Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

55 reviews

jessicalarson125's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Self harm, Dementia, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

greendog95's review

dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Dementia

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death and Child death

gogglor's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Oh I just loved this book. The metaphor of putting up with a haunted home as putting up with an abusive husband is just so perfectly done. I guessed the twists early so not five stars, but this book was so good it almost didn’t matter. Highly, highly recommend.

UPDATE: had to change it to 5 stars because it’s months later and I’m still thinking about this book and recommending it to anyone who’ll listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

The only animal death is repeated mention of birds crashing into the outside of the cursed house, and that’s not a spoiler.

ilaxaria's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit

caseyhaunter's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

outofthepinksky's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

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

jeannelynne24's review

challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

4.0

While I loved this book (it kept me guessing with the wild swings!), it DEFINITELY needs trigger warnings!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Dementia, Cannibalism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

coco78337's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

This was better than I expected it to be. Until the last few chapters, I kept questioning reality and wondered how I could suspend reality at the same time. It was the same feeling I had watching Everything Everywhere All at Once. I loved the relationships Margaret cultivated. And I appreciated the mother-daughter dynamic too. That was probably the most real thing about the book and also the best part for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail