Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

17 reviews

guccishoestrings's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

I have read this book twice over the course of 16 months as my creative writing (later horror film and literature) professor recommended and later required to read this book.

This book seems like a book about a teen getting an exorcism but that is not at all what this book is about. This book is more about a family that is damaged beyond repair, financially crushed, and seeking for any kind of hope they can find. There are really only two main characters in this book in Marjorie (the teen who is "possessed") and Merry (who is the narrator) with their mother and father being important but secondary main characters. The father of the family lost his job and has since pretty much become a cult like member at the church, the mother has been dealing with severe depression and with everything going on she has gotten much worse, and Marjorie is apparently possessed. Eventually a show is made to show the exorcism of Marjorie and the book goes from there.

I suggest reading this book once then after reflection and thought read it again in a week. There are so many little things that you miss through your first read through. I also suggest reading with a group of 4 or more people as after reading for a class, almost everybody has different thoughts on what the story and characters are conveying. Just do not go in expecting an exorcism horror book, because this is a different type of horror, just wait till the end of this book as it is truly heartbreaking.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Vomit

daniellecherny's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Excrement, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Self harm, Gaslighting, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying

Ending is left open/ambiguous. If you need a clear ending that explains exactly what happened, don't read this book.

jessicalarson125's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

stickypeach's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Body horror

musicmenagerie's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

Not as scary as I thought it would be, but thought-provoking. And, the ending really shocked me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Body horror, Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Alcohol, Addiction, Death, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

caramelcaylee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Vomit, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Mental illness, Violence, Gore, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Body horror

lucylou's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

I think it’s overhyped- it’s not a bad book, but it was not for me. I didn’t like “Karen’s” chapters at all, as they didn’t sound like a woman could write them- very much a male author who doesn’t know how portray a young woman’s voice. The last 4 chapters seemed especially rushed, like the author had run out of steam and wanted to put in as many twists and f*cked up things as possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Death, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Suicide

smileysam's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I want to start off by saying I often see this book described as a super scary and disturbing horror novel (which was initially what brought me to reading it) and it’s not. To me, this novel is moreso sad and gut wrenching than scary. It’s less paranormal possession horror and more real life, mental illness, and family splitting ‘horror’. 

I will say, it felt real. I liked the story being told from an unreliable, naive narrator. It felt plausible, like it could happen to any one of us. I initially didn’t mind the blog entries - I did feel like they pulled me out of the story, but not necessarily in a bad way (not until the third one, anyway). I liked the supposed outsider POV and the foreshadowing we got from them.

I do wish, though, that the poisoning of the family was moreso alluded to than outright told to us in the third blog post. I feel like it could’ve create much more tension if it was brought up in Merry’s descriptions to begin with.

All in all, I would say the first 2 parts of this book were fantastic. Where it began to lose me was part 3. The pacing seemed to change and became too fast. Everything seemed to happen and more or less resolve instantly as it was brought up. I wish the third part could’ve maintained the same atmosphere and pacing and story telling that the other two had. I would say this book is worth a read, though. I did enjoy it, it just was not quite what I was expecting or hoping for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I don’t know how I feel about this book. It was interesting and the way it was told was intriguing, but it kind of just made me sad. Also I’m pretty sure this is classified as horror, but there was maybe like one creepy part(that I skipped over because I do not need to read graphic details about a 14 year old masturbating). Honestly it was just depressing to read about these girls and the mental illness and honestly the annoying father(which is kind of the point, but I just didn’t really expect that). I also did not like the ending like it was just so anticlimactic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, and Murder

simp4sneks's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Child death, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Vomit