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A review by ojtheviking
The Spite House by Johnny Compton
4.0
3.7 rounded up.
This was Compton's debut novel, and I truly enjoyed it. A quick but solid read.
The Spite House is a unique take on the haunted house trope. It has layers, including psychological elements, and a lot of it can be read metaphorically. Just the concept of a spite house in and of itself, a building made out of bitterness and resentment, feels like a statement on how we sometimes put in effort to build up and maintain conflicts.
The story is somewhat of a slow burn, at least in the beginning. But I don't mind that. It gives us time to get familiar with the main characters and their initial backstory before things begin to unfold more.
Along the way, social topics are explored, sometimes with the haunted-house framing as a tool. Racial issues, money trouble, how bad history and trauma can be passed on through generations, and so on. Also, the father in the story, Eric, has this ability to almost sense echoes from these traumatic events, which one could perhaps read both literally, and as a metaphor for inheriting that trauma.
With that said, all of this is quite effectively mixed in with more straightforward supernatural elements, and if you're looking for some more traditional, spooky haunted house moments, you will definitely find those as well.
I hope to read more of Compton's work in the future!
This was Compton's debut novel, and I truly enjoyed it. A quick but solid read.
The Spite House is a unique take on the haunted house trope. It has layers, including psychological elements, and a lot of it can be read metaphorically. Just the concept of a spite house in and of itself, a building made out of bitterness and resentment, feels like a statement on how we sometimes put in effort to build up and maintain conflicts.
The story is somewhat of a slow burn, at least in the beginning. But I don't mind that. It gives us time to get familiar with the main characters and their initial backstory before things begin to unfold more.
Along the way, social topics are explored, sometimes with the haunted-house framing as a tool. Racial issues, money trouble, how bad history and trauma can be passed on through generations, and so on. Also, the father in the story, Eric, has this ability to almost sense echoes from these traumatic events, which one could perhaps read both literally, and as a metaphor for inheriting that trauma.
With that said, all of this is quite effectively mixed in with more straightforward supernatural elements, and if you're looking for some more traditional, spooky haunted house moments, you will definitely find those as well.
I hope to read more of Compton's work in the future!