Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

6 reviews

hoopoebird's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Grief, Pregnancy, War, and Classism

renicula's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

This is a complicated one. It’s definitely of its time and I wouldn’t blame anyone for skipping it based on that. Be forewarned, the main characters are wealthy 1970s southerners and their perspectives on things reflects that. The themes of the book can be read as regressive as well; “modernity will infiltrate our perfect upper class society enclave and destroy it” (I’d argue that the

ostracism and social destruction the protagonist faces when trying  to actually do something and protect people (because making a scene is worse than passively allowing other people to be killed, clearly)

is a rebuke to the supposed preexisting “perfection” of her social set, but it’s certainly arguable that Siddons doesn’t pull that critique off (

the Kim being adopted thing is truly stupid

) and the fact is the main characters of this book frequently express outright offensive positions and it isn’t clear whether the author doesn’t share them. I grew up in the Stephen King mines, so I can bracket that off in my reading, but certainly don’t fault anyone who can’t. Take the content warnings seriously.

All that being said, I found this book riveting. The tension, the uncertainty, the creeping dread interspersed with the banality of neighborhood life just worked for me. I read it in a couple of days and had a hard time putting it down (well, outside of the

gay tryst being treated like a scene of primal horror, which ages like milk. That did make me put it down for a bit. I get that under any circumstances, getting caught having an extra-marital affair by your bosses and in laws and causing your father-in-law to subsequently drop dead out of shock is probably a nightmare scenario for anyone. But it’s not exactly terrifying as a reader; maybe the ambient 1970s homophobia made it so for contemporary audiences, but for me reading it in 2024, it comes off as not only offensive, but farcical.

). I could see a reader being irritated that the events of the book are largely mundane, but I actually liked that. I appreciated that the horrors (even the one I complained about earlier) were all the kind of things that, if they happened in a “nice” neighborhood, “nice” people would gossip about behind closed doors and say, “Oh, how awful!” - but want to know every sordid detail, and would never consider there might be something fundamentally *wrong* at the core of it.

I’ve spent more words caveating my review than I have praising the book, but if I haven’t scared you off yet, I’d recommend this book if you’re at all interested in haunted house stories. Getting the perspective of a neighbor who increasingly knows that *something* is wrong but feels powerless to do anything (and is gaslit when she tries to) is a fascinating perspective on the genre. Plus I always have a soft spot for

haunted houses without ghosts

and modern haunted houses - just when you thought you were safe because you didn’t opt for that 100 year old Victorian.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Excrement, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

readinginmtl's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Murder

saltedsnail's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity, Abortion, and War

savvylit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The House Next Door is an excellent example of a Southern Gothic horror novel. Siddons expertly builds mounting dread around the House as multiple well-to-do families face ruin over inexplicable occurrences. Though the house is not what one would typically think of as "haunted" - being both new and stylistically modern - it is practically alive with malice.

Where the genius of this book really lies, is in the subtle and scathing satire of Southern suburbia. Colquitt, Walter, and all of their bourgeoisie neighbors are obsessed with social standing and etiquette. The evil House inherently understands that and preys on everyone involved by specifically and absolutely destroying their reputations. The house forces them into such suburban scandals as infidelity, general impropriety, mental illness, and grisly death. Siddons wrote this novel in the late 70s and it is clear from the first page that these characters live in a world where anyone will be blatantly shamed or shunned for anything even slightly out of the norm.

I absolutely loved the themes and the lush writing style of The House Next Door. This book has joined The Elementals and The Haunting of Hill House as one of my favorite horror stories of all time.

That being said, because of the era this book was written and set in - and because all the characters are super annoying upper middle-class Southerners - this book features a handful of racism, sexism, a hell of a lot of classism, homophobia, and antisemitism. In the context of satire and loving to hate all the characters, it fits. Because it really is horrifying! However, that doesn't make it any less jarring for me to read in 2022.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Murder, and Classism

archaena's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Classism