can't stop reading because the answers to your questions are just a few more pages away. "Adams Fall" is one of those books. Author Sean Desmond creates a world that is macabre and magnetic. The story is smart and suspenseful. It is a pleasure to read.

Desmond's "horror" novel shares themes and motifs with Hamlet - fitting, seeing as our nameless narrator is doing his thesis on Shakespeare's middle plays, including Hamlet. We have drownings, a ghost, and a protagonist who slowly decends into madness. It is a novel that illustrates just how many uncertainties our lives are built upon.

For me, a key point to understanding the story comes when the narrator's thesis advisor agitates him by stating that the ghost in Hamlet doesn't really exist. So does the ghost really exist in this story? Or is he a figment of the narrator's "overstimulated by all the pressures of The College" brain?

The problem with this novel is that ultimately, you don't really feel like trying to answer those questions. The tale just doesn't feel authentic overall, although occasionally Desmond hits the bullseye with his observations of college life - case in point: "It was like going to a party, having a few beers, and cresting on that first wave of mild drunkeness....Then you go to the bathroom and catch yourself in the mirror....You don't even recognize yourself on the outside, never mind all the thoughtless reasons that lurk behind the eyes."

Side note: This novel has been recently made into a movie called "Abandon". As Katie Holmes plays the main charater, I have to assume it is a very loose adaptation.

I purchased this book because the movie "Abandon" with Katie Holmes is supposed to be based on this book. Loved the movie; didn't love the book. At times it was really strange. Would not recommend reading it; see the movie instead.

This was a great storyline, and a haunting insight into Harvard, the dorms, and the student "body" in general. An inside look at belonging, being an "insider" or "outsider" etc...with a psychological twist. Everyone who went to school and tried to fit in will relate. If you enjoy this - check out Donald Silverman's The Event - about an inside murder at an all-boy's boarding school...both books are terrific and I hope to see more of Sean Desmond!

Desmond shows promise as a writer, however if you are looking for a psychological thriller or just a plain scary story, this isn't the one for you. While most of the story is worth reading, it has the feel that he used a thesaurus to make his book "smarter." It is a fast read, only taking a few hours to complete as it lacks the depth and ability to captivate the reader. The books comes off as the typical first book. It is worth reading and has many good points to it. Once you hit chapter 3 the book becomes a little more enjoyable and a bit lass pretentious, but still lacks the pizazz of more skilled writers.

This is a story that sticks with you. Desmond finds a way to burrow into the dark, paranoid part of your brain. Once there, he voices those fears that you have, but are too creeped out to acknowledge. Sure, the book is scary, but it's taken to another level when you realize how closely you connect with the darkest parts of the story's psychotic undercurrent.

In addition to the whole creep show, Desmond is able to capture with razor-sharp clarity the insecurities that poison our ideals of love, sex, and academics. And he does it with a unique and twisted wit. It's something that I've rarely seen executed without leaning on the crutch of camp: horror and humor in a state of symbiosis.

I reached a point while reading this novel where I was terrified to continue reading, but I was equally terrified to close the book and turn off the light! (I opted to keep reading, and boy am I glad to be 3,000 miles away from Harvard's blood-soaked bricks.) My favorite scene was set on Halloween night in the steam tunnels beneath the library - don't expect to fall asleep after reading that chapter! Sean Desmond is a master of terror and I am certain that his horrifying portrait of Adams House circa 1994 will haunt me for years to come.