Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

91 reviews

clevelandpoet's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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: Emotional abuse and Mental illness

Minor: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, and Death of parent

tideray's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

The author has written a story that criticises the ghost possession genre of horror stories highlighting the dramatisation and pervasive sensationalism of the characters evident psychosis symptoms, using the interesting mixed perspective of a child and their grown-up recollection and reflection on the events.

Unfortunately

the book is written in a way that tried heavily to imply that the potential for the character to be haunted is an genuine potential, creating a gross dialectical of the author having his cake (criticising possession stories) and eating it too (the character being haunted)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

septi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail

kg18's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content

kamrynkoble's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was so weird and disturbing and scary and I’m not sure how I feel about it. But I’m excited to learn there’s a movie adaption coming out, and it’s starring Margaret Qualley—I might have to go to the theatre for that one. 

I haven’t quite gotten off the rollercoaster yet. I like how open-ended everything was, where that seems to be a major con for other readers. It doesn’t always work for me, but in this case, it makes sense that we don’t have more answers and I find myself more disturbed because I still don’t know what actually caused all of these terrible problems for this family. 

This definitely leans more horrors than thriller. I didn’t read the description before I went in and there’s lots of demonic/exorcism content even if it hardly feels supernatural. Most of my Christian friends probably won’t like this one, but it was interesting and I wish I could discuss it with someone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Blood and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

I have complicated feelings about this one, 95% of which would require spoilers to explain. 
The last third-ish has some issues for me, but overall it was a really fascinating autopsy of the exorcist genre? And the deep voyeuristic horror of it? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

nightlight_reader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

guccishoestrings's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I have read this book twice over the course of 16 months as my creative writing (later horror film and literature) professor recommended and later required to read this book.

This book seems like a book about a teen getting an exorcism but that is not at all what this book is about. This book is more about a family that is damaged beyond repair, financially crushed, and seeking for any kind of hope they can find. There are really only two main characters in this book in Marjorie (the teen who is "possessed") and Merry (who is the narrator) with their mother and father being important but secondary main characters. The father of the family lost his job and has since pretty much become a cult like member at the church, the mother has been dealing with severe depression and with everything going on she has gotten much worse, and Marjorie is apparently possessed. Eventually a show is made to show the exorcism of Marjorie and the book goes from there.

I suggest reading this book once then after reflection and thought read it again in a week. There are so many little things that you miss through your first read through. I also suggest reading with a group of 4 or more people as after reading for a class, almost everybody has different thoughts on what the story and characters are conveying. Just do not go in expecting an exorcism horror book, because this is a different type of horror, just wait till the end of this book as it is truly heartbreaking.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

daniellecherny's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Ending is left open/ambiguous. If you need a clear ending that explains exactly what happened, don't read this book.