Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

5 reviews

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

An unsettling yet enjoyable read, this Southern Gothic story reflects on how nasty traditions and rotten ideologies can be lurking beneath the sweet-smelling rosebushes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

Be warned that this book addresses generational trauma, C-PTSD due to abuse from a parental figure, abuses with the occult, parental neglect, swarms of insects, and one mention of semen in the occult ritual.

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I liked the creepy and mysterious beginning more than the action packed end. The narrator is very funny and relatable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body shaming, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Animal death, Racism, Bullying, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Classism, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Murder, and Racial slurs

kurumipanda's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

booksthatburn's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

In A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES, Sam is visiting her mother in the home they once shared with her now-deceased grandmother. However, most of the ways Sam's mother had decorated to make the place her own have been undone, and she doesn’t seem to understand or acknowledge why this would be disturbing. Little things start to add up, eventually going beyond what’s merely bizarre - transforming into something downright creepy. 

Because as a reader this is my introduction to Sam’s mother, it’s harder to immediately know how she ought to be acting, but Sam’s thoughts provide that context in a way that feels natural. It feels like Sam working through it in her own mind, and not just for the benefit of me as a spectator. This is one of those cases where the things that I like best about the book are the ways that my understanding of of what's going on suddenly shifted as new information became available. It's short enough that to discuss most of what I loved in the latter half of the book would spoil many of the best parts of the experience. In general, I like the way that this played with my expectations of what a horror novel could or should be. There were several layers of revelations that didn't really feel like plot twists, as much as they involved realizing the meaning of information that had been said previously, but was transformed by new events. 

I love the ending, that ramps up the pace and the stakes to be suddenly exciting just as everything looked like it was going to wrap up more calmly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, and Self harm

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Dementia, Fatphobia, Vomit, Mental illness, and Alcohol

displacedcactus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

This is probably the weakest of T. Kingfisher's horror books, but a weak Kingfisher book is still a really good book.

While things eventually get supernaturally creepy, a lot of the first part of the book centers around the very mundane and relatable fear that comes from your parents getting older while you live far away. Our main character Sam spends a lot of time wondering whether someone is after her mom, or if she's showing early signs of dementia.

The most important thing to me about this book, however, is that Sam is an archeoentomologist (person who studies insects in archeological digs) and spends the book giving random bug facts and Latin names for the insects she sees. This immediately rocketed her near the top of my list of favorite characters ever and I could read an entire book of her complaining about pesticides and trying to identify scale insects from photos.

There's also a one-winged vulture named Hermes and he is a Very Good Boi.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Racism, Vomit, and Dementia

The racism and fatphobia are both from Sam's nasty old grandmother. Bonus TWs for insect horror (as well as insects just living their lives) and fetus-related imagery.