Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

91 reviews

curiouslykatt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

“There are rules to these things. Everything is survivable, even this.”

The house on Hawthorn Street is so much more than just a house. Margaret and Hal have found their perfect house. It’s gorgeous. It’s Victorian. It’s cheap. What could be the problem? Surely they were just in the right place right time. 

Everything changes in September. Every September, the hauntings start. 

The walls bleed. The ghosts roam the halls. The animals behave erratically. The screaming that is everywhere and nowhere lasts all night. You never enter the basement. Every September. All through September. 

Margaret has learned the rules to survive Septembers, and these all seem like minor inconvenience for the home of her dreams. Margaret has learned to live with rules her whole life. Margaret can survive anything. 

Everything changes one September when her husband Hal goes missing and her adult daughter Katherine comes home to help find him. 

The September House is told through a nonlinear storyline jumping between the current September and the Septembers of the past. This story is so much more than just a haunted house. This is a complex well developed story around trauma responses, living through cycles of abuse, and the generational impacts of violence. Carissa does use dry humour sprinkled throughout to add so levity to the story. I will say it did feel about 50 pages too long but ultimately I will still highly recommend this read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Body horror

Minor: Vomit

shaunashares's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Vomit, Murder, and Mental illness

labbusaroo's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Vomit

ivy123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Vomit, Violence, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Dementia

zoelapulgita's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit

poodily's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Vomit, Child death, and Mental illness

a_novel_craving's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Child death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Torture, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, and Vomit

ohhellograce's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I don't know how a book that starts with blood dripping down walls has become my comfort read but it has. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Vomit

ehmannky's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

This book was simultaneously more funny and emotional than I thought it would be. Margaret is such a wonderful main character and I really enjoyed experiencing a haunted house through the eyes of someone who simply refuses to leave. It starts out with some grim humor regarding the hauntings in her house (that start really kicking up in September) and then the humor is slowly replaced with more horror regarding the house and Margaret's past.

This book parallels her own relationship with her abusive husband with that of her ability to put up with the house and it the revelation of how each parallels the other unfolds so well

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Suicide

samiredden's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Blood, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide