Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The September House by Carissa Orlando

69 reviews

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

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

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

widowrites's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

3.25

I’m not sure I liked this book very much. It was certainly addictive. I had a hard time not listening to it. But the ending really threw me. I did listen to the book as an audio book so perhaps I missed things I would have caught while reading, but the twist felt forced to me. It was incredibly unsatisfying. I enjoyed most of the book, so I don’t want to give it a bad rating because most of it was great. Just the ending didn’t work for me. It’s also well written and I laughed so much during this horror book. Definitely check the triggers before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

flygonjinn's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

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

jillcosta's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

tristinrose's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

larajgriff1's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

Sufficiently scary in the horror way while also being scary in the interpersonal way.  Though warning: if you don't like gore, don't come within 10 feet of this book.  Much like blood from the walls, it oozes from every page.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting