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darumachan 's review for:
The September House
by Carissa Orlando
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
I liked the concept but I found it very frustrating and problematic for several reasons. First, the prose reads as very clinical to me -- perhaps this was an attempt to make Margaret appear detached or even disassociated, but I spent most of the time feeling like I was reading a practice scenario demonstrating indicators of domestic abuse (and, given Orlando's background, this is not surprising). But ultimately, that clinical, detached tone made it impossible to read the characters with any humanity at all -- as always, I am perfectly fine with unlikeable or morally ambiguous characters as long as I get the sense that they have been empathetically crafted, and here that was sorely lacking.
As the adult child of an emotionally abusive parent, I found the family dynamic extremely draining. I don't want to hash through all the ways Orlando did Katherine dirty, but I'll just point out that this 30-yo, independent, successful, hurting woman comes across as an immature, spoiled brat because we only see her through Margaret's eyes. Yes, Katherine's words are reported in the dialogue, but the verbs that present them -- whine, scream, shout, etc. -- are all heavily inflected with Margaret's skewed interpretation of them. Through Margaret's POV, we are forced to identify with the tone policing, and dismissing concerns, and projecting disgust, and any other number of strategies intended to minimize the value of a child's (extremely valid) emotions, including anger. I spent the entire novel feeling like I was trapped inside a glass box because I could see what Orlando was doing with her characters, but I didn't see any of it spelled out clearly for an audience that might not understand what emotional abuse looks like, especially when it's being done by the "empathetic" parent who is not "actually" (physically) abusive.
I don't want to spend any more time thinking about what I just read. I knew I was done around 40-60% through, and only finished it so I could be certain about what I was seeing, and so I could at least contribute my reading of a problematic and harmful novel to what appears to be an otherwise glowing reception. I'll leave it at that -- of course I don't recommend this to anyone, and I will not be reading anything else by this author.
As the adult child of an emotionally abusive parent, I found the family dynamic extremely draining. I don't want to hash through all the ways Orlando did Katherine dirty, but I'll just point out that this 30-yo, independent, successful, hurting woman comes across as an immature, spoiled brat because we only see her through Margaret's eyes. Yes, Katherine's words are reported in the dialogue, but the verbs that present them -- whine, scream, shout, etc. -- are all heavily inflected with Margaret's skewed interpretation of them. Through Margaret's POV, we are forced to identify with the tone policing, and dismissing concerns, and projecting disgust, and any other number of strategies intended to minimize the value of a child's (extremely valid) emotions, including anger. I spent the entire novel feeling like I was trapped inside a glass box because I could see what Orlando was doing with her characters, but I didn't see any of it spelled out clearly for an audience that might not understand what emotional abuse looks like, especially when it's being done by the "empathetic" parent who is not "actually" (physically) abusive.
I don't want to spend any more time thinking about what I just read. I knew I was done around 40-60% through, and only finished it so I could be certain about what I was seeing, and so I could at least contribute my reading of a problematic and harmful novel to what appears to be an otherwise glowing reception. I'll leave it at that -- of course I don't recommend this to anyone, and I will not be reading anything else by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting
problematic depictions of alcoholism (i.e., equating "alcoholics" with abusers)