A review by _fallinglight_
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow that ending hit me like an iron ball straight in my gut. I kinda knew where this story was going but I didn't expect that turn, and how involved little Merry would be in the final debacle. This isn't a spooky possession story. The real horror is the criminal and traumatizing neglect, the ineptitude of parenthood, the warped ideas of tradition and masculinity, how we as a community and society fail the most vulnerable, how local and global greed by capitalists, by (fanatical) church leaders preys on those vulnerable mentally, financially, and emotionally to advance their selfish goals and then leave them on their twisted, irredeemably own. The horror is how no matter how accessible help is, if you don't know how to use and navigate those tools and/or if you don't have anyone to guide you, you will fail yourself and fail those around, sometimes with fatal consequences. There's also the commentary on how can we even enjoy reality tv shows and forget these are real people, real families exposing their lives, their traumas pushed most of the time for the promise of a stable income, but in doing so, they sell their humanity to the will of greedy, heartless producers sometimes, if not most of the time. This book exposes and makes us think, how fair is the tv show/participant dynamic (and it isn't much fair most of the time I believe) and why are we so used to and even comfortable to dismiss everything that happens in these reality tv shows as “just fiction” when most of the time, the script and situations are embellished to an extent but the participants are regular people, not actors bc we choose our entertainment and morbid curiosity and fulfilling one hour judgment pastimes over what's really going on.

This book really hooked me and never let me go. I really enjoyed and ached with Merry as our mc. It gave this book, and the story it wanted to tell, a clear nuanced and realistic tone, and made all the uncomfortable scenarios feel skin deep. The writing was fluid and hard to take your eyes off, I sped through it and couldn't stop bc I needed to know more. I hurt for Marjorie, a really likeable character who totally deserved better. Better parents. Better community. Better. I really loved the sisters relationship, it was so wholesome and full of love that makes everything that happens a deeper, soul crushing tragedy. A truly memorable, hard to put down book.
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