Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

31 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Suicide, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Grief

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

saltycoffee's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Gore, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

aparker89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

lucylou's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.75

Interesting addition on a haunted house genre. Definitely check the content warnings before reading (domestic violence, child death, and gore being very graphic).
Minor gripe about this book: the author almost only describes characters’ eyes as “wide,” so often that it was actually distracting. 

I read 3/4ths and listened to the last 1/4th, and I would recommend listening to the audiobook- Kimberly Farr does a fantastic job.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Cannibalism, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

tabookish's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Dementia

tew_11's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

holeeeyyyshite. best final act of a book i've read in a while. truly horrifying in some aspects. really enjoyed this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Body horror, Vomit, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Blood, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

mayaharp's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Vomit, Animal death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Cannibalism and Grief

achay91's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism

anissawren's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Suicide, Murder, and Police brutality

Minor: Dementia, Self harm, Cannibalism, and Forced institutionalization

arkwen452's review

challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

The September House will pull readers into a mysterious, quirky narrative that's strongly driven by dark humor, in my opinion, based on the situation with Margaret in her house. 

It's told in first person and Margaret's nonchalant approach and perspective for her time in this odd, creepy and clearly haunted house filled with "pranksters" as she likes to call them is clearly not of a person who scares easily. Readers get to know Margret and learn about a lot of the hard times she's endured. But we also learn about the previous souls who lived there. And as described through her eyes, the "pranksters" actually really aren't all that bad. 

And the manor of which the author humanizes them led me to believe the intention of the book was meant to be on the dark humor more than horror. 

I think that the pacing of the book is done very well, and each chapter ties into Margaret, and Hal's marriage and their relationship with the new house really came together well. Made it an enjoyable read. 

A lot of the time in each chapter I  I found myself questioning Margaret's sanity and her control over reality. She said that Hal also noticed things in the house BUT since the POV is in first person I can't fully trust her interpretation of everything; there were also moments when it felt like the events of the house with the pranksters of the house that, as Margret calls them, made everything seem like it was actually happening. 

Like the actions/events were concrete. Therefore the author will keep the readers questioning until the very end of the book whether it is real or the September house is just a figment of Margaret's imagination. 

I don't think the horror element really kicks in until the last fourth of the book and I think that , there are more creepy elements that happen in the book overall. Especially with the use of the phrases "he's down there" in reference to Master Vale and how Margaret saw notions of that outside of the house.

Again, with it being in first person, readers cannot trust if what Margret's seeing is actually reality or just figment of her imagination. Without giving spoilers, I will say that I was very pleased with the way the ending is tied up because , it got to a point in the narrative where the word "crazy" was being tossed around and signs were pointing to Margret being commItted. I didn't like the angle of it being a psychosis issue rather than something factual. Not only because this is a red flag trope for me and it is never really done well when it comes to individual having some sort of psychosis leading to them having erratic behavior. 

But

also due to the fact that we learn a lot of what Margaret went through with her relationship with Hal and The abuse, and his alcoholism. In the beginning, I got the interpretation that how and Catherine did not have a connection because he didn't like the fact that she was a lesbian but as we continue through the book more and more details of the past is revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Blood, Murder, Alcoholism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Torture, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Cursing, Cannibalism, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, and Child abuse