Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - A Head Full of Ghosts

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

26 reviews

gbyronwilliams's review

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dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

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smashlebeans's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-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? No

3.5

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I try not to open a book with any expectations, but when you have a testimonial from Stephen King right there on the cover claiming it scared the hell out of him, you expect to be terrified. I think going into this book with that expectation set me up for disappointment.

This story is mildly disturbing, but not at all scary, though I did enjoy the twist at the end. The main character and the chapters with the blog posts were a bit annoying at times. Overall, I recommend reading it, but adjust your expectations about the genre of the book.

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exhumedprince's review against another edition

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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

3.5

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onemamareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/a-head-full-of-ghosts

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aatroxskitten's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Mmmm so you know how Game of Thrones was once criticized as glorifying the violence it claimed to condemn?

I really do feel like coming out of this with that same feeling of watching Game of Thrones. It held my attention. I focused on it. I'm not upset I saw it. But I have criticisms in how one can discuss the misogyny and voyeurism of exorcist fiction and then seemingly revel in it as a plot point.

I am on the fence as to whether the portrayal is ableist. I am not sure about my feelings on it overall. Writing this, I bumped it from 3 stars to 2.

A nice writing style, though, and the story definitely holds the attention. I'm just left with the same sort of mixed feelings I had about the Red Wedding on film.

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chloseencounter's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This story was so much more than I ever could’ve expected. I loved the constant back and fourth of “is it mental illness or is it a demon?”, and ultimately it is kind of whatever you want and/or both, which I find to be a very fresh take on the haunting/possession genre. At the end of the day this was a family that was, in the very least, haunted by the ghosts of ideas, religious fear, money problems, a failing marriage, misogyny, mental illness, etc. The Berrets were manipulated, pushed, and agitated to the absolute breaking point.

There was so much here, I honestly don’t even know how to talk about it all. First and foremost I think having the majority of this story being told in the eyes of an eight year old was great, there was so much tension even in Majorie’s most mild episodes because truthfully Merry had no idea what Marjorie might say or do, or if she (or anyone else) would protect her from someone she wasn’t even completely sure she was afraid of. I enjoyed all the nods to classic horror media but also the way common tropes were twisted and turned on their head, we’re asked “is anyone ever really possessed or has the church always been taking advantage of the vulnerability of the mentally ill and fueling the psychosis of the sick?” There were so many parallels and metaphors in the book I reveled in picking apart and analyzing, I think this novel had so much to say very eloquently hidden beneath what the story seemed to be at face value.

My one critique looks to be the common one…the blog sections were cringy at best and annoying at worst, but despite the kind of “hello fellow kids” attempt at writing a blog post that was supposed to sound as if it was written by a hip and up on the trends women in her early 20s, I still enjoyed the detached POV of what this family’s suffering looked like to the world and how the show succeeded to make good television but failed Majorie and Merry. (Every adult did to be completely honest) I also appreciated the insight we got by hearing Merry’s thoughts coming from her child self, her adult self, and (vague spoiler) an alter ego of sorts. I thought it was sweet that in all three contexts you could still see Merry and how some bits of her personality never change.

Without spoiling I did actually quite like the twist ending because even that, may or may not be true. I think Merry has grown to be a fairly well rounded individual especially for what she’s been through, but even still, much like Majorie I think her head is full of ghosts too and maybe some things she said were simply manifestations of guilt but also maybe they weren’t…and I don’t think are meant to know for sure.

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