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justinkhchen's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars
Exactly the type of psychological horror I enjoy: atmospheric and open to interpretation, I've seen people calling The Grip of It 'Lovecraftian' — I'm not that familiar with the work of H. P. Lovecraft (I was more of an Edgar Allan Poe enthusiast), maybe that's a path I should investigate sooner rather than later.
I love the way horror plays out in this haunted house story, going for unsettling chill rather than shock value. Scenes with incomprehensible element would be described very matter-of-factly (no temperature drop, weird noises or any sort of formulaic buildups), yet this emotionally-detached writing style makes the encounter even more unnerving, as if the entity was acting upon its own accord, regardless whether human respond to it or not. Like living in a constant haze, the characters' muted reaction to their surrounding added an additional layer of disorientation and eeriness.
So happy to discover another haunted house story without the typical 'perfect house then suddenly HAUNTED!' switcheroo; the house in The Grip of It was soaked in dread from the get-go, yet the protagonists still fell under its spell, and what followed was a maddening downward spiral for the body and mind. Definitely unusual and defy expectation (which is why I 'get' its low score on GR), but it's exactly the type of twisted mystery I love! Recommend if you enjoy I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
p.s. great audiobook!
Exactly the type of psychological horror I enjoy: atmospheric and open to interpretation, I've seen people calling The Grip of It 'Lovecraftian' — I'm not that familiar with the work of H. P. Lovecraft (I was more of an Edgar Allan Poe enthusiast), maybe that's a path I should investigate sooner rather than later.
I love the way horror plays out in this haunted house story, going for unsettling chill rather than shock value. Scenes with incomprehensible element would be described very matter-of-factly (no temperature drop, weird noises or any sort of formulaic buildups), yet this emotionally-detached writing style makes the encounter even more unnerving, as if the entity was acting upon its own accord, regardless whether human respond to it or not. Like living in a constant haze, the characters' muted reaction to their surrounding added an additional layer of disorientation and eeriness.
So happy to discover another haunted house story without the typical 'perfect house then suddenly HAUNTED!' switcheroo; the house in The Grip of It was soaked in dread from the get-go, yet the protagonists still fell under its spell, and what followed was a maddening downward spiral for the body and mind. Definitely unusual and defy expectation (which is why I 'get' its low score on GR), but it's exactly the type of twisted mystery I love! Recommend if you enjoy I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
p.s. great audiobook!
njdarkish's review against another edition
4.0
A book with a paranoid horror that begins subtly but becomes terrifying. It isn't your typical haunted house story and does well at playing with your expectations. My only qualm is that it just ends without anything feeling complete. I don't want everything tied up in a bow, but I felt like this almost stopped mid-thought.
matasatan's review against another edition
5.0
Probably the best book for my eyes so far this year. Love everything so hard that it gave me headache ❤️
audreysprinkleanna's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
chloelovesmile4ever's review against another edition
3.0
I can actually excuse every single cliche in here bc of the inclusion of the man forced to look at microfiche at the library to find out who died in his house trope. Use those resources king
luminous's review against another edition
4.0
I've sat on it a few days and I've decided that The Grip of It didn't stick the landing. However, it's still fun to think about what it means. Before I get the spoiler tags going, I'll sum it up as: It's both tied up in a bow with things perfectly explained and a pretty happy ending but it's also got tons of lingering questions that leave the reader uneasy. Are we to buy this neat explanation? But if we do, do we just decide to ignore the inexplicable? Is this what Julie and James are doing?
That the book still leaves me with these thoughtful questions makes me rate it 4 stars. The relationship was natural and believable, and both protagonists were likeable even for their flaws.
------
Progress: 74% - LOVING it! No idea why the low ratings. This is great so far! Lots of creepy happenings. And some extremely unsettling happenings, such as James talking to Julie in one room and then talking to her in the next room he goes into, and he barely notices that one of them coundn't have been Julie. And that's the other thing: The house makes them slow, and their thinking muddled, and they don't even notice they've become slovenly and basically living in filth.
I don't even want to find out what James thinks is his basement darkroom actually is.
This book is sneaky that way. It's all in first person present, two POVs that alternate chapter to chapter. So we get no omniscient narration holding our hand and telling us what they're really seeing or what they are really acting like or the reason Julie has those weird bruises. That's taken care of through the reactions of others, like Julie's wonderful friend (Connie?) or the police. But hey, even those are filtered through Julie and James. Maybe they are different or not even real.
I'm not really big into haunted houses unless all or part of the haunting is due to the house having some evil baked in, something that gives the horror an unknowable, cosmic horror feeling. One
thing that gives a haunted house story that feeling, and my favorite thing, is mysterious rooms. Rooms that aren't in the blueprints. Rooms that can't possibly "fit" where they are located. Rooms that are accessed through hidden doors. Rooms that are weird shapes. And especially when any of those qualities change. Rooms that are there one moment and not the next.
This book has that in spades.
Spoiler
Are Julie and James in full hallucinatory mode now?That the book still leaves me with these thoughtful questions makes me rate it 4 stars. The relationship was natural and believable, and both protagonists were likeable even for their flaws.
Spoiler
But I'm still disappointed. If the moral of the story is that Julie and James are deep "in the grip of" the haunted house's machinations and have created an imaginary reality, that's kind of cool. But that's me reaching, because it's not very firmly implied in the text. Maybe it really was ergot all along. But what was Rolf? What was the point? That Julie and James travel through a great ordeal in order to repair their relationship? I do not like that so many things happened only to be utterly irrelevant.------
Progress: 74% - LOVING it! No idea why the low ratings. This is great so far! Lots of creepy happenings. And some extremely unsettling happenings, such as James talking to Julie in one room and then talking to her in the next room he goes into, and he barely notices that one of them coundn't have been Julie. And that's the other thing: The house makes them slow, and their thinking muddled, and they don't even notice they've become slovenly and basically living in filth.
I don't even want to find out what James thinks is his basement darkroom actually is.
This book is sneaky that way. It's all in first person present, two POVs that alternate chapter to chapter. So we get no omniscient narration holding our hand and telling us what they're really seeing or what they are really acting like or the reason Julie has those weird bruises. That's taken care of through the reactions of others, like Julie's wonderful friend (Connie?) or the police. But hey, even those are filtered through Julie and James. Maybe they are different or not even real.
I'm not really big into haunted houses unless all or part of the haunting is due to the house having some evil baked in, something that gives the horror an unknowable, cosmic horror feeling. One
thing that gives a haunted house story that feeling, and my favorite thing, is mysterious rooms. Rooms that aren't in the blueprints. Rooms that can't possibly "fit" where they are located. Rooms that are accessed through hidden doors. Rooms that are weird shapes. And especially when any of those qualities change. Rooms that are there one moment and not the next.
This book has that in spades.
linzbooktok's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
breadandmushrooms's review
dark
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
2.5
trashroyal's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5