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Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'
The Haunting Season: Eight Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights by Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Elizabeth Macneal, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Bridget Collins, Laura Purcell, Natasha Pulley
13 reviews
stephanieanneauthor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
As the collection is meant to reference the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories during the Christmas season, all of the stories had a delightfully gothic feel. In fact, some were so well written in that classical style I'm used to reading in older books that I had to double check that the author was from this time period and not from the past.
The only story that didn't quite fit was "The Eel Dancers". I liked it, but it stood out from the rest (and not necessarily in a good way). The tone and style of that story did not match the other stories in the collection.
Picking a favourite story is a tough choice, but at the time I'm writing this I think I have to go with "Confinement" because of its exploration of postpartum depression/psychosis. The more I delve into the world of horror - and the more I learn about the human body - the more I've come to realize that pregnancy, childbirth, and all related conditions terrify me.
Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
allisonsmith120's review against another edition
3.5
Moderate: Pregnancy, Animal death, and Sexual content
outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
1) A Study in Black & White: man rents strange house & is haunted by the former owner who has a soft spot for chess.
2) Thwaite's Tenant: woman & her young son try to flee her abusive marriage but end up at a house where the owner's wife disappeared in strange circumstances.
3) The Eel Singers - man who can predict the near future heads to the one spot where he cannot see anything except the present.
4) Lily Wilt - photographer becomes obsessed with the corpse of a young girl he has been hired to photograph for posterity.
5) The Chillingham Chair - haunted wheelchair points to the murder of its former user.
6) The Hanging of the Greens: man is drawn into the strange tale of one of his self-help group attendees.
7) Confinement: late 19th century woman confined in her chamber to give birth is haunted by the tale of a local witch.
8) Monster: man goes looking for dinosaur fossils but who is the real monster?
The Chillingham Chair is the best of these stories & was written by Laura Purcell. The others are all really strange & not really very well developed & they left me with an odd sense of disappointment as if there was something missing from all of them.
Graphic: Confinement, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness
nadia's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Child death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Rape
chrispybacon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
A solid venture by Collins into the horror short story, albeit a bit lackluster.
Thwaite's Tenant⭐️⭐️
The ending was a pleasant surprise
The Eel Singers 0
Trash. Pulley could at least have tried to come up with a story that doesn't require to know her other novels. Made no sense and I hated every page of it. This is the only story where the hauntings had no impact on the characters and I hated it.
Lily Wilt ⭐️
Bad pacing. Funny idea badly executed.
The Chillingham Chair⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
By times unintentionally funny, predictable but overall well written.
The Hanging of the Greens ⭐️
Bland, the flashback/ pulling the Protagonist along in visions trope is so annoying and uncreative.
Confinement ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pretty good pregnancy & post-partum trauma depiction.
Monster 0
stop👏apologizing👏rapists'👏behaviour👏 No kidding. The author seems to have been aware of the protagonist being awful but still tried to find apologies for him. Cringe.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Grief, Body shaming, Child death, and Misogyny
heather_freshparchment's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
laurahartfield's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Murder, Ableism, and Pregnancy
izzyhallow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
My ranking from favourite to least would be:
Monster
Confinement
The Eel Singers
Lily Wilt
The Chillingham Chair
A Study in Black and White
Thwaite's Tennant
The Hanging of the Greens
It made me chuckle how the (living) men in these stories were often the scariest ghouls.
When adding content warnings I realise that the book covers a lot of sensitive ground over the eight stories. I would class the majority of these instances as moderate or minor but do proceed with caution.
Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Addiction, and Infidelity
Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Child death, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
venomousmushrooms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Pregnancy, Mental illness, Death, Child death, and Sexism
Minor: Domestic abuse
mondovertigo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Pregnancy