Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

109 reviews

wandering_not_lost's review

emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Please mind content warnings.  This book depicts an abusive person as one of the antagonists, and though it is treated as the horrible thing it is, anyone with issues around being raised in an emotionally abusive family might want to tread lightly in reading this book.

I'm not much of a horror reader anymore, but this book did a good job of hooking me in.  The book starts out quite slowly, with the protagonist going home, settling in, seeing things wrong, and then very eventually it starts ramping into seeing Creepy Stuff happening.  It's a slow build, and several points I thought it was too slow.  The protagonist's POV doesn't really help, since she is funny and wry but totally unaware that she is in a Gothic horror novel, if you know what I mean.  We spend a lot of time listening to her internal monologue about the possible reasonable reasons that Creepy Things might be happening, when in reality you know right from the start that none of those things are true, and it almost comes across as...wasting the reader's time?  But, I continued on on the strength of the characters and wasn't disappointed.  Once stuff hit the fan in the last quarter, it was unputdownable and honestly quite emotional.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

sai_like_sigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Blood, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

booksandbabble's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

jackie_marion's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

d0505's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Fatphobia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, and Grief

apollo0325's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

An incredible exploration of family, generational trauma, vultures and bugs, and how we perceive our particularly cruel and horrible relatives with a dash of supernatural elements. T. Kingfisher’s books are always infused with humor and heart despite the horrific circumstances many of our characters find themselves in. Sam was an excellent protagonist, and I felt for her even more going into my thirties, relationship-less and fat than if I had been 23. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but I think Sam was easy for me to connect with because I too love telling people silly fun facts about the stuff I love (for Sam, it’s bugs. For me, it’s mythology). I also really enjoyed Sam’s understanding of her grandmother and the relationship Sam had with her mom felt so real and warm; I love them.

I’ve read 3 T. Kingfisher books now and I can tell you with full confidence, she is now an instant buy author for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Sensitivity to bugs / ladybugs Sensitivity to birds (vultures)

annamary54's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

I really enjoyed this book, i found myself laughing, and at the same time regretting my choice to stay up late and read this. Honestly the suspense throughout is more scary than the actual horror parts of the book. I rolled my eyes at a few millennial-isms, but also realized I was raised on millennial humor, and laughed quite a bit. don’t talk to me until i’ve had my boxed wine. I found the main character Sam very relatable overall, mostly because I too am a fat white woman with a specialized degree, a worldview that polarizes me from my family, and too much self awareness that it almost wraps around to being self un-aware. I am still unsure about how to feel about the ending, I can say for certain I did not see it coming. I liked

the witchy aspect, i just wish it were touched upon earlier and in more depth than “witchy estranged neighbor.” The whole action went from 0 to 100 really quick, which yes in horror that’s how it works, but I kinda wanted more spooky bits than just sleep paralysis and hand in photo. Maybe more underground children content earlier.

I will say I was thoroughly entertained and didn’t want to stop reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fatphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

ribbonbeam's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Gaslighting

snickies's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

Only T Kingfisher would write a book because she has a vendetta against roses.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Violence

Minor: Fatphobia and Racism