Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

14 reviews

yappuccino's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

3.5

A fun, creepy read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Bugs, teeth

whatkatyread87's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

cardaisy's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

I saw some other reviews describing this as "cozy horror" and that's exactly what it is 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness, Racism, Dementia, and Grief

Bugs

juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If I discovered anything about myself this year is that I'm a sucker for hunted house stories. I adore T. Kingfisher! This book was so creepy and wonderful. As with "What moves the dead" and fungi, in this story, I learned a lot about bugs and roses, and now I also have the irrational fear that my grandmother will hunt us after death to nag us about our eating habits and the gnarly states of our rooms, lol. Anyway, if you loved Alex Easton you will also love Sam Montgomery! Kingfisher has a knack for writing the straight-headed sarcastic character that is suddenly hurled into a magical, haunted, terribly impossible scenario. It was an amazing book, highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

cloudreader2948's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A coming home horror novel. Light on the horror. I enjoy a lot of T Kingfisher stories as there's enough suspense and horror without it keeping me up at night, like Diet Horror. It was also refreshing to have a fat protagonist who had good self-esteem. Their weight was mentioned when appropriate to the story but not once did they wish they were smaller or talk about their weight as if it was a bad thing. Loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Dementia

witcheep's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Horror usually isn't my thing, but liking T. Kingfisher's fantasy books, I decided to give this one a go. I'm glad I did!

Kingfisher is great with writing multidimensional characters with flaws of their own and their interpersonal relationships. That is what shines bright in this book as well. I enjoyed reading about the difficult relationships between the different generations of the same family, and their own ways to deal with mysteries and difficulties. The neighbors offer a good place to compare with the main character's life. A House with Good Bones ponders over some hard themes, such as loss of a family member and grief, doubting one's self-worth and emotionally abusive family relationships. The book, however, offers more hopeful outlooks on the same issues in the form of caring for one's community, forming new friendships and finding new insight into oneself.

The horror elements get increasiongly more creepy, from a slight feeling of something being off up to creeping uneasiness,

supernatural affairs, and slight body horror

.

"You're a scientist," said Gail, watching me. "I realize that makes this hard for you. I'm telling you, what's happening isn't something you're going to be able to put under a microscope. I'm hoping it'll go away on it's own."
      "Does anything ever go away on it's own?" I asked.
      "More often than you think. In this case I truly can't be sure. I don't know everything.
     "I'm starting to be sure I don't know anything", I muttered.
     She smiles. "That's a good place to start."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

axel_p's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative medium-paced

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

5.0

I love bugs.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

leeghlee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Cursing

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, and Stalking

wandering_recorder's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

After thoroughly enjoying What Moves The Dead, I was ecstatic to hear that Kingfisher was coming out with another horror novel. Now having finished it, I am glad to say that it delivered on all my expectations in the best way possible. Set in the south with all its traditions and culture, it subliminally soothes the reader into a false sense of security only to disturb them with suggestions of what horrors and evils may lie underneath. As they solve the mystery of what is really going on in this strange house on Lammergeier Lane the reader can expect to be delighted with its macabre atmosphere and shocked with the supernatural.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Dementia, and Murder

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I liked the creepy and mysterious beginning more than the action packed end. The narrator is very funny and relatable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Classism