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checkeredwithflame 's review for:
The September House
by Carissa Orlando
I'm having a hard time putting into words how much I loved this book. The story had a fantastic sense of dark humor as Margaret strives to live her best life in an increasingly haunted house while also keeping her visiting daughter in the dark about the many spirits that live in the house with her. The September House is a great horror novel, but also a great mystery for me as a reader. I found myself stopping my audiobook numerous times to theorize what I thought might be happening and where the plot might be heading. I also stopped numerous times to laugh, cry, and curse out Hal, Margaret's missing husband. This is a book I wish I could forget so I could read it again for the first time.
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**SPOILERS AHEAD**
TW for domestic violence
At the beginning of the story, Margret's love and devotion to her house made sense to me. As a millennial who dreams of owning a home one day, I laughed and sided with Margaret when she declared that she was staying in her new home, even if it was haunted. No home is perfect, after all, and the house described in the book is beautiful - a porch, hard wood floors, plenty of rooms for Margret and her husband to have their own space, even a turret! So what if the little ghost boy tries to bite if you get too close? He just likes his personal space. And yes, the walls ooze blood sometimes, but it's only in September; the blood and moaning and suicidal birds hitting the house are kept to a minimal for the rest of the year. Margaret has even come around to being friendly with Fredericka, a housekeeper of sorts who helps with the cooking and cleaning, and always has a hot cup of chamomile tea ready when Margaret needs it. Sure, Fredericka has an ax wound to the face that can be a little off-putting while eating, but she's perfectly lovely otherwise.
When the house is good, it's great. But when it's not good, it's a fucking nightmare.
The same could be said of Margaret's marriage to her husband, Hal.
Margaret's history with Hal is shared in bits and pieces over the course of the book, mostly occurring when her daughter Katherine forces her to recall their marriage without rose-tinted glasses. First we find out that Hal had a drinking problem; Margaret is quick to defend her husband by saying he had been sober the last 10 years, but Katherine tells us he only ever went to AA because of his third DUI leading to his driver's license being revoked. When Margaret thinks back on their relationship, she first remembers the beginning when they first started dating, going to movies and laughing together over inside jokes. Katherine is the one who reveals that Hal was abusive toward Margaret, and it is only then that Margaret shares the full extent of the abuse. While Katherine was growing up, Hal isolated Margaret from her family and friends, keeping a tight leash on his wife and determining who she was allowed to talk to and how long she could be away from their house. Margaret shares that she was made to feel undesirable by others, and that only Hal would love her. She prides herself on being able to follow the rules of their relationship and her own ability to bend in order to survive. Even still, these rules don't always protect her when Hal starts drinking and things get physical. Margaret describes that the physical abuse started as a shove, never hitting - until he did. Then, when he hit her, it was only ever open handed - until it wasn't. And the bruises and marks were kept to stay under her clothes - until they weren't.
As she describes her past relationship with Hal, I realized that Margaret had been saying the same thing about the house, and suddenly I see Margaret's relationship with the house in a new light. She's not just putting up with a few small things for a great house; Margaret has been living in an abusive relationship with this haunted house as well. She consistently says there are rules that need to be followed to live in the house, and seems genuinely proud of her ability to adapt to these new rules while Hal struggles living as a victim rather than as an aggressor for the first time. The house doesn't let her sleep well, leaving her tired and frazzled. It doesn't like when she leaves the property for long periods of time, causing her to see and hear things that aren't there until she returns home. The house itself is isolated in the woods with no neighbors for miles around, leaving her isolated once more. Although she doesn't realize it until the end, the only friend she had made and was able to speak with since moving there was another ghost. And in September, when the hauntings escalate, things get physical, leaving Margaret with nosebleeds and wounds she can't explain to her daughter.
In both situations, Margaret chooses to focus on the good and pushes aside the aggression and violence that might one day kill her. And the house and Hal do try to kill her. Hal eventually becomes so fed up with the house that he plans to set it on fire to destroy it, going so far as to pour gasoline throughout the first floor without retrieving his sleeping wife from her room upstairs before the house acts to protect itself. Margaret seems resigned to this being her lot in life, that these abusive relationships are all she has and all she deserves. She is so proud in her ability to bend that she never considers that she shouldn't have to bend at all. The only time she ever stands up against her abusers is when they put Katherine in danger. Margaret's one line in the sand is that no one puts a hand on her daughter, and she becomes ferocious in her protection of Katherine. Margaret and Katherine's love of each other is what ends up saving them both.
