Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

52 reviews

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I read this book in one sitting. While I don’t think it comes close to Southern Book Club in terms of literary style, this was a really fun book to read. It was suspenseful, frightening and creepy right from the start. It was a great, spooky read despite some minor issues. Would really recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, Grief, Body horror, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

amphytrite'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence and Death

Minor: Cursing, Blood, and Car accident

aprilbethp's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I’m a huge Grady Hendrix fan but this was my least favorite of his books.

Listen, I enjoy camp but this was just over the top. I usually love how Hendrix is able to blend camp humor and horror together. The problem for me was that there wasn’t one moment I was scared for the characters. There were a lot of “well, that’s gross and horrific” moments of body gore but not many if any moments of “how are they gonna survive this” moments.

I appreciated the themes of generational trauma and family systems. I always love how Hendrix tackles bigger issues with compassion, humor, and spot on analysis. I also appreciated how unlikeable most characters are because sometimes when in a family you see too much of what makes our own family members, ourselves included, unlikeable. Yet, we still love them. Those dynamics rang true to me.

But the haunting of puppets…

Pupkin

was so ridiculous that everything

he

said and did,  it just wasn’t scary. And while humor is key to all of Hendrix’s books, this humor pulled me out of the story. I like horror that feels realistic even if it contains implausible creatures. I would have perhaps been able to go with it more had

Pupkin not been a hand puppet. Maybe a regular doll or regular ventriloquist dummy? I don’t know the Pupkin commedia masks made sense to me. Completely coverage of the puppeteers the swallowing of them whole. But a small hand puppet made for a child’s hand

…
it was too silly for my brain to take seriously. 

But I did enjoy the read even if no thrills were had. I laughed some. I did cringe at the body gore. I appreciated the themes. I give it a better than average score of 3.5. It achieved what it needed to if not in a fashion I would have hoped for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

iwillendyouinc's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Medical trauma and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm

tlholmes's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Child death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Car accident, Body horror, Violence, Medical trauma, Gore, and Blood

This is the least gory of Grady Hendrix’s books, it’s more about the plot than the gore

lesbianlis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.75

This is such a good exploration of generational/family trauma and how it impacts people. I was not expecting this kind of story from this book, however, it was phenomenal. The only man I trust to write from women's perspectives is Grady Hendrix.

I took the .25 off because I could see the twist of "who" the puppet is from very early on.

Hendrix hit the ball out of the park once again though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Gore, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

Wow, I could not put this book down. How to Sell a Haunted House follows Louise as she returns home following the sudden death of her parents, only to find herself feeling frustrated by her brother Mark who has already taken control of all of the funeral arrangements and she's not happy. The entire book is about grief and family, and just happens to include a haunted house as its backdrop, although this one is not exactly as you would expect. And I will say no more because the way this story unwinds is so good. As I said, could not put it down. All this did was remind me that I need to pick up his other books because this is the second time I have fallen in love with his writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Blood, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

Minor: Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.25

Solid Scary Novel. It was slow at first but then the pace picked up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, and Car accident

imstephtacular's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Medical content, and Car accident

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Blood, Gaslighting, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Vomit, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content, War, and Pregnancy

rhiannonafternoon's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

Holy shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death, Child death, and Medical trauma