Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

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

j0n13e's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Well wow. This book from the start is already intriguing in its own kind of immediate foreshadowing way. The character portrayal and down to earth real emotions are expressed very well. The thoughts and raw expressions between the two main perpesctives are engaging and 

Satisfying.

.

I feel like the book touched perfectly on the already horror concept of the haunted house prospect very well. As well as it did with satisfying my horror portion, it gave many very real and emotional interactions between a couple and their trying to keep a relationship lasting with all of the horrors around them, continuing to worsen and become more disturbing.

.

The disturbing scenes and words that come out of the characters true colors as the book goes on are gut-wrenching. The beginning to turn on one another and spiraling down into madness makes you want to see what’s next, makes you want to know more. I really enjoyed this book and it was one of the very few that have made me feel uneasy in my own room.

—

= 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄:

 “There is no acceptable, untainted name for wilderness of the mind. People will always wander what to believe. They expect the stay inaccuracies to be looted out and abandoned. They expect the minds voice to only unstitch when alone. 

When the seam rips, they look away.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, and Gore

smolfem's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Medical content, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

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

ash_ton's review

2.75

similar to the haunting of hill house. i'm sure a lot of inspiration was pulled from there. i want more from this book. i feel like things weren't completely answered/thought through. too many loose ends/confusing things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Addiction, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide attempt

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

rockyc5's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

2.75

If you liked The Watcher on Netflix, you absolutely MUST read this book!! It's just that but way better.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical content and Suicide attempt

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

iheartmuseums's review

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I loved the short chapters and switching between the two main characters, worked so well. Such a creepy weird horror, not explicit or gory but like you are spooked by it and it feels like someone is reading over your shoulder. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Addiction