Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

57 reviews

mark5327's review

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

Margaret is alone in a house filled with "pranksters," ghosts who only present their greatest challenges to the home's only living occupant in September.

The September House gave me a story which I've read before, but in a super readable manner. It wasn't until the big showdown at the end where I lost any momentum at all and that's just because I don't love action sequences. If you love ghost stories with likeable protagonists and an unsettling sense of atmosphere based on the accumulation of regular haunting events, you could do far worse than The September House. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

magikorbert's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

ultimately, i'm satisfied with this story. howver, the tropes and cliches it relies on up until a certain point really grind my fricken gears. its so frustrating, it makes you want to put that shit down and not pick it up again. also, maybe this is harsh, but catherine is so severely unlikeable. obviously she has many issues but she says fucking terrible things to her mom that, for a 30 year old woman, are so damn out of line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Suicide and Forced institutionalization

spacecataz's review

5.0

ohhhhh i loved it so much. at first you're like hmm this lady is kind of detached and maybe sucks but i like her anyway? but the more i learned about her the more i liked her.

i was set to be disappointed when

they were going to have her institutionalized and she'd accepted everything was in her head and then it wasn't! i was so glad it was real.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Forced institutionalization

ssummar's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Dementia

alexis_hope22's review

dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

Unexpected, fun, and poignant

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

jkd0126's review

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bcap31's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.5

Kept me guessing all the way to the end and then left me wishing for an epilogue. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death and Forced institutionalization

kit_icarus8's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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