Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

91 reviews

andrewhatesham's review

emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Self harm, Child death, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit and War

pimaz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Self harm, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

As far as horror stories go, it qas predictable, but still unnerving and some moments were definitely downright terrifying. 
I enjoyed it! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Self harm, Child death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence

polarbearisla's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

Stunning. Scary horror with a terrific emotional finish. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Grief, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Death of parent, Self harm, Vomit, and Child death

loongbooy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

orizenda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

I rly liked pupkin up until the end like not like liked but he was my fav character the one i was most interested in. and then once the truth came out it wasn’t scary anymore to me. did genuinely have me scared at times tho and like cringing there was more gore than I had assumed there would be. also still super fascinated with marks pupkin story like i want to explore that more

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Car accident, and Vomit

Minor: Self harm

daringreader13's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

If you aren’t good with body horror, creepy dolls/puppets, or possession- this book won’t be for you.


However if you’re good with that, you’ll probably love it like I did but also be ready to sleep with a light on and burn any puppet you ever see… speaking for a friend obviously 😂

The only thing that left me wondering is the note in the acknowledgment. About the funeral in the fellowship hall and any tips for the police? What am I missing there?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Torture, and Toxic relationship

thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

  I loved how Grady Hendrix was able to convey the importance of families working through their issues stemming from generational trauma. In this case, it resulted in a horrific story that later proved that importance in a life or death circumstance.

  I related a lot to Louise when it came to her resentment towards her brother, Mark. As someone who grew up as a girl, I can say that Louise was fully justified in her anger towards her parents/brother.  This following quote from the book made me have to take a break from reading because of how much it resembled my childhood frustrations. "The point was that her mom had a whole tough-love thing for Louise and let Mark do whatever he wanted and never face any consequences. The point was that she was supposed to look after him and give him everything and never complain, but no one was looking after her. That was the point." It's incredibly heartbreaking to grow up with this resentment only for the adults in my life to understand that resentment only when it directly affected them. 

  I thought that incorporating the 5 stages of grief into the storyline was beautifully done, and really expressed those emotions during whichever situation the characters found themselves in. 

  However, I did find a couple of things to be offensive and for Grady, to learn from moving forward. In the beginning of the book, I'm sure it's meant with the intention of the reader to dislike Mark as he can be an insufferable, immature man who says ignorant things from time to time. In both of these instances, there's mentions of cultural appropriation when it came to Mark suggesting that they "sage" the house and his recommendation of doing a Hindu ritual for his white parents' funeral. He had also thought it was okay to compare their parents' house to the conditions in Afghanistan. 

  I'm the type of person who refuses to have porcelain or ventriloquist dolls in my house because of stories like this. I'd like to learn the easy way instead of the hard way. Overall, I thought this story was written with an exceptional build up that had me wanting more after I had put the book down. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Self harm, Violence, and Child death

jamielikestoread's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Child death, and Death of parent

gaiadances's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

brilliant horror writing - at some points i literally had to skim through the descriptions of gore and violence because i was too scared to picture it in my mind. i loved how the book was organised via the 5 stages of grief and it genuinely went in depth exploring how denial, trauma and grief can be carried across generations affecting families long after people have passed. the realism of the family drama made it slightly tough for me to suspend disbelief about the puppets and dolls coming to life but i thought this showed the strength of grady’s writing. i loved that we got to see two very fully fleshed out characters with great complexity and backstories. the first conflict with the dolls/puppets was expected but the second twist really shocked me. i thought the story was well wrapped up, not too neatly but with the slight tinge of mess that marks every family 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Child death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders