Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Grip of It by Jac Jemc

12 reviews

phantomgecko's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

A book about a haunted house that focuses on the mental trauma of the situation and not as much as the how and the why.

Your questions will not be answered. It's not about that.

I am reminded slightly of the movie Oculus (one of my favorites) just in the way

you can't be sure if it's real or not. Is the house actually haunted? Are these people just unwell? Like...probably they're being terrorized by the supernatural, but mayyyyyybe, just maybe it's in their heads.

And I love that for this book.

While the relationship obviously has some rough bits, this book depicts a married couple that actually cares about each other, which is nice to see.

Overall though, it just didn't do it for me. It's great, well written, interesting. I don't not recommend it, and I wouldn't buy it or read it again.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

jantrompper's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

3.0

The whole book feels as a massive build-up to some revelation that will turn your understanding of what's happening around. Then something happens that does not feel profound and the story fizzles out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

badmom's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The writing is taut yet descriptive enough to bring us fully into a contemporary young couple’s tense world. Chapters alternate points of view so we slowly come to understand what their marriage is like and how they’ve arrived at the decision to buy an unsettling old house far from their friends & former city life. 
Tension & dread builds quickly + powerfully; creepy circumstances unfold and start to have historical connections but then are largely left at symbolic meaning for the couple. 
I was left considering how I would react in their situation and pondering my own relationship but would have preferred a more concrete conclusion. But, discomfort in the unknown might be the point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Stalking and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, and Emotional abuse

five's review

dark sad fast-paced

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

2.0

Almost DNF'd. Really didn't enjoy the writing style and thought most of it was boring. Each chapter was usually 2-3 pages long and would end/switch POV for seemingly no reason. The plot wasn't really strong and

nothing much happened to them, leaving the ending to be ultimately extremely unsatisfying.

I feel like there could have been some really cool potential to do more with the woman who died and Rolf's entire character, but they were ultimately just kind of used as a device to be like "hey, this neighbor guy is pretty creepy, huh?"

So much is left unanswered and vague but not in a gothic, mysterious way. It's like the author had a lot of good ideas to go off of but didn't fully flesh them out and instead just began writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Mental illness, and Addiction

Moderate: Child death and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content

traa's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Dementia, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Murder, Sexual violence, Vomit, Cancer, Fatphobia, Violence, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

ofavalley's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

savvylit's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

The Grip of It is literary horror at its finest. Through the perspectives of both Julie and James, Jemc builds a creeping dread that feels entirely too realistic. Like Julie & James, I found myself second-guessing the creepy occurrences. Maybe there really was a perfectly reasonable explanation for the hidden rooms in the house or the drawings on the walls? Their attempts to explain away the supernatural while simultaneously losing their minds were so terrifying. I couldn't put this book down because I became obsessed with discovering the next scary detail.

Highly recommend to fellow fans of literary horror and haunted house tropes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol and Addiction

angryoppossum's review

mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

only issue with the book i had was chapters are usually back and forth POV from the husband and wife (ex: chapter 1 - wife, chapter 2 - husband) but some chapters differed from this format and left me confused at one point

unsure if intentional by the author, it would make sense, i’m just not 100% certain. a tad bit disappointed that there really is no answer of what was going on, but do love that the main characters just sold off the house for other people to deal with lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol and Grief

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I think this book had a lot of potential and I liked how it started but it quickly went from being spooky and mysterious (with a similar vibe to house of leaves) to feeling tedious. This book is a prime example of an author telling rather than showing. It was written in a way that felt detached rather than immersive. I think this style would have worked better if it was written in verse or as a long poem. I didn't hate the book. I found the writing to be very pretty at times. I just feel like a lot of incredible ideas were introduced and then not fully explored. It all felt anticlimactic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Alcohol, and Murder

The characters move into the house to start over after a gambling addiction. There's one or two sex scenes. Child death and murder are talked about but not seen in detail. Mental illness is a theme throughout the book as the characters wonder if they're haunted or going crazy. Characters drink alcohol socially throughout the book.

emily_s22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death and Suicide attempt