Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

8 reviews

matcha_cat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Excrement, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

james1star's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is the third book by Tremblay I’ve read and I will not be reading any more because once again this was just very meh. The story is told through the POV of Merry who is now twenty three as she’s talking with a reporter about the anniversary of a TV show airing that focused on her family. As she’s talking we’re transported back to Merry at age eleven and how her fourteen year old sister Marjorie starts to deal with a mental health illness (schizophrenia?) that is later thought to be the result of her being possessed. Their father consults the ‘expertise’ of a Father Wanderley who pushes for an exorcism. Media coverage of the family begins and so does a TV show leading up to Marjorie’s exorcism. The family deal with financial issues and there’s a possibility Marjorie is faking it but we don’t really know. 

The more horror-ish elements of the book were alright I’d say, it’s more psychological and a lot of Marjorie’s actions were typical of the ‘possessed’ person which were rather gross and unpleasant to read. It did feel a little like a rip-off of the film ‘The Exorcist’ at times and just generally wasn’t the most intriguing read. Much of the story rests on the idea of what is and isn’t the truth and whilst I was interested at the start, I didn’t really care as the book developed and the characters were all very meh that I just lost interest. I think the book can appeal to more people then the others I read by Tremblay (Cabin and Pallbearers) but once again it just fell flat proving to be an unenjoyable reading experience on the whole. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, Blood, Gore, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Body horror, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Death, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Murder

ilaxaria's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Murder, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Excrement

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Pedophilia

thereadingdude's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Murder, Alcoholism, Gore, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Child abuse

Minor: Excrement and Homophobia

melodic777's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Body horror

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, and Homophobia

petrolfox's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Excrement, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Confinement, Bullying, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, and Homophobia

madarauchiha's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

It was ok. I had some hopes for it but the premise didn't live up to how it played out. It was an interesting twist? I don't know why I'm saying that like a question. It does the thing where it tells you the twist and then explains it over the course of a few chapters. I don't think it wa a good plot twist to the whole possession thing. I feel like this plot could have been done better by someone else. 

It was pretty sad and grim in a realism sort of way. I don't think I felt tense or scared reading it at any point. The namedropping of other horror media in the book felt like the author going 'see? see? this is totally scary and in the same vein and stuff! Isn't this so cool?!!'

Oh, and if you're looking for straight up supernatural horror, look elsewhere.

content warnings:
minor: animal death, death, body horror, sexual content, abortion, misogyny, murder, poison, suicide attempt, 

medium: death, teeth trauma, gaslighting, poisoning, murder, parental death, smoking tobacco, genital trauma, dogs, alcohol abuse, self harm, h p lovecraft mention, peer abuse / bullying, injuries, bone fractures, gore, violence, 

major: religion catholicism, misogyny, death, bullying, peer abuse, gore, death threats, emotional abuse, vomit, emetophobia, sexual content, menstruation, blood, unsanitary, religious abuse, exorcisms, child abuse, homophobic f slur, hate groups, poisoning, familicide, 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcoholism, Self harm, Bullying, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Sexual content, Abortion, Murder, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt

danidamico's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

No sé, por las reseñas impecables que había visto en internet esperaba mucho más de este libro. Me pareció un poco... aburrido? Tal vez mis expectativas eran demasiado altas, pero el desarrollo de la historia no me resultó tan terrorífico como esperaba y el giro inesperado no fue suficiente, no me sorprendió, por lo cual el final se sintió poco efectivo y como que le faltó fuerza. Otro problema que tuve fue el hecho de que no pude empatizar ni conectar con ninguno de los personajes, no me produjo nada a nivel emocional; es más, la narradora me irritaba por momentos, lo cual es raro ya que me suelen gustar los protagonistas infantiles.

La relación entre las hermanas Marjorie y Merry me hizo acordar a Siempre hemos vivido en el castillo de Shirley Jackson, una novela que disfruté muchísimo más. De hecho, el personaje de Merry es bastante similar al de Merricat escrito por Jackson, pero sin el humor seco y oscuro que le daba gracia y un toque especial. No pude evitar compararlas entre sí.

Objetivamente, no me parece un libro malo, entiendo que a la mayoría de los lectores les encantó, incluyendo a Stephen King, que lo recomendó en Twitter. Pero, desde mi punto de vista, no fue nada especial y no me produjo nada. Es posible que sea yo, que no sea culpa de Paul Tremblay, sino más bien un tema de gustos y preferencias personales. No fue un gran disgusto, pero tampoco lo disfruté, digamos que me dejó bastante indiferente.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Pedophilia