Spoiler
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*
*
*
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
TW for domestic violence
At the beginning of the story, Margret's love and devotion to her house made sense to me. As a millennial who dreams of owning a home one day, I laughed and sided with Margaret when she declared that she was staying in her new home, even if it was haunted. No home is perfect, after all, and the house described in the book is beautiful - a porch, hard wood floors, plenty of rooms for Margret and her husband to have their own space, even a turret! So what if the little ghost boy tries to bite if you get too close? He just likes his personal space. And yes, the walls ooze blood sometimes, but it's only in September; the blood and moaning and suicidal birds hitting the house are kept to a minimal for the rest of the year. Margaret has even come around to being friendly with Fredericka, a housekeeper of sorts who helps with the cooking and cleaning, and always has a hot cup of chamomile tea ready when Margaret needs it. Sure, Fredericka has an ax wound to the face that can be a little off-putting while eating, but she's perfectly lovely otherwise.
When the house is good, it's great. But when it's not good, it's a fucking nightmare.
The same could be said of Margaret's marriage to her husband, Hal.
Margaret's history with Hal is shared in bits and pieces over the course of the book, mostly occurring when her daughter Katherine forces her to recall their marriage without rose-tinted glasses. First we find out that Hal had a drinking problem; Margaret is quick to defend her husband by saying he had been sober the last 10 years, but Katherine tells us he only ever went to AA because of his third DUI leading to his driver's license being revoked. When Margaret thinks back on their relationship, she first remembers the beginning when they first started dating, going to movies and laughing together over inside jokes. Katherine is the one who reveals that Hal was abusive toward Margaret, and it is only then that Margaret shares the full extent of the abuse. While Katherine was growing up, Hal isolated Margaret from her family and friends, keeping a tight leash on his wife and determining who she was allowed to talk to and how long she could be away from their house. Margaret shares that she was made to feel undesirable by others, and that only Hal would love her. She prides herself on being able to follow the rules of their relationship and her own ability to bend in order to survive. Even still, these rules don't always protect her when Hal starts drinking and things get physical. Margaret describes that the physical abuse started as a shove, never hitting - until he did. Then, when he hit her, it was only ever open handed - until it wasn't. And the bruises and marks were kept to stay under her clothes - until they weren't.
As she describes her past relationship with Hal, I realized that Margaret had been saying the same thing about the house, and suddenly I see Margaret's relationship with the house in a new light. She's not just putting up with a few small things for a great house; Margaret has been living in an abusive relationship with this haunted house as well. She consistently says there are rules that need to be followed to live in the house, and seems genuinely proud of her ability to adapt to these new rules while Hal struggles living as a victim rather than as an aggressor for the first time. The house doesn't let her sleep well, leaving her tired and frazzled. It doesn't like when she leaves the property for long periods of time, causing her to see and hear things that aren't there until she returns home. The house itself is isolated in the woods with no neighbors for miles around, leaving her isolated once more. Although she doesn't realize it until the end, the only friend she had made and was able to speak with since moving there was another ghost. And in September, when the hauntings escalate, things get physical, leaving Margaret with nosebleeds and wounds she can't explain to her daughter.
In both situations, Margaret chooses to focus on the good and pushes aside the aggression and violence that might one day kill her. And the house and Hal do try to kill her. Hal eventually becomes so fed up with the house that he plans to set it on fire to destroy it, going so far as to pour gasoline throughout the first floor without retrieving his sleeping wife from her room upstairs before the house acts to protect itself. Margaret seems resigned to this being her lot in life, that these abusive relationships are all she has and all she deserves. She is so proud in her ability to bend that she never considers that she shouldn't have to bend at all. The only time she ever stands up against her abusers is when they put Katherine in danger. Margaret's one line in the sand is that no one puts a hand on her daughter, and she becomes ferocious in her protection of Katherine. Margaret and Katherine's love of each other is what ends up saving them both.