Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

5 reviews

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Alcoholism

chloseencounter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

This story was so much more than I ever could’ve expected. I loved the constant back and fourth of “is it mental illness or is it a demon?”, and ultimately it is kind of whatever you want and/or both, which I find to be a very fresh take on the haunting/possession genre. At the end of the day this was a family that was, in the very least, haunted by the ghosts of ideas, religious fear, money problems, a failing marriage, misogyny, mental illness, etc. The Berrets were manipulated, pushed, and agitated to the absolute breaking point. 

There was so much here, I honestly don’t even know how to talk about it all. First and foremost I think having the majority of this story being told in the eyes of an eight year old was great, there was so much tension even in Majorie’s most mild episodes because truthfully Merry had no idea what Marjorie might say or do, or if she (or anyone else) would protect her from someone she wasn’t even completely sure she was afraid of. I enjoyed all the nods to classic horror media but also the way common tropes were twisted and turned on their head, we’re asked “is anyone ever really possessed or has the church always been taking advantage of the vulnerability of the mentally ill and fueling the psychosis of the sick?” There were so many parallels and metaphors in the book I reveled in picking apart and analyzing, I think this novel had so much to say very eloquently hidden beneath what the story seemed to be at face value.

My one critique looks to be the common one…the blog sections were cringy at best and annoying at worst, but despite the kind of “hello fellow kids” attempt at writing a blog post that was supposed to sound as if it was written by a hip and up on the trends women in her early 20s, I still enjoyed the detached POV of what this family’s suffering looked like to the world and how the show succeeded to make good television but failed Majorie and Merry. (Every adult did to be completely honest) I also appreciated the  insight we got by hearing Merry’s thoughts coming from her child self, her adult self, and (vague spoiler) an alter ego of sorts. I thought it was sweet that in all three contexts you could still see Merry and how some bits of her personality never change.

Without spoiling I did actually quite like the twist ending because even that, may or may not be true. I think Merry has grown to be a fairly well rounded individual especially for what she’s been through, but even still, much like Majorie I think her head is full of ghosts too and maybe some things she said were simply manifestations of guilt but also maybe they weren’t…and I don’t think are meant to know for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Self harm, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Vomit, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Minor: Excrement, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Alcohol, Cursing, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexual content

hannanni41's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Sexual content, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Moderate: Excrement, Death, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment

karamelka_kar19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

2.5

There were a lot of happy and crappy moments. First of all, the bad ones.

In the parts when the interview for the upcoming book was conducted, it was hard to keep up with two women speaking, the ages especially. The blog thing? A a waste of space. A little things, but still they're matter.

What angered me most was the amount of  POV, but not the possessed one. In this sense it is classic, right? They were witnesses, alright, but the story is not about them at all.This poor girl lived and suffered her parents and everyone else treating her like the way the did so we can hear how sad everyone around her is for her? Let the survivor tell their own story, god dammit.

That's to say, the book itself is aware of the situations, it's really clear it was the intention. 

The most solid part was the sister relationship between the two main characters. They deeply cared about each other and it was the most heartbreaking and beautiful thing I've ever seen. 

The book doesn't have a full "what happened" line straight, you always kept in a shadow of what's real and what's not. It reminded me of The cabin at the end of the world by the same author though I'm not saying that it's for the same group of people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Bullying

rachaelallyn's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Confinement