Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

40 reviews

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

this book was not what i was expecting based on the title. I initially put it down part way through, but ended up picking it back up and reading to the finish. The writing of the action scenes was not very engaging. I found the attempts to create tension really repetitive such that the twists never really grabbed. as horror, this book didn’t get me. as a story about trauma and intergenerational relationships, i was hooked. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Medical content

Minor: Child abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Self harm

dr_aimz's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Animal death

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

this was pretty good but a little too silly to really scare me. i’ve never thought dolls were scary so this didn’t get to me that much, i also thought the ending was kind of out of nowhere?? idk. i do love Hendrix’s writing though. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Car accident, Violence, Vomit, Blood, and Mental illness

snazzy10101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

stardustvein's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Blood, and Mental illness

glutenfreemaggie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book FR terrified me I almost didn’t keep reading but I’m glad I did it was fascinating 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Vomit, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Confinement, Abandonment, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

samburkhouse's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Vomit, Car accident, and Medical trauma

Minor: Self harm, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Mental illness

ashtheaudiomancer's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

Grady Hendrix does it again! I was unsure how to feel about most of these characters for awhile, but the longer you read, the more it makes sense, and doesn't, at the same time. We have unreliable narrators who are hiding from their own trauma, but also reacting in ways that are outsized and unfair to the people around them. We have a core cast who is strangely willing to accept the existence of the impossible, including a realtor who straight up says, "Sorry, I can't sell this house, it's haunted." We have childhood trauma affecting three generations of the same family. But overall, while there are creepy puppets and terrifying imaginary friends, mostly this book is about grief. And it's fantastic.

Knocked off half a star bc I'm in the process of trying to move out of my family home and this probably wasn't the best time to read it because of that, but it's not the book's fault.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness

Not sure where in the content warnings to put "creepy puppets doing violence to various characters of all ages," but that's kind of the whole plot, so just be aware of that.

ksuazo94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Medical content, Vomit, Mental illness, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Murder