Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - A Head Full of Ghosts

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

44 reviews

orizenda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

I feel like maybe there’s a lot I missed to this or something. I’m not entirely sure atm. but I think I would have liked it more without the blog entries. it felt like spoon feeding what we could get out of the story idk. I like being left to my own devices, although i do understand that that was our lens into the tv show. i need to sit with this more

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percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

Horrifyingly tragic, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay is filled to the brim with terrible scenes, all told from the point of view of the youngest character to witness everything. I just felt so bad the entire time reading this for not just Marjorie and Merry, who were just kids, but also characters like Sarah and Ken; who while aren't blameless entirely, are forced to witness a lot of this horror with seemingly no agency to fight against it.

I also felt really bad that the one who I felt more creeped out by was not Marjorie, with her gruesome stories and actions, but Merry, who seemed to take glee from her and her sister's trauma. Merry should be a somewhat reliable narrator as a kid, aside from her shoddy memory. There isn't a reason to suspect her of leaving things out. However, I felt wary all the same as Merry became known for being an exaggerator and a storyteller. There's a few reveals later on in the book that highlight this fact and it just made me very suspicious of someone who is just a very traumatized child/person.

Tremblay has done a fantastic job here with this book. A reader questioning a narrator's true feelings makes for good conversation and deeper reading. I am so torn with Merry as a character. My initial feelings were as stated above: Merry is creepy for the way she expresses her thoughts on the situation and her sister. However, after I finished the book, I couldn't help but think that maybe Merry was just trying to find her own way of understanding what all happened in her childhood, everything that led up to the greatest tragedy of her life. Afterward, all I could see was a girl-now-adult, still struggling to figure out why her sister acted the way she did, what her sister could've been thinking throughout it all.

When I started this book, the summary had not prepared me for the gruesome descriptions Tremblay employed, nor how sad a story this really was. I just felt so bad for Marjorie, more than anything. She didn't deserve anything that happened to her, and needed to be taken out of the home and cameras that were definitely making things worse. I am curious to know of other's opinions of the portrayal of schizophrenia in this book. I did not touch on it as I am not an expert on the condition, nor do I have the condition.

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simp4sneks's review

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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thereadingdude's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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savvylit's review against another edition

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dark 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

A Head Full of Ghosts is a well-crafted possession story made even more horrible and thrilling due to the youth of its primary narrator, seven-year-old Merry. Like many younger siblings, Merry worships teenage Marjorie and longs for her attention. Merry's voice is so genuine in this story - I was really impressed by Tremblay's skill at evoking the specific terror that comes from being a child who is kept out of the loop. Despite her naivete, Merry is still so deeply and traumatically affected by the events of Marjorie's possession.

This story is also delightfully meta! There are a series of blog posts by a horror fanatic included throughout the novel. Reading the blog's dissection of the events of this story with comparisons to tropes and classic cinema made for a very fun read.

If you like thrillers that have fresh takes on classic themes, you will definitely enjoy A Head Full of Ghosts.

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