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A review by dcnireads
The September House by Carissa Orlando
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
SPOILERS AHEAD
i have never, in all my years of reading, thought i would ever feel so much love for a spooky book about a haunted house where the walls bleed every september, and an incredible unfazed woman lives with an edwardian maid who was axe murder victim that liked to serve tea and randomly rearrange the whole house, a howling milky eyed boy who bites if you get too close, a few other children with missing body parts, a wailing toasted woman, and a friendly, nosy 90's neighbor ghost, but here i am. i can confidently say that this book deserves to go down as one of the best among the haunted house sub genre of horror. excellent writing, pacing and characters.
margaret was a really great mc and narrator because her consistenty nonchalant way of telling the story despite all the batshit crazy things going on around her really made me question if she was reliable or not. there was a moment where i was fully questioning and asking "shit is this all really in her head??" and i was in full panic mode thinking she was about to be institutionalized and wrongfully accused of murdering her shitty husband but then all THAT happened and when i tell you. when i TELL YOU. it was a journey. from the satisfaction i felt when i realized margaret was in fact not crazy, to the sheer terror i felt when vale dragged katherine down to the basement and those poor cops got ripped apart. never thought i'd feel sorry for some (initially) non-believing cops in a horror story, but those guys were actually quite nice and knew how to deal with what they thought was margaret going insane. you dont see a lot of cops knowing how to handle mental health cases so i guess it just felt really refreshing to see that, even if it was in a heavily fictional story. but more importantly, i also just really really felt a lot for the hartman women. i felt this heavy mix of pity and admiration for margaret and the strong, enduring person she had to become for all those years in the name of protecting her daughter, and distress and frustration on katherine's behalf because i had to watch her worry over father's disappearance paired with what she thought was her mother's deteriorating mental state. after all that happened, you have no idea the relief that went through me when jones (bless her) survived and i realized that with a police witness at their side, at least both mother and daughter have a chance of making it out of this mess without being accused of murder or insanity.
at the core of it, through margaret's character, this novel sends a powerful message about recovering, freeing, and preventing yourself from repeating cycles of abuse, which i admired greatly. the parallels of her standing up to master vale and saving katherine and herself by kicking him out of their home and their lives the way she should've done with hal made tear up a little i actually had to put the kindle down and just go "Yes!" for a split second. and the fact that she did all of it with the help of all the (mostly) friendly souls that vale tormented through the years?? phenomenal. the way fredericka and edie and elias and all the others appeared to hurt vale the way he hurt them and give him a taste of his own medicine?? i know this is a book but that was poetic cinema. truly. and the part at the end where they were all healed and whole and ready to move on was so beautiful and bittersweet. elias and his mother together again, the children and all their restored body parts, and fredericka asking to serve margaret some tea one more time before she goes to "rest" was actually a gut punch. i know they all deserved some peace, but i like to think that all the souls still came back to visit margaret and katherine every once in while, simply because they truly liked and admired her for co-existing with them and not being afraid of their presence for all these years. i kind of have to, for the sake of my happiness. i liked them all too much.
this book was the perfect halloween read. it was funny, entertaining, and at times quite emotional, especially towards the end. the spookyness was a bit of slow burn, but once it gets there?? oooh boy its THERE. the finale goes from 0 to 100 in the best way possible. a flawless 5 stars from me. this was such a nice treat for my birthday and i'm so glad i found it :')
i have never, in all my years of reading, thought i would ever feel so much love for a spooky book about a haunted house where the walls bleed every september, and an incredible unfazed woman lives with an edwardian maid who was axe murder victim that liked to serve tea and randomly rearrange the whole house, a howling milky eyed boy who bites if you get too close, a few other children with missing body parts, a wailing toasted woman, and a friendly, nosy 90's neighbor ghost, but here i am. i can confidently say that this book deserves to go down as one of the best among the haunted house sub genre of horror. excellent writing, pacing and characters.
margaret was a really great mc and narrator because her consistenty nonchalant way of telling the story despite all the batshit crazy things going on around her really made me question if she was reliable or not. there was a moment where i was fully questioning and asking "shit is this all really in her head??" and i was in full panic mode thinking she was about to be institutionalized and wrongfully accused of murdering her shitty husband but then all THAT happened and when i tell you. when i TELL YOU. it was a journey. from the satisfaction i felt when i realized margaret was in fact not crazy, to the sheer terror i felt when vale dragged katherine down to the basement and those poor cops got ripped apart. never thought i'd feel sorry for some (initially) non-believing cops in a horror story, but those guys were actually quite nice and knew how to deal with what they thought was margaret going insane. you dont see a lot of cops knowing how to handle mental health cases so i guess it just felt really refreshing to see that, even if it was in a heavily fictional story. but more importantly, i also just really really felt a lot for the hartman women. i felt this heavy mix of pity and admiration for margaret and the strong, enduring person she had to become for all those years in the name of protecting her daughter, and distress and frustration on katherine's behalf because i had to watch her worry over father's disappearance paired with what she thought was her mother's deteriorating mental state. after all that happened, you have no idea the relief that went through me when jones (bless her) survived and i realized that with a police witness at their side, at least both mother and daughter have a chance of making it out of this mess without being accused of murder or insanity.
at the core of it, through margaret's character, this novel sends a powerful message about recovering, freeing, and preventing yourself from repeating cycles of abuse, which i admired greatly. the parallels of her standing up to master vale and saving katherine and herself by kicking him out of their home and their lives the way she should've done with hal made tear up a little i actually had to put the kindle down and just go "Yes!" for a split second. and the fact that she did all of it with the help of all the (mostly) friendly souls that vale tormented through the years?? phenomenal. the way fredericka and edie and elias and all the others appeared to hurt vale the way he hurt them and give him a taste of his own medicine?? i know this is a book but that was poetic cinema. truly. and the part at the end where they were all healed and whole and ready to move on was so beautiful and bittersweet. elias and his mother together again, the children and all their restored body parts, and fredericka asking to serve margaret some tea one more time before she goes to "rest" was actually a gut punch. i know they all deserved some peace, but i like to think that all the souls still came back to visit margaret and katherine every once in while, simply because they truly liked and admired her for co-existing with them and not being afraid of their presence for all these years. i kind of have to, for the sake of my happiness. i liked them all too much.
this book was the perfect halloween read. it was funny, entertaining, and at times quite emotional, especially towards the end. the spookyness was a bit of slow burn, but once it gets there?? oooh boy its THERE. the finale goes from 0 to 100 in the best way possible. a flawless 5 stars from me. this was such a nice treat for my birthday and i'm so glad i found it :')
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia