Reviews tagging 'Death'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

176 reviews

maregred's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, Vomit, and Cannibalism

reading_oyster's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

A decent read. Not my typical genre choice but I chose it for the spooky season. Read a review saying that it was a little predictable and at first I thought it wasn't but once I got near the end, I made a spot on guess of parts of the plot. But then it hits you with a plot twist which was reasonable and made sense. Then it hits you with another plot twists (a reversal actually). This book is mainly plot driven and has a great plot for a mystery/horror book. Would be a great movie/show adaptation honestly. Very similar vibes to "Haunting of Hill House" 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood

Minor: Suicide attempt

rajaraks's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Mental illness

witchymermaid's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. I don't want to give much away, but this book had so many layers that slowly peeled away. I couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gaslighting

lmconway_ak's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The perfect Halloween read! An excellent story well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Murder

lexkazokas's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This book was recommended to me as an exploration of abusive relationships through the metaphor of the haunted house. I would definitely agree with this explanation and think that this is emotional horror at its finest with a great exploration of abuse, trauma and family dynamics. 

Though it's solid horror and the stakes felt very clear throughout, the ending felt a little lackluster for me. I can't figure out what I'd have wanted to see differently, but it did feel a bit anticlimactic. Maybe it was that some things felt unresolved, like why the house was so attached to Margaret in particular, what her childhood was like outside of the instability that gets referenced in passing, etc.

I'd still recommend this book really highly and look forward to other works from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore and Fire/Fire injury

herelieshenry's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

This to me is the quintessential modern haunted house novel, the perfect conclusion for the lineage of the genre through the early days of Gothic haunted houses with a heavy focus on women’s anxieties and agoraphobia, to the more contemporary haunted house novel post-Amityville with focus on financial instability keeping someone within the house and the looming presence of

domestic violence

throughout the stories. If one were to study the history of haunted house novels throughout the decades, this is the perfect one for the 2020s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Cannibalism

andy5185'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? It's complicated

2.0

I wanted to like this so much based on all the buzz, but in the end I found it too cliche for my taste. That said, the ghosts were all really well rendered and it definitely had some truly horrifying chiller moments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

mlthomas234's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol