Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

17 reviews

elle_e_d_light's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Not really sure how I felt about this one. I really disliked the blop parts, but I think I was supposed to. 

I also came out of this book feeling like I just read a retelling/homage of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which I still can't figure out if it was on purpose or if the author was more inspired by that book than he thought/planned. I know the author is a big fan of Shirley Jackson, but—unless I missed it—there was no description of this being an homage to that.

The story is vague and gets even more vague as it goes on. I didn't mind the vagueness, but I could see why others would.

Overall, I'm torn about how I feel about this book. There's things about it that I really liked, but just as many things that I didn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jbfletcher's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

I loved the little twist in the end! I think Paul Tremblay is really good in writing endings! 

the Stephen Graham Jones joke made me giggle!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

septi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail

daniellecherny's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Ending is left open/ambiguous. If you need a clear ending that explains exactly what happened, don't read this book.

frankieatthedisco's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

danibee's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! Definitely creepy, definitely sad. And quite a twist! I think the only thing it’s missing is more about the narrator’s (adult Merry) “after.” She finishes telling her story to the writer and then walks out into the rest of her life. There’s no motivation about why she chose to allow someone to write about her family tragedy, other than a brief mention of needing more money. Oh well. The plot build up and the multiple POV from the same character was excellent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Violence

james1star's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is the third book by Tremblay I’ve read and I will not be reading any more because once again this was just very meh. The story is told through the POV of Merry who is now twenty three as she’s talking with a reporter about the anniversary of a TV show airing that focused on her family. As she’s talking we’re transported back to Merry at age eleven and how her fourteen year old sister Marjorie starts to deal with a mental health illness (schizophrenia?) that is later thought to be the result of her being possessed. Their father consults the ‘expertise’ of a Father Wanderley who pushes for an exorcism. Media coverage of the family begins and so does a TV show leading up to Marjorie’s exorcism. The family deal with financial issues and there’s a possibility Marjorie is faking it but we don’t really know. 

The more horror-ish elements of the book were alright I’d say, it’s more psychological and a lot of Marjorie’s actions were typical of the ‘possessed’ person which were rather gross and unpleasant to read. It did feel a little like a rip-off of the film ‘The Exorcist’ at times and just generally wasn’t the most intriguing read. Much of the story rests on the idea of what is and isn’t the truth and whilst I was interested at the start, I didn’t really care as the book developed and the characters were all very meh that I just lost interest. I think the book can appeal to more people then the others I read by Tremblay (Cabin and Pallbearers) but once again it just fell flat proving to be an unenjoyable reading experience on the whole. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Murder

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An edge-of-your-seat-cant-put-this-down read diving into the horror tropes of possession and exorcism and highlighting the problematic history of exorcism within the Church. I loved the characters and trajectory of this book. The inserts of the horror blog examining the eventual reality show in the story was so clever. I could not put this book down and I think I'll be thinking of this one for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse and Forced institutionalization

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Horrifyingly tragic, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay is filled to the brim with terrible scenes, all told from the point of view of the youngest character to witness everything. I just felt so bad the entire time reading this for not just Marjorie and Merry, who were just kids, but also characters like Sarah and Ken; who while aren't blameless entirely, are forced to witness a lot of this horror with seemingly no agency to fight against it. 

I also felt really bad that the one who I felt more creeped out by was not Marjorie, with her gruesome stories and actions, but Merry, who seemed to take glee from her and her sister's trauma. Merry should be a somewhat reliable narrator as a kid, aside from her shoddy memory. There isn't a reason to suspect her of leaving things out. However, I felt wary all the same as Merry became known for being an exaggerator and a storyteller. There's a few reveals later on in the book that highlight this fact and it just made me very suspicious of someone who is just a very traumatized child/person. 

Tremblay has done a fantastic job here with this book. A reader questioning a narrator's true feelings makes for good conversation and deeper reading. I am so torn with Merry as a character. My initial feelings were as stated above: Merry is creepy for the way she expresses her thoughts on the situation and her sister. However, after I finished the book, I couldn't help but think that maybe Merry was just trying to find her own way of understanding what all happened in her childhood, everything that led up to the greatest tragedy of her life. Afterward, all I could see was a girl-now-adult, still struggling to figure out why her sister acted the way she did, what her sister could've been thinking throughout it all.

When I started this book, the summary had not prepared me for the gruesome descriptions Tremblay employed, nor how sad a story this really was. I just felt so bad for Marjorie, more than anything. She didn't deserve anything that happened to her, and needed to be taken out of the home and cameras that were definitely making things worse. I am curious to know of other's opinions of the portrayal of schizophrenia in this book. I did not touch on it as I am not an expert on the condition, nor do I have the condition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement and Domestic abuse

gbyronwilliams's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, and Alcohol