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A review by sparkin
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
5.0
I'm typing this review while still trying to decide whether this is a 4 or 5-star read.
I can't agree with some of the negative reviews I've read: I looked forward to the blog posts, because even though the writing style is deeply obnoxious, the posts fulfil the dual function of showing how the family's story is perceived by the wider world (who are watching the show and will eventually read Rachel's book) and demonstrating how Merry is endlessly trying to work through her own trauma by trawling through the TV show to find some truth that she'd missed from the tapes. I found the characters compelling, it was hard to put down, and the early scenes of Marjorie becoming very ill and terrifying her sister were creepy as hell. I liked the way it subverted the expectation that Marjorie would die during the exorcism and tried to deal with the aftermath - something we rarely see or think about.
On the other hand, I don't think the ending punched me in the gut in the way it was supposed to. There were a few different ways the deaths could have played out, all of which would have made sense, but the emotional impact wasn't quite there. I actually wonder whether it would have been bleaker and more devastating if the father had committed the murders after all. It makes sense and feels grimly inevitable. Equally, Marjorie planted the seed of family murder and the 'growing things' so early with Merry that she could even have been considering it for some time. And while I love We Have Always Lived In The Castle as much as the next person, I don't buy the idea that Merry might have acted alone - Marjorie's manipulation of her fits the pattern of terrorisation and cruelty she'd developed throughout the novel - or indeed that she is the one who is possessed.
(The main reason: in his 'liner notes', Tremblay refers to the end of The Thing. My read has always been that Macready is the human one *because his breath is visible and so his body temperature is higher*, while Childs' non-visible breath suggests The Thing is him now. I'm inclined to apply that logic here and say that although the visual cues in her black outfit and red coat imply that Merry is wrong to say she isn't the same kid she was back then, she is haunted by trauma but not possessed by a demon.)
Once the TV crew turns up the novel stops being particularly scary, but I really enjoyed the level of ambiguity that kept running throughout and completely felt for Sarah, the mother fighting a battle on all sides including against her own husband.
Damn, it's probably a 4.5 but I'm generous on Goodreads.
I can't agree with some of the negative reviews I've read: I looked forward to the blog posts, because even though the writing style is deeply obnoxious, the posts fulfil the dual function of showing how the family's story is perceived by the wider world (who are watching the show and will eventually read Rachel's book) and demonstrating how Merry is endlessly trying to work through her own trauma by trawling through the TV show to find some truth that she'd missed from the tapes. I found the characters compelling, it was hard to put down, and the early scenes of Marjorie becoming very ill and terrifying her sister were creepy as hell. I liked the way it subverted the expectation that Marjorie would die during the exorcism and tried to deal with the aftermath - something we rarely see or think about.
On the other hand, I don't think the ending punched me in the gut in the way it was supposed to. There were a few different ways the deaths could have played out, all of which would have made sense, but the emotional impact wasn't quite there. I actually wonder whether it would have been bleaker and more devastating if the father had committed the murders after all. It makes sense and feels grimly inevitable. Equally, Marjorie planted the seed of family murder and the 'growing things' so early with Merry that she could even have been considering it for some time. And while I love We Have Always Lived In The Castle as much as the next person, I don't buy the idea that Merry might have acted alone - Marjorie's manipulation of her fits the pattern of terrorisation and cruelty she'd developed throughout the novel - or indeed that she is the one who is possessed.
(The main reason: in his 'liner notes', Tremblay refers to the end of The Thing. My read has always been that Macready is the human one *because his breath is visible and so his body temperature is higher*, while Childs' non-visible breath suggests The Thing is him now. I'm inclined to apply that logic here and say that although the visual cues in her black outfit and red coat imply that Merry is wrong to say she isn't the same kid she was back then, she is haunted by trauma but not possessed by a demon.)
Once the TV crew turns up the novel stops being particularly scary, but I really enjoyed the level of ambiguity that kept running throughout and completely felt for Sarah, the mother fighting a battle on all sides including against her own husband.
Damn, it's probably a 4.5 but I'm generous on Goodreads.