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foxclcves's review
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Dysphoria, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Self harm, Violence, Alcohol, and Gaslighting
eyeowna's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.5
Gorgeous and unsettling art. Love that the ending made me immediately want to reread from the beginning. I’ve only read Through the Woods by Emily Carroll before this but I Am Fan.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Self harm
iamblueraspberry's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was beautifully chilling. It drew me in and left me changed. Stunningly well done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Self harm, and Gore
Minor: Domestic abuse
catspajamas15's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Emily Carroll can do no wrong. Her art is unparalleled and hauntingly beautiful. Her story may not make sense to some, but you can still get lost in the illustrations and come to your own conclusions. I will always support this author.
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse, Murder, Self harm, Grief, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, and Death of parent
otterno11's review
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
“A haunting is like anything else in life. Impossible to prepare for. So it’s better not to have expectations.”
Emily Carroll’s latest affecting, eerie graphic novel A Guest in the House is her most chilling yet. I’ve rarely felt literal chills while reading a comic, but Carroll certainly builds them up here. Grounding her phantasmagorical ghostly tale in the familiar mundanity of a quiet northern lake town sometime in the ‘90s makes the horrors that fill the pages all the more startling. Carroll is an expert at evoking visceral human emotions and imbuing them with an ominous power, and A Guest in the House accentuates this.
Abigail, an emotionally subdued, self effacing young woman newly married to an older widowed dentist, is struggling to adjust to her new life, especially engaging with her new stepdaughter Crystal. Under the surface of her placid, passive exterior, her personality surges with a vibrant, if unsettling fantasy life. Despite the prosaic appearance of her life, it is a house of secrets and the presence of Sheila, her husband’s first wife and Crystal’s mother, looms large over the lakehouse Abby spends so much time alone in. Soon, Abby comes to interact and build a relationship with Sheila's presence in the house, a relationship by turns enticing and menacing
and the boundaries between the real and the other begin to blur, for both Abby and the reader.
Carroll illustrates the mundane details of Abby’s daily life - the grocery store, the wall harp, the dock - in a static black and white, while her dream experiences are shown in lurid reds and blues, a striking and effective way to convey this disquieting atmosphere, especially as the ambiguity of Abby’s understanding becomes more evident. Full of strange and surreal touches that accentuate this uncertainty, as the tension mounts, we find ourselves unsure where Abby’s dreamworld ends and its reality begins.
All in all, there is a lot going on under the surface of this story, from Abby’s anxieties and sexuality to the stifling nature of her small town at the end of the conformist 20th century, that makes it all very open to interpretation in a provocative and rewarding way, especially its shocking and sudden ending. An intricate and terrifying puzzle, Carroll’s lush artwork and pacing make A Guest in the House a gripping story that is best read during the day.
Emily Carroll’s latest affecting, eerie graphic novel A Guest in the House is her most chilling yet. I’ve rarely felt literal chills while reading a comic, but Carroll certainly builds them up here. Grounding her phantasmagorical ghostly tale in the familiar mundanity of a quiet northern lake town sometime in the ‘90s makes the horrors that fill the pages all the more startling. Carroll is an expert at evoking visceral human emotions and imbuing them with an ominous power, and A Guest in the House accentuates this.
Abigail, an emotionally subdued, self effacing young woman newly married to an older widowed dentist, is struggling to adjust to her new life, especially engaging with her new stepdaughter Crystal. Under the surface of her placid, passive exterior, her personality surges with a vibrant, if unsettling fantasy life. Despite the prosaic appearance of her life, it is a house of secrets and the presence of Sheila, her husband’s first wife and Crystal’s mother, looms large over the lakehouse Abby spends so much time alone in. Soon, Abby comes to interact and build a relationship with Sheila's presence in the house, a relationship by turns enticing and menacing
and the boundaries between the real and the other begin to blur, for both Abby and the reader.
Carroll illustrates the mundane details of Abby’s daily life - the grocery store, the wall harp, the dock - in a static black and white, while her dream experiences are shown in lurid reds and blues, a striking and effective way to convey this disquieting atmosphere, especially as the ambiguity of Abby’s understanding becomes more evident. Full of strange and surreal touches that accentuate this uncertainty, as the tension mounts, we find ourselves unsure where Abby’s dreamworld ends and its reality begins.
All in all, there is a lot going on under the surface of this story, from Abby’s anxieties and sexuality to the stifling nature of her small town at the end of the conformist 20th century, that makes it all very open to interpretation in a provocative and rewarding way, especially its shocking and sudden ending. An intricate and terrifying puzzle, Carroll’s lush artwork and pacing make A Guest in the House a gripping story that is best read during the day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Domestic abuse
whatisjordyreading's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gore, and Self harm
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Domestic abuse and Pregnancy
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