Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Haar by David Sodergren

11 reviews

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

4.75

Now THIS is the most romantic I ever want horror to be. I really loved this story. It’s thoughtful and sentimental and sad and gross!!!! The body horror is outrageous. I loved every second of it. And the connection to the sea!!!! Ugh. I just love the ocean. The atmosphere in this was just superb. There was a couple of aspects I found a little ridiculous but it didn’t pull me out of the story. I would really not be surprised if this is made into a movie soon (a24 is my hope but my luck is a Hulu original).

I am just so happy that this was the 100th book I read this year!!!! 🥹🖤

p.s. I’ve never read a monsterfucker book but I think this falls in the category somehow— but in the most chill way if that makes sense? Like it’s not a monsterfucker book but it has monsterfucker elements. At least questionable ones for me.

Like, he’s for sure a monster and she absolutely fucks him. But he’s human when they have sex (specifically in a human suit of her dead husband). Like I think that counts, right??

Either way, I respect it. Get it, Muriel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

•Ageism is prevalent •monsterfucker elements, I’m not an expert

gnarlyrae's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Surprisingly charming and sweet for a book with so much eyeball mutilation!! Check the CWs, but I think this could be a great one for someone wanting to check out a gory horror book that isn't too mean-spirited.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence and Forced institutionalization

matchamarimo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, and Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Vomit

keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Dementia

rodent_scribbles's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

Was expecting a more substantial story, instead all I got was a poor granny gets the oportunity to kill all the evil bad guys at her doorstep.

Characters are flat and uninteresting, fiting into easy stereotypes (the evil billionaire, the mysogynistic construction worker, etc). Every character fits neatly into good or bad and there is no conflict around the act of killing. All character deaths are completely predictable and unmemorable: a character in opposition to the protagonist is set up as an irredeemable bastard and is promptly killed in a paragraph of shock value blood and sex.

The entire story felt like the author was building strawmen to be slaughtered in a gratuitous revenge fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

erica_reads_things's review

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This is my second book of Sodergren's and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Though horror through and through, at it's core was a very touching tale with a fantastic leading lady. I loved Muriel's character so much and I hope to grow up as tough and full of hopeful life as she is. Very unique and fun creature feature read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

 This book was great. We follow a lovely old Scottish lady called Muriel who is being harrassed by the Grant Organisation, a company own by an American billionaire who has bought out most of Muriel's little home village by the sea to destroy the landscape and build a golf course. He's your basic Trump/Musk/Murdoch guy who thinks money can buy him everything. Nasty piece of work. All Muriel wants to do is live out the rest of her life in peace, but the machines changing her landscape run day and night and it seems every day, another friend takes the money and leaves. Muriel refuses. And then one day she makes an odd discovery that set the wheels of change into motion...

The Haar is a beautiful story with a lot of gore. It's intense, wondrous, and the perfect length. I will have to check out who of Sodergren's stuff! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Excrement

franzys_whip's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I cried so much. Such a well written book. Perfectly describes the horrors of aging, loneliness, industrialization, and corruption. Also Avalon was legitimately funny and I will die on that hill. While unexpected for me, I love the direction the ending took!

Also the cover art is by Trevor Henderson???? Literal perfection. Read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Dementia, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

the minor content warnings are like VERY minor, i just thought they were worth mentioning

jalecd's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

This novel takes body horror to a level I had never even conceived and yet somehow still told a wonderful story of love, aging, and remembering the things that matter.  Muriel is an icon of the ages, and such a joy of a protagonist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Dementia

inkdrinkers's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

"Was she all that remained, the last page of the scrapbook, waiting to be filed away for future generations to ignore?"

Muriel Margaret McAuley, a young woman of only 84, refuses to sell her cottage on the Scottish coast. It's the home where she had her children, where she waited for her fisherman husband to come home each evening from the sea - and she will not see it razed to build a golf course. But when she stumbles upon a creature in the fog one evening, she discovers a way to revisit her past and seal her future.

This was nothing short of incredible. I picked this up on a whim because I needed a palette cleanser and heard that it was body horror + gore + monster romance. It's definitely not the monster romance that is currently trending, but it was so impeccably done I'm in a little bit of a stupor after binge reading it in one sitting. There were so many truly wonderful aspects to this novella and I think I might be forever changed by Muriel and Avalon's story.

I don't want to give anything away about this plot. It's the kind of book I'd encourage you go in blind to. I will say - do NOT pick this up if you don't have a strong stomach. It's absolutely packed full of gore, body horror, description of death and bodies and dismemberment, and contains uncomfortable scenes. BUT I would HIGHLY recommend this for fans of Guillermo Del Toro (Shape of Water especially) and classic horror. It's just so well crafted, cozy and bloody. 

Content warnings: Violence, Body horror (so SO MUCH. Do not read this if you cannot tolerate blood and viscera), Death, Gore, Torture, Forced institutionalization (threat of, doesn't happen), Animal cruelty/Animal death (chickens are murdered), Sexual content (vague/one scene where consent is blurry/toes the line of sexual violence)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, and Forced institutionalization