Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - A Guest in the House

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll

35 reviews

glitterdeww's review

dark emotional 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

4.5

Emily Carroll's talents are on vivid display in this full length graphic novel. Fantastic and bloody imagery overlaps the mundane life of Abby, a quiet woman in a small town, as she becomes enveloped in the mystery of her husband's late wife. There is a depth of suspense and quiet throughout this novel that builds slowly and powerfully. Abby's imagination and suspicion collide within the gloriously illustrated pages, and like Carroll's short stories, the reader is brought to a climactic and abrupt ending.

PLOT: 4.5

CHAR: 4

CRAFT: 5

ENGMT: 4

SPARK: 4.5

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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A thoroughly haunting and captivating story, that delivered peak eery atmosphere through the entity of the tale. I was genuinely frightened multiple times and had to stop reading, especially at night time.

The story was much more complex than I expected, but for the most part I think it carrier through it's themes and general plot exploration really well. Where it falls down for me was the ending; the plot twist was shocking and left me with so many questions, but then the ending just confused me. I didn't really understand what had happened. I feel like this is how I felt back in the day when I had read Carroll's Through the woods short story collection, but generally speaking, A guest in the house had a more satisfying layout.

Abby was a very non-assuming protagonist but her inner world was rich and whimsical. I loved the scenes of her imaginary knight and how she wanted to be in spirit, but it was interwoven with this dark and sinister entity and environment that I began to wonder if that was coming from Abby herself.

Carroll really had me second guessing characters and although I'm left perplexed by those last few pages, I enjoyed the beauty of the details of the art and the story overall.

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xabbeylongx's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Spoilers Ahead:

Once again, Carroll has blown me away with her book. The illustrations, perfect, and the storyline, even more perfect!

We follow Abby as she is with her new husband, a dentist, left widowed from his previous marriage, and his child from that marriage, Crystal. They all live together, and Sheila, the ex-wife, had supposedly died from cancer. However, when she starts being haunted by ‘Sheila’, and is told that she was actually murdered by him, she starts to feel a little weird, like everything is not as it seems.

And when she lets someone into the house to look after Crystal, after an accident with her husband that leaves him dead, when she finds out that someone is not who they say they are, everything kicks off.

Honestly, my explanation does not do the story justice at all. It’s one of the best, most intriguing and most chilling books I’ve ever read.

The ending was so ambiguous. There were so many theories, and it’s one of the only books, thus far, that I’ve had to look up because I have no idea how it ends. One part of me thinks that it’s a bit of copout, the ending not being clear, but the other, more correct part of me loves the ambiguity. The reader is free to make up their own theories as to how the story ends. Personally, I don’t know what to think, and I like there not being a typically ‘correct’ ending to it, it makes it a very unique book, even though I know a lot of people didn’t like how it ended. I, having personally thought about it a bit more since I last read the book, think it’s insanely impressive to write and illustrate a novel like that. And it’s queer, which makes it all the better!
The only thing is I didn't bond with the characters too much, and I thought Abby was quite bland, but I think that also helps with the story, so I'm not too mad about it. And the less said about Abby's husband the better, because he is an awful man, and I think he deserved what happened to him.

One of my favourite reviews ever: “Girls be like ‘I’m fighting demons’ and the demons be homosexuality”.

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doomham's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lurieta's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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flamesocks's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-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? Yes

5.0

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foxclcves's review

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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

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annaonthepage's review

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I loved this right up to the end, which is cut mercilessly short. I feel a bit cheated by the story ending where it does. It doesn't sit right with the incredible build-up that's been crafted to that point. Otherwise this is a stunningly atmospheric gothic ghost story that doesn't shy away from darkness and ambiguity. I was really invested in Abby as a character and her journey.

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moonmisandrist's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

As always Carroll's art is so beautiful and creepy. I love knights and dragons so of course I loved that the protagonist dreams of themself as a beautiful knight, slaying dragons and saving the princess (and the art in these dream sequences are breathtaking). Unfortunately, the ending felt a bit too quick - though I can see the narrative purpose of it, I would have liked more time in the story so the ending had felt more impactful.

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catspajamas15's review

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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.

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