Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

44 reviews

madelineb's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this - very exorcist and three stories with in a story! Very messy with an unreliable narrator. Audiobook was pretty good considering how many voices she read for! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

onemamareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

Read my full review here:  https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/a-head-full-of-ghosts 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Body horror, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Death, Murder, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Torture, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Confinement, and Child death

aatroxskitten's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Mmmm so you know how Game of Thrones was once criticized as glorifying the violence it claimed to condemn?

I really do feel like coming out of this with that same feeling of watching Game of Thrones. It held my attention. I focused on it. I'm not upset I saw it. But I have criticisms in how one can discuss the misogyny and voyeurism of exorcist fiction and then seemingly revel in it as a plot point.

I am on the fence as to whether the portrayal is ableist. I am not sure about my feelings on it overall. Writing this, I bumped it from 3 stars to 2.

A nice writing style, though, and the story definitely holds the attention. I'm just left with the same sort of mixed feelings I had about the Red Wedding on film.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Child death

krdavis02's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Death of parent, Blood, Alcohol, Vomit, Death, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

foiblesandfiction's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

0.25

 i finish this book feeling both heartbroken and enraged.

another supposed horror story that leans its entire weight on villainizing mental illness and, in this case, that of a child, a girl.

fuck you, paul tremblay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Body horror, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Child abuse

aamorgan's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual content

chloseencounter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This story was so much more than I ever could’ve expected. I loved the constant back and fourth of “is it mental illness or is it a demon?”, and ultimately it is kind of whatever you want and/or both, which I find to be a very fresh take on the haunting/possession genre. At the end of the day this was a family that was, in the very least, haunted by the ghosts of ideas, religious fear, money problems, a failing marriage, misogyny, mental illness, etc. The Berrets were manipulated, pushed, and agitated to the absolute breaking point. 

There was so much here, I honestly don’t even know how to talk about it all. First and foremost I think having the majority of this story being told in the eyes of an eight year old was great, there was so much tension even in Majorie’s most mild episodes because truthfully Merry had no idea what Marjorie might say or do, or if she (or anyone else) would protect her from someone she wasn’t even completely sure she was afraid of. I enjoyed all the nods to classic horror media but also the way common tropes were twisted and turned on their head, we’re asked “is anyone ever really possessed or has the church always been taking advantage of the vulnerability of the mentally ill and fueling the psychosis of the sick?” There were so many parallels and metaphors in the book I reveled in picking apart and analyzing, I think this novel had so much to say very eloquently hidden beneath what the story seemed to be at face value.

My one critique looks to be the common one…the blog sections were cringy at best and annoying at worst, but despite the kind of “hello fellow kids” attempt at writing a blog post that was supposed to sound as if it was written by a hip and up on the trends women in her early 20s, I still enjoyed the detached POV of what this family’s suffering looked like to the world and how the show succeeded to make good television but failed Majorie and Merry. (Every adult did to be completely honest) I also appreciated the  insight we got by hearing Merry’s thoughts coming from her child self, her adult self, and (vague spoiler) an alter ego of sorts. I thought it was sweet that in all three contexts you could still see Merry and how some bits of her personality never change.

Without spoiling I did actually quite like the twist ending because even that, may or may not be true. I think Merry has grown to be a fairly well rounded individual especially for what she’s been through, but even still, much like Majorie I think her head is full of ghosts too and maybe some things she said were simply manifestations of guilt but also maybe they weren’t…and I don’t think are meant to know for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Self harm, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Vomit, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Minor: Excrement, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Alcohol, Cursing, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexual content

ouijabroad's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, and Excrement

onironic's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The real horror of this book is the ignorance and stigma surrounding mental illness, and I loved that. It's 100% a horror novel, but not in the conventional way. The main and viewpoint character being an 8-year-old girl amps up the horror and tension, when the reader knows and understands far more of what's happening, but is stuck riding on the shoulder of a child who, understandably, doesn't know enough of what's going on to change what's happening or protect herself from any of it. You see all the failures of the adults around her and can understand exactly how it all gets so bad, and have to helplessly watch these children deal with it as best they can while knowing exactly where it's going.  This book doesn't hand any information to you whatsover, much less answers, but it will give you plenty of clues. I liked how many of the chapters jumped from meta-analysis to the future to the past. It gives context without derailing the story, all of it aiming at a terrible conclusion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Vomit, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Self harm, Child abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic relationship

jenniferlynnkrohn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Medical trauma, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Violence, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Vomit