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ggreen1379's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury
karmapen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Grief, Body horror, and Alcoholism
rowancdewit's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Warning, there are a few bits of the book that were a liiittle too much for me. (Violence, weird descriptive spooky things) But everytime those scenes happened, I’d get a tight “oof” in my gut, thinking to myself “Okay, I gotta skim this.” And then the next scene would be something absolutely so dramatic that would just make me laugh and say, “is Hendrix even serious right now?”
It’s so dramatic, but it’s a story that feels like it KNOWS it’s dramatic and far fetched and presses into that. Truly, feels like an adult version (bcuz the characters are in their 40s) of a Goosebumps book.
I 100% could see this being made into a film. And the 4 stars is 100% for Hendrix’s writing, which is just fun and silly and comedic and truly good enough that I could FEEL every ounce of discomfort that Hendrix wanted me to feel in the tense moments. The pacing was amazing, the delivery of everything was so great, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
If anyone asked about reading this, I definitely would say “don’t take it seriously, just buckle in for the ride.”
Graphic: Self harm, Gun violence, Death of parent, Gore, and Child death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Cursing, and Grief
faduma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, and Forced institutionalization
jessthanthree's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Medical content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Child death, Animal death, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
time_dabbler's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death, Body horror, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Death of parent, Cursing, Alcoholism, and Blood
arireadsitall's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Murder and Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism
house_of_hannah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is also a book where you have to get 100 pages in before anything happens. I was honestly thinking to myself, "Is this really a Grady Hendrix book ?" due to how serious and slow the entire beginning is. I was really struggling to care, especially with how unlikable the brother character was. I actually thought he was making the MCs unlikable so that
I'm one of the people who didn't know this was a doll/puppet book going into it. As a child I found porcelain dolls terrifying, and my mom had a clown painting I was afraid of. I should have been primed to be scared by this book, but I think it was too ridiculous to actually come off as scary. This author writes camp, so that's to be expected, but usually his books have some brutal scenes that catch you off guard and really lean into the horror. Unfortunately, there was only one scene that did that for me in this one.
Honestly, the puppet is my favorite character in this book. He is so fucking ridiculous and I love him. I read a sentence here and there to my husband as I was reading, and now we're quoting a freakin' puppet at each other.
Overall, I felt that this book was too long, repetitive, and I didn't care for the ~family~ aspect at all. The story is completely ridiculous, yet too serious at the same time. I think campy horror is a formula that's tough to get right, and for me this one was a bit of a miss.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Car accident
Minor: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Self harm
muses_andmoons's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, and Gore
cammaleahh's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, and Alcoholism