Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

60 reviews

chelbelle122's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The beginning had me at a 5. The middle was so slow I thought about stopping. The end wraps everything up nicely...but it was so rushed. I wouldn't say I was surprised by any of the plot twists but I did love the nonchalant attitude of the main character. I would watch the BBC version of this in a moment...but probably wouldn't read it again.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jakobmarleymommy's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emilyjmasters's review

3.5

For fans of the first season of AHS 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

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

wordsareworlds's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this twist on a more classic haunted house story. It had me guessing until almost the end which way it would go, and ultimately I was very satisfied by how everything came together. I keep thinking about the fine line the author walked in revealing the MC's past and wanting the reader to ask just how unreliable the narrator is. Strong themes about the cycle of abuse and how survival can manifest in very different ways for different people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Dementia, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury

alicroz34's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Attacking the haunted house genre from the perspective of an overly agreeable mom who just puts up with most of it is kind of hilarious. 

I devoured this in two days. 

I did notice 100% of adult men who died in the house did not get to come back as ghosts and did not get to have their injuries reversed at the end. I find that very interesting, but I did want an acknowledgement of that somewhere? Like we're literally watching all the children & adult women who died in the house heal & leave (if they want to) and then they just sit on the porch like... so Hal is dead. I'm down with it but I was like... is no one else seeing a pattern here hi hello.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

aparker89's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

zeroshi's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I feel like this book hits different for victims of ab*se. This isn’t simply a haunted house book and while that part is done amazingly this is a commentary on breaking cyclical toxic patterns. Also the fact this is a debut novel??? Amazingly well done by the voice actor as well. Absolutely fell in love with the main character and her troop of pranksters. The daughter was a LITTLE IRRITATING at forst but once you realize what the book is REALLY saying you see the struggle she has with seeing her father in herself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Alcohol

tew_11's review

dark emotional funny tense 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

5.0

holeeeyyyshite. best final act of a book i've read in a while. truly horrifying in some aspects. really enjoyed this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

arkwen452's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The September House will pull readers into a mysterious, quirky narrative that's strongly driven by dark humor, in my opinion, based on the situation with Margaret in her house. 

It's told in first person and Margaret's nonchalant approach and perspective for her time in this odd, creepy and clearly haunted house filled with "pranksters" as she likes to call them is clearly not of a person who scares easily. Readers get to know Margret and learn about a lot of the hard times she's endured. But we also learn about the previous souls who lived there. And as described through her eyes, the "pranksters" actually really aren't all that bad. 

And the manor of which the author humanizes them led me to believe the intention of the book was meant to be on the dark humor more than horror. 

I think that the pacing of the book is done very well, and each chapter ties into Margaret, and Hal's marriage and their relationship with the new house really came together well. Made it an enjoyable read. 

A lot of the time in each chapter I  I found myself questioning Margaret's sanity and her control over reality. She said that Hal also noticed things in the house BUT since the POV is in first person I can't fully trust her interpretation of everything; there were also moments when it felt like the events of the house with the pranksters of the house that, as Margret calls them, made everything seem like it was actually happening. 

Like the actions/events were concrete. Therefore the author will keep the readers questioning until the very end of the book whether it is real or the September house is just a figment of Margaret's imagination. 

I don't think the horror element really kicks in until the last fourth of the book and I think that , there are more creepy elements that happen in the book overall. Especially with the use of the phrases "he's down there" in reference to Master Vale and how Margaret saw notions of that outside of the house.

Again, with it being in first person, readers cannot trust if what Margret's seeing is actually reality or just figment of her imagination. Without giving spoilers, I will say that I was very pleased with the way the ending is tied up because , it got to a point in the narrative where the word "crazy" was being tossed around and signs were pointing to Margret being commItted. I didn't like the angle of it being a psychosis issue rather than something factual. Not only because this is a red flag trope for me and it is never really done well when it comes to individual having some sort of psychosis leading to them having erratic behavior. 

But

also due to the fact that we learn a lot of what Margaret went through with her relationship with Hal and The abuse, and his alcoholism. In the beginning, I got the interpretation that how and Catherine did not have a connection because he didn't like the fact that she was a lesbian but as we continue through the book more and more details of the past is revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail