Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

House of Hollow, by Krystal Sutherland

9 reviews

mmefish's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Did not expect to cry or feel much but I did. 

Check trigger warnings.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Suicide, Injury/injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident, Excrement, Alcoholism, and Animal death

vigil's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

2.5

what a simmering disappointment. to get the positives out of the way, the atmosphere of the book is crafted masterfully. the descriptions are lush and the writing style is clear and concise while still being beautiful to read. the character work was mostly okay (except in iris, and a bit in vivi who i'll get to later) and i think grey hollow is the shining example of that. she is easily the smartest, cruelest, and most interesting character in the book, and balances it out by being incredibly compassionate, and protective of her loved ones, her sisters. for the first 200+ pages this book had me.

once

Spoiler

they entered the halfway place

my interest began to wane. tyler, who is so unremarkable i forgot to include him in the list of bad character work, is trapped in an evil horrid body horror filled place with iris, who has no discernible personality. i did not care about them individually and i definitely didn't care about them together. everything about this portion of the book is so repetitive that any of its earlier unnerving atmosphere immediately dissipates from how often your told how unnerving it is. 

iris hollow is a shell of a character and waste of a protagonist. she has no character traits aside from being the victim in everything somehow, having her only friend be her mother, and she's not like other girls (namely her sisters, and the popular girls). she has a dissonant picture of morality, especially her own that does not line up with her actions. she chooses (along with vivi, who is barely a character as well) to condemn her elder sister grey for her actions that she a). went along with, b) actively chose to forget about in order to ignore her own culpability, c) continuously benefits from, even as the book ends. i bring this up because for a large portion of the book it had allowed space for ambiguity, power, and for girls to be unlikable, inaccessible, and the like without condemning them. which why i thought the black and white thinking on display was a waste for a book like this. especially when the main character is either culpable, or actively benefiting from the things grey has done.  tossing aside your most interesting character like this was not a narrative choice that i enjoyed nor one that enriched the book imo. where's her introspection about that, or

Spoiler

how her not acting and allowing a TEN YEAR OLD to defend her instead of getting off her ass led to her death.

  it makes the oddest choices on when to gloss over something and when to nail it down, usually in the most nonsensical ways. 

it has representation, if you could even call it that. iris is bisexual, and vivi is a lesbian. there is no romantic plot for really any of the sisters, yet

Spoiler

iris manages to makeout with her missing-possibly dead sister's boyfriend

while vivi gets??? nothing??? the only hint we get at iris liking girls aside from a hamfisted mention of it in the narrative is a

Spoiler

mention of a spin the bottle game played in the past, which leads to a kiss which it almost immediately portrayed in negative light, with a girl who later becomes one of her tormentors.

all in all, this book fell off hard for me towards the end. the plot twist was ultimately unsatisfying in its execution and easily predictable. i'm more disappointed by this one than other ones, because it had excellent potential, especially for the first 200 pages. everything after that after that is just a waste. i think my largest complaint is that sutherland set up a plot that is not fully suited to the genre that it’s in (YA) and would have been a better richer the narrative as an adult or even new adult book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

ocean's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? N/A

4.5

I love the writing of this book and the story really pulled me in. I couldn’t put it down! Loved the mysterious, gory, floral, decaying vibes. Didn’t love the way the author writes mental health issues. I looked at some of her other work and I didn't like how disability was represented either. It’s safe to say this author prefers to use disability and mental health issues as thematic elements to add to the story, rather than actual representation. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, and Death

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

4.5. I was REALLY pleasantly surprised by this one. It was super spooky and mysterious, and Sutherland's prose was beautiful and descriptive. I loved the focus on the sisters and their relationship. Also, the ending was incredibly satisfying. I will say there was a little too much retrospective monologuing on Iris' part. Also,

Spoiler

the kiss between Tyler and Iris was so unnecessary! It completely undermined Iris' character, who up until this point was completely dedicated to Grey. If she truly was dedicated, she wouldn't have kissed her boyfriend

!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Vomit, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Injury/injury detail, Addiction, Stalking, Drug use, Suicide, Child abuse, Cursing, Body horror, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Animal death, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Car accident, Excrement, Physical abuse, Bullying, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Self harm, Sexism, Mental illness, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

HP reference. Moderate warnings for loss of a loved one, missing child, drowning, self injury, insects. Minor warnings for stillbirth, internalised misogyny.

jhaneveauguste's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Stalking, Suicide, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, and Death

mo345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

the weirdest and creepiest book i’ve ever read. i couldn’t put it down.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, and Self harm

sassyshark's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Cursing, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Pedophilia

aliclare's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual violence

sadiefc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, and Vomit