House of Stairs

Dang! Where was this book when I was younger??!? For being a few decades old, it really hasn't aged much! This psychological teen read throws five 16 year old orphans into a weird uninviting alien environment filled only with stairs. None of them know why they are there or how to escape. They wander around and find a weird machine that will give them food, only when they figure out how to meet it's weird demands. It's the 5 of them against this weird environment, what will happen if they stop working together? Why are they there? What is the point? It is very reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, just maybe a little more futuristic. A weird, interesting, and compelling read. I dig it.

Another solid story by Sleator. Turns out this little horrifying SF is one of his first - he went on to write a lot of creative SF for children but this might be the most literary. Way before Hunger Games, but way after many other stories with a similar trope - what do you do when brought together with strangers, with survival at stake, and with minimal resources?

Would you lose your soul? Would Abigail and Oliver have reacted differently, were it not for the machinations of Blossom? Does it matter what your background is, or your age? Lots to think about as we watch these 16 year-olds try to figure out what's going on, and to cope with the challenge set by the situation, by themselves, and by each other.

Immersive and a quick read, for show more ages 9 up. show less

I was probably about 10 the first time I picked this up. Then I read it a squillion times. Now I just read it again, as an adult, and I'm pleasantly surprised how well it holds up. 5 teens thrown into a room with nothing but stairs, as far as they can climb in any direction, plus one landing with a little machine on it. The machine will dispense food occasionally, if the teens do exactly what they're supposed to--a series of coordinated movements, from a complicated dance to assaulting each other. But maybe there's a way to beat the machine. Maybe there's a point to all of it. Or maybe there's not.

This isn't quite as gripping or fast-paced as I remember it being, possibly because I've read an awful lot more psychological thrillers since show more being 10 years old, but the ideas are still pretty sharp. And it was still compelling. And, let's face it--it's stuck in my head well enough over these past 20 years that I can recite the final creepy line from memory, and that's not something you can do with a forgettable book. show less

MC Escher meets Lord of the Flies.

This is the kind of book I love. Drops you right into an unknown, in this case surreal, environment and unfolds from there. Sleator does a great job unveiling his characters through dialog. Each personality is revealed in what they say, how they say it and what they're doing. He wastes few words on back story, instead focuses on the nightmarish reality of the present which contains endless stairs and a food-spitting machine that keeps them dancing for more. While I didn't feel deeply connected with any of the characters, or particularly sympathetic, their motivations were clearly and, to some extent, their personalities.

However, the stark world of continuous stairs was not much of a hook. I found it show more easy to put down in the beginning, but that changed. The end was not the exciting pop I hoped for. In fact, I was a little disappointed. Until the very last sentence. When I put the book down, I was satisfied. show less

Yet another adult strolling down memory lane

I see that I’m not the only adult here with strong memories of reading this novel when they were young. In my case, it must have been 30 years ago, but somehow I never forgot the book. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a copy for years now, and it’s truly fascinating rereading this book I loved as a child with my 40-year-old eyes.

The novel opens with Peter. Peter has no idea where he is. He finds himself blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination. Removing the blindfold, he finds himself all alone in a truly bizarre environment. Everywhere he looks, as far as the eye can see, he’s in a cavernous space filled with stairs. Stairs going up, going down, some with small landings, some show more connected by bridges. There are no walls, no floor, no railings, no place to feel safe. As he fights vertigo, Peter finally spies someone below him and calls out.

Unfortunately, Lola doesn’t know any more about where they are or why than Peter does. Their stories of being blindfolded are the same, but they quickly discover other commonalities as well. They are both orphans from state homes, and both 16 years old. They discover this is true of the other three kids they meet in the “house of stairs.”

Peter, Lola, Blossom, Abigail, and Oliver all find themselves in an utterly inexplicable situation, and they all deal with it differently. They are very different personalities. Survival becomes their first priority. What at first seems to be an entity merely trying to control their actions, quickly becomes far more sinister.

Viewing the reactions of these young people to their circumstances, and finding out how the novel would end, had me turning pages just as fast now as it did when I was a kid. And I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed revisiting this story. I can see that it’s a piece of fiction very much of its time, and as an adult I better understand the context of the novel. (Like another reviewer, I, too, thought of the infamous Zimbardo and Milgram experiments.) All that aside, House of Stairs is still a compelling story and a relevant warning to be heeded today. show less

Probably one of the creepiest books I've ever read. William Sleator quite literally drags up the worst slivers of human nature, preying on very deep fears. It's kind of like the reader is a character as well, never knowing exactly who or what to trust.

No, I'm not completely satisfied with the ending. But you've got to admit... the very last paragraph is brilliant.

I decided to read William Sleator's young adult science fiction novel House of Stairs after reading an interesting description in the LibraryThing Group "Name That Book." However, the individual looking for the title of the book described a far more compelling novel than I found Sleator's book to be. The plot and characters are as static as the environment in which they are thrust, and reading the book through to the end seemed almost as mentally difficult as the "physical challenges" the teenagers faced. So little is actually interesting that the novel is beyond intellectual redemption, and it is a tremendous relief to have finished it. I can't think of a single individual or "type" to whom I would recommend this little disaster.