Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

69 reviews

judassilver's review

dark funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

aparker89's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

tabookish's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Dementia

dev921's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

tew_11's review

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

holeeeyyyshite. best final act of a book i've read in a while. truly horrifying in some aspects. really enjoyed this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

randeerebecca's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

achay91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism

arkwen452's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

The September House will pull readers into a mysterious, quirky narrative that's strongly driven by dark humor, in my opinion, based on the situation with Margaret in her house. 

It's told in first person and Margaret's nonchalant approach and perspective for her time in this odd, creepy and clearly haunted house filled with "pranksters" as she likes to call them is clearly not of a person who scares easily. Readers get to know Margret and learn about a lot of the hard times she's endured. But we also learn about the previous souls who lived there. And as described through her eyes, the "pranksters" actually really aren't all that bad. 

And the manor of which the author humanizes them led me to believe the intention of the book was meant to be on the dark humor more than horror. 

I think that the pacing of the book is done very well, and each chapter ties into Margaret, and Hal's marriage and their relationship with the new house really came together well. Made it an enjoyable read. 

A lot of the time in each chapter I  I found myself questioning Margaret's sanity and her control over reality. She said that Hal also noticed things in the house BUT since the POV is in first person I can't fully trust her interpretation of everything; there were also moments when it felt like the events of the house with the pranksters of the house that, as Margret calls them, made everything seem like it was actually happening. 

Like the actions/events were concrete. Therefore the author will keep the readers questioning until the very end of the book whether it is real or the September house is just a figment of Margaret's imagination. 

I don't think the horror element really kicks in until the last fourth of the book and I think that , there are more creepy elements that happen in the book overall. Especially with the use of the phrases "he's down there" in reference to Master Vale and how Margaret saw notions of that outside of the house.

Again, with it being in first person, readers cannot trust if what Margret's seeing is actually reality or just figment of her imagination. Without giving spoilers, I will say that I was very pleased with the way the ending is tied up because , it got to a point in the narrative where the word "crazy" was being tossed around and signs were pointing to Margret being commItted. I didn't like the angle of it being a psychosis issue rather than something factual. Not only because this is a red flag trope for me and it is never really done well when it comes to individual having some sort of psychosis leading to them having erratic behavior. 

But

also due to the fact that we learn a lot of what Margaret went through with her relationship with Hal and The abuse, and his alcoholism. In the beginning, I got the interpretation that how and Catherine did not have a connection because he didn't like the fact that she was a lesbian but as we continue through the book more and more details of the past is revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jourdanicus's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

This book is great allegory for

domestic abuse

and the kind of family relationships that follow the pattern of suppressing/repressing emotions with a satisfying, gory horror ending. I did feel the language could have been cleaned up a bit - I'm not offended by  swearing but I think there was more than necessary to get the point across. There were also some details that felt a bit more repetitive than necessary to get the point across.

Otherwise, this was almost a perfect 5 star read for me. I love horror that mixes psychological thrill with physical horror, and an unreliable narrator is one of my favorite tropes. In fact, this book made clever use of a few recognizable horror tropes without them being too obvious or heavy handed. I heard elements of The Shining, and several horror movies of which I can't think of the names.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys psychological horror, mother/daughter relationship themes, stories with unreliable narrators, fans of classic horror, and Stephen King fans. Don't read while eating if you're sensitive or have a vivid visual imagination... Lol.

Mind the triggers, but everyone including the children get

justice and a happy ending

!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

brit0929's review

dark tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol