Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

82 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I don’t know how I feel about this book. It was interesting and the way it was told was intriguing, but it kind of just made me sad. Also I’m pretty sure this is classified as horror, but there was maybe like one creepy part(that I skipped over because I do not need to read graphic details about a 14 year old masturbating). Honestly it was just depressing to read about these girls and the mental illness and honestly the annoying father(which is kind of the point, but I just didn’t really expect that). I also did not like the ending like it was just so anticlimactic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, and Murder

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

An edge-of-your-seat-cant-put-this-down read diving into the horror tropes of possession and exorcism and highlighting the problematic history of exorcism within the Church. I loved the characters and trajectory of this book. The inserts of the horror blog examining the eventual reality show in the story was so clever. I could not put this book down and I think I'll be thinking of this one for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Blood, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Child death, Body horror, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Gore, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Domestic abuse

atthediscotech's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

3.5

Ending was good until “The twist”. The twist made it less interesting. 3.5 bc the twist was a let down. I would have given it 5 without it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Mental illness

annaforthebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death of parent

simp4sneks's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Child death, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

onlyflames's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

august_18's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Gore, Sexual content, and Misogyny

Minor: Gaslighting and Bullying

kingcrookback's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

This book had me for the vast majority of its duration. The themes of memory and nostalgia; Marjorie and teenage girlhood and not being believed or taken seriously; childhood, facing the unknown, and pasts you can't return to. The story progressed in accordance with the sort of tropes and motifs typically associated with both possession narratives and stories about reminiscence. The blog posts dedicated to deconstructing the Barretts' reality show vis à vis popular horror media put a fascinating turn on the question of memory and moving on from trauma. Even though the narrative was on the side of Marjorie being a mentally ill young girl, some of Merry's description of her memories is genuinely chilling.

The only thing I can't get over is that the ending - and the reveal - felt so incredibly abrupt. I feel like we got very little buildup to the reveal and no time to process its impact on both the narrative as well as our perception of the story. I don't know. I think I need to sit with this a bit longer, maybe convince a friend to read it so I can talk to them about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Self harm, Death of parent, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content and Incest

vicklepickle's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder and Physical abuse

savvylit's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death