A review by sofipitch
The September House by Carissa Orlando

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

4.25

I read this one for a book club and had never heard of it but I'm really glad I did! I did enjoy a lot of what this book was doing theme-wise, it reminded me a lot of the Babadook, where the monster is both a metaphor yet also real. I'll talk about the reveal behind spoilers (at least kinda, we have an unreliable narrator on our hands boys). It also had this fake out for a reveal which again I won't say what but looking at the page count I was pretty sure wasn't right but it really almost had me convinced.
I was really glad too, it fakes you out on the 'it was all in her head and psychosis' which it a) often boring and tropey but mostly is just not as scary. Being in a mental institution is not as bad as a haunted house trying to kill you and no one believes you. This fit well too with the themes of abuse, where the abuser gaslights you about the abuse and ppl might believe the abuser 's lies. A haunted house as an abuser was excellent as well, easily the best part of the book


The biggest downsides to this is that the plot "twists" (different from the ones discussed above) that weren't as linked to the themes were more predictable and wouldn't have made a good book on their own. I put twists in "" bc you can see them coming from a mile away. The book is also slow going and repetitive in the beginning, I wouldn't be that enthused to keep reading, but I read the last 1/3rd all in one sitting once things got going. There is also an absence of any mention of race, of any of the characters (default white syndrome) but also given a house from the 1800s USA with an owner called "Master", kind of chickenshit to avoid even a cursory handwave
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