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ice_princess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Racism, and Alcohol
mx_manda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Blood, and Cannibalism
woweewhoa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Gore, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
chalkletters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
What’s most surprising about The Elementals was how nice everyone is. While the characters certainly have their quirks, most of the McCray and Savage family members who stay at Beldame are genuinely pleasant people who care about one another. It’s unexpectedly wholesome. Of course, despite the interesting family dynamics, characters being nice to each other isn’t enough to make a story interesting, which is where the third house comes in.
The third house, slowly being consumed by sand, doesn’t map to the archetype of a haunted house, but Michael McDowell certainly made it psychologically interesting. The adult characters’ unease about it, stemming from what they try to dismiss as the result of a childishly overactive imagination, contrasts to Odessa and India, whose shifting relationship was cleverly handled. Despite the hints of darkness, the intense love the characters felt for their location kept the atmosphere of The Elementalsquite light — but perhaps that was part of the setting’s malevolence, that it made people want to stay.
Odessa’s rituals, both in Beldame and Mobile, felt like a window into another culture, adding to the intrigue. Michael McDowell weaved a lot of mystery around what Odessa was doing, raising questions as to where she’d learned it and whether it even worked. For visual, visceral readers there’s certainly more than just atmosphere to relish — the horror in The Elementals comes at you from all five senses.
I don’t know if I enjoyed The Elementals the way horror fans enjoy their horror, but I certainly had a good time reading it.
Moderate: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug use, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
night_shift's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Gotta say the descriptions of the south, the heat, the people.. very spot on and finding out the author was an Alabama boy, makes perfect sense. Gunna have to pick up his other book, The Amulet.
Graphic: Alcoholism and Body horror
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, and Racism
Minor: Cancer and Toxic relationship
whatathymeitwas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book managed to be as southern Gothic as it gets. Combine some old, old families, one with a disturbing history, some creepy houses, and a few well-fleshed out main characters... and I just don't know what more I could have asked for. This is a slow burn, deeply atmospheric horror novel, written very well and ultimately worthy of the title "literary." I imagine people who picked this up out of the paperback selections of horror in the eighties were mighty surprised— many similar novels would pale in comparison.
I'm not sure what I might could say about this that others haven't already. I deign to pepper my reviews with reinstatements of the plot itself, that's what the blurb is for and many other reviewers have done so before me.
What I will say, is that once this started ramping up the creepiness factor, it didn't stop. McDowell was fantastic at smoothing things out for you and creating a hesitant sense of peacefulness, calm, and realistic thought process; immediately after he thrusts you back into the sand and you're left half buried and gasping for air. This started really creeping me out while I was reading at night. You go through many nights and days with the characters, and feel you're right alongside and interacting with them, whether it's for a bizarre family funeral, an evening birthday party, a hot noon walk by the lagoon, or peering out the windows at the full moon, the breaking Gulf, and the ever ominous Third House and all that lurks within it, seething and breathing in the languid summer heat.
That connection to the characters, the place, the general setting, and the inherently Gothic aspects of southern Alabama really transport you, and you're with them as their feet sink into dunes and slide across wooden floors caked in the ever-present pristine white sand, wondering if something might reach out and grab your ankle.
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
mojavetent's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer and Racism
kris386's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, and Blood
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury
adalgibson's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use and Gore
rachelunabridged's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Racism and Grief
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, and Vomit