House of Stairs
 

House of Stairs

by William Sleator

One by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought to a strange building. It is not a prison, not a hospital; it has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading nowhere —except back to a strange red machine. The five must learn to love the machine and let it rule their lives. But will they let it kill their souls? This chilling, suspenseful indictment of... (read more)

Top tags: science fictionyoung adultsci fisci-fiwilliam sleator (all tags)

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Amazon Reviews (5)
 

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Liked It

homeinthehills
  • Rated 4 stars

While this slim, YA volume captures the paranoia of post-Vietnam era thinking, the concepts of peer pressure, psychological conditioning, distrust of institutions, yet hope in potential altruism of a few, make this a potential companion text to any study of crisis times. Readability is not as challenging as the ideas, so this could work with teens who may not have the skills or patience for large, complex texts. And the ideas are worth examining: What would you do for food? How do you define...

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Didn’t Like It

librarianwho
  • Rated 1 stars

I absolutely hated this when I had to read it in the seventh grade. Not only is the experiment dangerous and cruel (and would never be legally sanctioned), but it is also incredibly stupid. Of course people are willing to hurt others for food. It is a basic need and once you get hungry enough you will do anything and eat anything. It's not an original idea, and certainly not one that anyone would need to be proven in a controlled environment.

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Community:
  • Rated 4.162162 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4.5 stars
 

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