Let's start off by saying - this book is unlike any I've read before. The mildly interconnected POVs, the storytelling, the writing style... I highly enjoyed the historical aspect of it, and though I was skeptical of the fact that the book was divided into multiple POVs told by characters from different decades (1910s - 1999), I ended up loving many of the vignettes and the way they were told. My favorites were Flora, Agnes, and Ivor. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity and the LGBTQ+ representation (it warmed my queer heart a lot). I also found that each character's voice was very unique, and with such a large cast, all of whom ARE the main characters of their own story, it is hard to do. Furthermore, the commentary on society, the world and people's struggles was brilliant. Props to the author!

However, I would argue that the book's description does not fit what actually happens in it. Yes, the story starts off strong - devil's daughter, wealthy couple, things go HORRIBLY WRONG

(Mr Udnam hate club, that man deserves all the suffering in the world for murdering the people he did)

- but what happens after made me feel a bit disappointed (even though I ended up loving some of the stories). The description promised horror, a curse and mystical elements, which I found were somewhat poorly executed. The curse and what happened at the beginning of the book did not affect the characters' life much (except for Agnes), if at all, and since we knew what caused it from the very beginning, there was no sense of mystery. The only connecting factor was that the characters all lived in the same building (but often, at different points in time), and the "horror" premise of the book barely interfered with their lives. In addition, due to the fact that there were so many POVs (each character only got 3 chapters for their story) and they were all set in different decades, it was hard to fully immerse yourself in any of the stories. I would just start to like the character, relate to them, or begin to understand their story, and then it would all change or just stop. This book was more like a collection of many short stories about the tenants of one building and their lives than a proper narrative. But, perhaps it's just the style and my unfamiliarity with it. Nothing wrong with it. 

My last two cents: 1) there were no quotation marks or dialogue tags, and, oftentimes, I found it hard to understand who was talking. 2) this book is NOT clean, and I was quite shocked by the amount of s*x mentions, talks about it and the short descriptions of the act itself. It did make me uncomfortable at times, as I found many of the inclusions of the topic to be unnecessary. It did fit SOME narratives (Flora's and Jessie's, for example), but other than that... Idk. Perhaps I'm too asexual for this. 

Overall, I did highly enjoy the book's reflective and witty commentaries, the representation, the historical description of Edinburgh and a good half of the stories. It was a great read, and props to the cover artist for the gorgeous cover. 

What on earth did I just read? No seriously. Wtf. I went a bit up and down with this book, but over all I'd say it was a miss.

I found the structure really hard to get into because the chapters are really bitty, with some of the characters intentionally really incoherent because they're on drugs (Flora and William in particular). It's a choice I didn't like as opposed to lack of talent I suppose, do with that what you will.

Mostly I didn't get the point of this book (maybe it's just gone over my head idk), but the plot arc I found pretty boring and unfulfilling. There were some interesting characters and points, just overall I think that they could've been better articulated, or even gone more in depth with them. I didn't find any of the characters particularly inspiring except for maybe John (William's lover), which I did find a nice way to begin discussing asexuality, especially from within the gay community (would've like to see more than just like a couple paragraphs on this though, could also be described as having been written is as an afterthought). Most of the plot could probably be described as an afterthought tbh, because barely any of it is consequential, even to the sub-plots. I also couldn't get over the idea that these people are making a bit of a leap to connect their circumstance to the building, particularly in the earlier chapters. Like yeah *we* know that, but why does Levi think it's No. 10, and not the High street, or the city, or the country, or his flat in particular instead of the whole building.

The format of this novel is really cool (one person per decade who gets 3 chapters and they all live in the same apartment building) but it's also disappointing because you don't get a lot of time with each character. Some I found less interesting and some could have gotten their own book. But I liked the variety in characters and the topics that were adressed. Sometimes the messaging felt a little too heavy-handed though. There is kind of an overarching story, which is a bit at odds with the smaller stories (they are mostly about the historical period but now and then the devil's daughter shows up), but if you accept that and are not looking for a story that is purely grounded in reality but has magical realism (?), it is very fun. Also very atmospheric descriptions of Edinburgh that made me want to visit again.

This book is dark, challenging and at the same time a brilliant read. It's unique and terrifying. A gorgeously terrifying story that speaks of a magical world but feels more mortal than anything. Its violent and cruel and stunning.

The disjointed, fractured writing style is jarring and interrupts the flow of each narrative (and the book as a whole).  I know this book thinks it's high-art literary fiction, but, it just reads like unrelated short stories told by someone who likes very short sentences and very long lists.   Seriously, I have never seen a book with this many lists of random shit.  Pretentious and underwhelming. 

It was an enjoyable read. I found it interesting exploring each character and the city of Edinburgh. However I ended the book quite confused. I what happened to Jessie wasn’t a mystery for the reader and it wasn’t obvious that she had cursed the building. It didn’t altogether make sense why we heard so many people’s stories throughout the book. Quite strange at points. Also nothing like what I expected from reading the blurb. Some stories within the book I definitely enjoyed more than others, some were kind of boring and weird.

Dating, yes. Transgressive, yes. But also surprisingly tedious after a while. The clunky injections of historical research and period set-dressing make it infuriatingly choppy. The William Burroughs chapters are the worst - they read like someone showing off. 

This book is a really interesting one where the house is practically a main character itself, and we follow its multiple tenants across a century. I found some of the stories much more engaging than others, and almost wished that a couple of the stories had been cut to expand on the ones that really told an over-arching message which Fagan really wanted to get across. Also she did a lot of telling rather than showing, which I felt was a shame.