Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

90 reviews

cal428's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

While this book was a super fast and compelling read but I bumped up against some rough patches. There were a few plot points that weren’t tied up and some decisions characters made that didn’t totally track. For example while the MC is characterized as having her life very much in control and together there several points where she’s treated like a loose cannon/irresponsible parent by her co-parent mostly to feed into her anxiety/drive tension in the plot. Despite all that it was a real fast moving read with some interesting plot points. One major note: I would read with caution if you are a parent.

A small child is in prolonged danger in the final act of the book and even though I am not a parent it made me feel anxious.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Self harm

rocketsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Gaslighting

timelord10's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is my first Grady Hendrix book, and I loved the writing style. I'm not a big horror fan in general, but I'll definitely be checking out all of his other books. The only reason I'm rating it 3.5 stars is because there was a big part in the middle where I got bored, and I put the book down for a while. It just wasn't doing it for me for part of the book. However, I feel like I can't fully judge how good of a horror book this is because I don't have much to compare it to, but it definitely creeped me out at times. I think my favorite aspect of the book was the relationship between Louise and Mark. I loved how their bond grew over the course of the book.

It was also amazing how Grady Hendrix made you hate Pupkin the entire book, but at the end when you found out he was the ghost of Freddie, you still felt bad for him despite how terrible he had been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Child death, Death, Violence, Cursing, Grief, Vomit, and Body horror

Moderate: Mental illness and Self harm

Minor: Medical content

sarah984's review

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I enjoyed parts of this, but I always want to like Grady Hendrix's books more than I end up doing. This was way too long and felt like it spent a lot of time spinning its wheels, the characters felt like they were mostly acting however it was needed to keep the plot moving, and a few plot points strained credulity even keeping in mind it's a horror novel.

The anarchist puppet collective putting on a show critical of the Bush admin in the immediate post 9/11 era to third graders and then a group of people dressed as clowns with a puppet trash one of the teachers’ houses and no one ever reacts to this or talks about it?? This would have been bigger than the killer clown craze in 2016.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Car accident, Gore, Violence, Fatphobia, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Self harm

hmetwade's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Violence, Medical content, Gore, Grief, and Medical trauma

bg_oseman_fan's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this book was not what i was expecting based on the title. I initially put it down part way through, but ended up picking it back up and reading to the finish. The writing of the action scenes was not very engaging. I found the attempts to create tension really repetitive such that the twists never really grabbed. as horror, this book didn’t get me. as a story about trauma and intergenerational relationships, i was hooked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Medical content

Minor: Child abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Self harm

missmali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gore

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Car accident, Violence, Vomit, Blood, and Mental illness

snazzy10101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

maggieoc_x's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

i love a camp demonic puppet moment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Blood, Car accident, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Gaslighting, Medical content, Cursing, Stalking, and Self harm

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol