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czoltak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Car accident
thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
I related a lot to Louise when it came to her resentment towards her brother, Mark. As someone who grew up as a girl, I can say that Louise was fully justified in her anger towards her parents/brother. This following quote from the book made me have to take a break from reading because of how much it resembled my childhood frustrations. "The point was that her mom had a whole tough-love thing for Louise and let Mark do whatever he wanted and never face any consequences. The point was that she was supposed to look after him and give him everything and never complain, but no one was looking after her. That was the point." It's incredibly heartbreaking to grow up with this resentment only for the adults in my life to understand that resentment only when it directly affected them.
I thought that incorporating the 5 stages of grief into the storyline was beautifully done, and really expressed those emotions during whichever situation the characters found themselves in.
However, I did find a couple of things to be offensive and for Grady, to learn from moving forward. In the beginning of the book, I'm sure it's meant with the intention of the reader to dislike Mark as he can be an insufferable, immature man who says ignorant things from time to time. In both of these instances, there's mentions of cultural appropriation when it came to Mark suggesting that they "sage" the house and his recommendation of doing a Hindu ritual for his white parents' funeral. He had also thought it was okay to compare their parents' house to the conditions in Afghanistan.
I'm the type of person who refuses to have porcelain or ventriloquist dolls in my house because of stories like this. I'd like to learn the easy way instead of the hard way. Overall, I thought this story was written with an exceptional build up that had me wanting more after I had put the book down.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail
gaiadances's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
cc_shelflove's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Mental illness
julieyael's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
This is a book that I took time to really appreciate.
The first half of it (that’s the first 200 pages!) were just ok. It’s a bit slow and I did not care too much for the characters.
For a moment, I even thought about not finishing the book, because I felt that this was not what I expected from the story.
But then it becomes more intriguing and you feel that there is more to it.
When you enter the last third of the book, it becomes hard to leave it.
I wished the slow part of the begining was not that long, because it’s all well written and you feel the creepy atmosphere building up.
In the end, the book kept its promises, it’s a fun and creepy horror novel, with a good dose of paranormal, and a light touch of gory details (very light, but I guess it can be triggering for some people)
So I would recommend it, if you are ready to spend some time on the first part which is less exciting and a bit long to my taste.
The second half of it really deserves a good 4 stars.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore
Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
vercopaanir's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Blood, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
karly_ackley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
daffodilcherry's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
How I would sell the book to someone: Single mother main character has to go back to her home town to fix up her parent's house after they suddenly die in an accident, arguing over everything with her estranged brother. Except her mother was *really* into puppets and dolls, and let's just say that the puppets aren't happy that the mother is dead. It deals with like family secrets and grief and motherhood .... And it has creepy as fuck puppets 🤡
Wheelhouse items: female main character with agency, family secrets, unreliable narrator, returning to small home town, puppet horror, doll horror, haunted houses.
Horror items (spoilers):
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident
aniwillow's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Confinement
Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury
ashconklin's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail