Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

15 reviews

selendrea's review

dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-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

4.25

I went into this book with barely any knowledge of the plot, and I'm so glad I did. I thought I could predict what would happen, but this was far from the truth. The September House is more than a simplistic haunted house tale - the far scarier monsters are not the incorporeal, mutilated forms of the deceased, but the monsters that are alive. The heart of this story isn't the ghosts, the gore, the nightmares. It's family - albeit an imperfect family, but one that you end up rooting for. As a fiery daughter similar to Katherine in some ways, I loved how well fleshed out the mother-daughter relationship was.

Orlando does a brilliant job bringing the main character, Margaret, to life. She is motivated, funny, tired, and so incredibly loving. She simultaneously feels like a realistic person, but also one who is difficult to fully understand, which is purposeful. As we fall deeper and deeper into Margaret's story, her characterization and reasons behind her behavior become illuminated, and the pacing of these reveals felt perfectly spaced out.

I also want to commend Orlando on balancing horrifying elements with such refreshing use of dark humor. There were several moments in this book that made me chuckle out loud and receive a glance from my husband on the couch. I genuinely had a dream inspired by a scene in this book, that's how strongly the imagery impacted me. 

The only thing that detracted from this novel for me was a lack of subtlety. I believe Orlando could have folded in the allegory between

Margaret standing up to Master Vale versus Margaret never standing up to her abusive husband

in a less obvious way. It was as if the author didn't trust the reader to catch on to the parallels, which became a bit frustrating. I absolutely adore how the book explored

the psychological profile of a woman in an abusive marriage (if I just follow the rules, I can survive),

but I truly think with a bit more subtlety and room to breathe, I would have felt more satisfied at the end when all the puzzle pieces came together.

Nonetheless, I think The September House is an incredibly fun and successful novel. If you enjoy traditional haunted house stories with a psychological twist, you won't regret giving this one a chance!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

tmmorrison's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jennxreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

5.0

I didn't know if this was supposed to be horrific or hilarious, it turned out to be a roller coaster. When you think you know what's going on something will happen that will knock you down. 
Triggers for domestic abuse, alcoholism, child abuse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ceruleanseas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

While I found the plot extremely predictable, I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It's well-written and although the twists are mostly the common horror tropes, it wasn't boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Police brutality

whatkatyread87's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rochelleisreading's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Forced institutionalization

kristenreids's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was the best horror I've read in a while. There were very few slow parts in the middle. I liked that it was psychological too, I didn't expect that. Definitely recommend if you're looking for haunted house horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Vomit

icecreamsoldier's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a fantastic read, easily became one of my favorite books of all times. The writing of this book was just beautifully crafted as the author is able to really set the scene of what is happening along with explaining in detail the horror of it while also adding hilarious bits and pieces that make this read such an enjoyable one. I felt so in love with the characters that at some point I was on the verge of tears of something bad happening to them. 

September house is a beautifully crafted horror story that narrates the horrors of a haunted house that ties together different topics and narratives going from mental illness to abusive relationships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

cheye13's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As all really good horror is, this is an excellent metaphor for the social issue -

domestic abuse

- it's approaching. I don't necessarily think it's a spoiler, as it's the core of the story, but others might. I mention it here because I think some other content warnings are more obviously spoilers, so I suggest checking that only if you are genuinely concerned about reading certain content (also for more details regarding the nature of

the abuse

).

I very much appreciated that it didn't dance around the metaphor; the social issue was brought into the light and addressed directly in conjunction with the haunting and what it represented. And in general, I found it a very good horror story. I'm not a huge horror fan and can be a baby, but this is the type of horror that is scary for the characters rather than the reader, which is the style I prefer, I think. This didn't give me nightmares, which I'm grateful for. On the other hand, the language is so effective and visceral that I did gag or feel my skin crawl at times. It made for a fun and interesting reading experience without dipping into true unpleasantness for me.

I think my main gripe was

using alcoholism as a sort of springboard for the anger issues and domestic abuse; it felt like a way to excuse the behavior, when they're really two discrete issues that can occur indepedently. Removing the alcoholism would maybe make the abuse storyline more universal.

That being said, it didn't necessarily take anything away from the concept so it was easy to look past.

This is possibly one of the best, most accessible horror books I've found so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Torture, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

abuse: the nature of the spousal abuse is an alcoholic husband physically and emotionally abusing his wife; the physical abuse is never detailed, but the emotional abuse is very much so, often including misogynistic rhetoric. While the narrator excuses the abuse to herself, she is adamant it will not affect their child. There is, however, a single detailed scene in which the husband threatens their child.

Dementia: there is a long scene calling the narrator's mental health into question, including discussions of genetic mental illness, schizophrenia, self harm, murder, and symptoms of PTSD.

While I was concerned about the potential 'it's all in her mind' twist, that is not the eventual conclusion.

animal death: birds die often from impacting the exterior of the house; disposal of their corpses mentioned often, but not in great detail

cops: police officers are present and do wield guns

vomit/bugs: not often depicted, but includes some scenes of people vomiting flies (living and dead)

much upsetting content is part of the ghosts' pasts, witnessed and described in middling detail by the narrator, including: cannibalism, child abuse, child death, torture (of children), fire/fire injury, kidnapping, and violence