Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

18 reviews

jalepahe's review

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

4.0

I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. It was a good book - had me hooked and had to try real hard to put down at times, but I have no idea how I feel about it, really. I didn't mind the story being told by an 8 year old POV, however, I hated 'daddo' nad how she was treated and acted like a 5 year old instead. I loathed the fucking mother, who only thought about her fucking affair partner, and sleeping with him - to the point where she essentially ditches her family for two days to do so in the middle of all of the chaos they are experiencing. Other Mother was certainly something, and she appeared a lot more times than what other reviewers say. And while I wasn't surprised by the main character's answer, I was as to the lead up for it - and the murders that took place for it too occur. Which, perfect opportunity for a sequel, just saying.
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amanda_reads89's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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skyed88's review

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dark emotional sad 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? Yes

0.75

It concept was great, just poorly executed. Nobody is likeable, I hate that I had to have read the word ‘daddo’ a hundred times. And if anything the books design was more to make you feel miserable rather than scared. And the ending was super built up and incredibly unsatisfying
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jaid5394's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-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

4.25

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dblue236's review

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dark 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? Yes

4.0

I can't resist picking up a new book from this author every time I see one. This one took a bit of getting used to due to the format of it, but there was a helpful author's note at the beginning of the book that makes that less of a challenge. I loved watching the story unfold, though I can't say I wasn't at least a little bit let down by the ending. Overall, though, this was a great creepy read that will leave me thinking about it for some time. 
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50shadesofrae's review against another edition

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

2.0

Points for a couple good scares, but at least 25% of the latter half of the book didn’t progress the plot at all? Every adult character in the book was overly talkative, talked in circles about things no one in their right mind would talk to a child about, and was so unbearable that I found myself hoping they would die in the next supernatural incident. 

Brave to attempt a kid narrated horror story, but another unfortunate case of authors being bad at writing kids. Finished for the sake of finishing. 
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blacksphinx's review

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challenging dark 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

5.0

I've never seen a horror novel hit the ground running like that. I also didn't know you could pull off a jumpscare in a non-visual medium. The unadorned prose and unique formatting allow the novel to move at a breakneck pace while chilling you to the bone. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long time.
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lurieta's review

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challenging 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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC! This deeply creepy tale is my introduction to Josh Malerman's work, but it won't be the last book I read by this author. In it, eight-year-old Bela senses that all is not right between her Mommy and Daddo. To make matters worse, she is visited at night by an entity called "Other Mommy" who emerges from the dark of her closet. Other Mommy says they are friends, that she is there to help Bela, but each night, she asks Bela, "can I go into your heart?" As Bela's uneasiness with this question grows, Other Mommy escalates her otherworldly hauntings, bleeding into Bela's daytime world and threatening to tear her life and her fragile family apart.

As a lover of horror, it takes a lot to scare me in such a variety of ways, but this book did that effectively. Other Mommy's ability to imitate others and make Bela and her parents question their safety and sense of reality at every turn was both surreal and cinematic; I could easily imagine this as an A24 film. There were times in which Bela's personhood became obscured by the marital troubles between her parents, especially her mother, and because of the way the text is formatted, it was not always attributable to a particular character, However, there was something interesting about having so much of the book take place in Bela's interior world, which is under threat, and everything external, like her parent's frequent monologues, are encroaching until it is hard to tell what is real for Bela.

Be warned, this is a very unsettling book that won't leave you feeling good, but it will have you checking all the dark corners of your home in case something is lurking where you can't see. 
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