Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

3 reviews

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

turrean's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? No

4.25

This was fantastic! Such a complex, layered ghost story. The audio was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

bambooboy's review

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad 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? Yes

5.0

It can be hard to write an allegory for domestic violence without coming off insensitive or ham-fisted. In The September House, Orlando manages to gracefully use the metaphor of a haunted house beautifully. This book was darkly funny, with engaging characters that keep you wanting more of them after you put the book down.

I was concerned that she was going to go the coward's route and have the protagonist institutionalized after being characterized as crazy, but luckily she does not!

There is real growth among the characters and you find yourself rooting for them, even those that you might be surprised by. The descriptions are artistically disgusting, and the detached nature of the protagonist's voice is startlingly realistic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting

Minor: Self harm, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Detailed description of content warnings below

--Father is an alcoholic, who becomes sober and then relapses
--Father is emotionally and physically abusive to mother; attempts to be abusive to daughter so mother removes her from home
--Multiple child murders, graphic descriptions of torture and murder
--Gaslighting protagonist as to existence of ghosts
--Many graphic descriptions of bodies being twisted and deformed, tortured
--Protagonist is abused emotionally and physically for many years and the ways she copes are covered
--Multiple people commit suicide in the house, deaths described
--Multiple descriptions of vomit, especially vomiting flies
--One character is murdered in a fireplace, attempts made to burn entire house down
--Daughter attempts to institutionalize mother