Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

52 reviews

samburkhouse's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Vomit, Car accident, and Medical trauma

Minor: Self harm, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Mental illness

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, and Death

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Car accident, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Alcohol, Child death, Pregnancy, Confinement, Death of parent, and Cursing

ksuazo94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Medical content, Vomit, Mental illness, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Murder

shontellereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense slow-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

3.0

I think I can probably assume that all Grady books will be the same for me; slow at the start, really entertaining in the middle, and a drag of an ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Vomit, Medical trauma, Child death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, and Body horror

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! 

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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

len_magoi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

how do i join a radical puppet collective

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Medical content

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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

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?

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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. 

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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