Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix

10 reviews

aprilbethp's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m a huge Grady Hendrix fan but this was my least favorite of his books.

Listen, I enjoy camp but this was just over the top. I usually love how Hendrix is able to blend camp humor and horror together. The problem for me was that there wasn’t one moment I was scared for the characters. There were a lot of “well, that’s gross and horrific” moments of body gore but not many if any moments of “how are they gonna survive this” moments.

I appreciated the themes of generational trauma and family systems. I always love how Hendrix tackles bigger issues with compassion, humor, and spot on analysis. I also appreciated how unlikeable most characters are because sometimes when in a family you see too much of what makes our own family members, ourselves included, unlikeable. Yet, we still love them. Those dynamics rang true to me.

But the haunting of puppets…

Spoiler

Pupkin

was so ridiculous that everything

Spoiler

he

said and did,  it just wasn’t scary. And while humor is key to all of Hendrix’s books, this humor pulled me out of the story. I like horror that feels realistic even if it contains implausible creatures. I would have perhaps been able to go with it more had

Spoiler

Pupkin not been a hand puppet. Maybe a regular doll or regular ventriloquist dummy? I don’t know the Pupkin commedia masks made sense to me. Completely coverage of the puppeteers the swallowing of them whole. But a small hand puppet made for a child’s hand

…
it was too silly for my brain to take seriously. 

But I did enjoy the read even if no thrills were had. I laughed some. I did cringe at the body gore. I appreciated the themes. I give it a better than average score of 3.5. It achieved what it needed to if not in a fashion I would have hoped for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

laurenvoice's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Once again, Grady Hendrix has delivered a masterpiece.

How to Sell a Haunted House was not what I was expecting, I was expecting a creepy haunted house story, but I got a possessed doll story with an imaginary dog instead; I loved it! I don't know how Hendrix does it, but he balances creepiness with humour perfectly. And How to Sell a Haunted House was full of creepiness, fun, and a lot of family trauma.

At the start of the story, I was fully expecting to despise Mark; however, he turned out to be a decent person and brother. The big turnaround in character was due to the different perspectives Louise and Mark had experience growing up with a creepy doll. It was interesting to see how they saw their childhoods and certain events differently; if the family had a more open dialogue with each other, they might not have been so distant in the future. And it was perfect seeing Mark and Louise reunite and work together, finally building that sibling bond they needed.

Mark's backstory about his short-time at BU was an addition that shockiling brought this book together. At first, when I reached the BU backstory chapters, I was worried that it would drag the story; however, it added the layers we needed and developed Mark's character further.

Although Louise turned out to be a bit of an unreliable narrator at the start, she certainly was one resilient woman; despite all the physical trauma she went through, Louise still kept going. And like with Mark's BU backstory, Louise's early childhood backstory was necessary to help us understand why she was distant from her family; again, it added the layers that the main story needed.

The family dynamic in How to Sell a Haunted House was fascinating. It was nice to see Louise and Mark's extended family and how they fit into the Joyner family dynamic; Mercy added plenty of needed comic relief. Plus, the introduction of Barb was fun; we needed more Barb, even though, technically, she wasn't family.

The ending of How to Sell a Haunted House was faultless, and I am glad the main characters survived the events; okay, maybe someone lost an arm. I appreciated not having to experience the emotional trauma of losing a main character I liked. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

musesandmoons's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, and Gore

rqdreads's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is ridiculous from start to finish. It’s giving RL Stine but for adults. There’s definitely a lot of creepiness, especially if you don’t like puppets or dolls 🤮 it’s not terrifying to where I can’t sleep at night but it’s creepy enough to where I had to talk about it with my friends.

One thing I liked was how it kept twisting and turning. At one point I legitimately was rolling my eyes at where it was going because I just couldn’t understand what was happening and then it came together 😂

If you like campy horror, this is for you 👻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Injury/injury detail, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Car accident

Minor: Gun violence, Fatphobia, and Excrement

peachy_dreamy's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Wow, I could not put this book down. How to Sell a Haunted House follows Louise as she returns home following the sudden death of her parents, only to find herself feeling frustrated by her brother Mark who has already taken control of all of the funeral arrangements and she's not happy. The entire book is about grief and family, and just happens to include a haunted house as its backdrop, although this one is not exactly as you would expect. And I will say no more because the way this story unwinds is so good. As I said, could not put it down. All this did was remind me that I need to pick up his other books because this is the second time I have fallen in love with his writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Blood, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

Minor: Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

another_dahlia's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Grief

anniup's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Fatphobia and Medical content

imstephtacular's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Medical content, and Car accident

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Blood, Gaslighting, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Vomit, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content, War, and Pregnancy

chessakat's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

*Screams forrrreeevvvvverrrrrrr* This book was so hysterically terrifying and stressful, I could not stop thinking about it whenever I had to put it down! Extreme CW for body horror, injury, violence, terror, harm to children, etc. I am not a huge horror reader, but this did not feel tame to me, in my limited experience. Extremely entertaining and will cause you to lose sleep. What was that noise??? Someone go check. If you have anxiety, tread with caution!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Child death, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Animal death