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A review by elizabethandhermonsters
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? No
4.5
It's rare that anything, whether it be a book, movie, TV show, restaurant, etc. that lives up to its own hype, but Incidents Around The House does exactly that. I finished it in July, and even in mid-August, I'm still thinking about it.
First, if you're thinking about reading it, do yourself a favor and get the audiobook. It's so much more engrossing to listen to Bela tell her story that to just read it silently and watch the movie your brain plays as you try to make sense of what's going on. It's that good.
One of the main things I noticed and immediately appreciated is that Bela's family is broken. Her mom is toxic, her dad clueless, and to make matters worse, there's an evil entity that makes Bela call it "Other Mommy" that keeps asking Bela if she can go into her heart.
Other Mommy is terrifying, but so is the dysfunction in Bela's house. Both of her parents are objectively terrible, and it's a little irritating that the mother was cast in a very negative light while the father's shortcomings as treated as quirks or completely dismissed. I think I'm in the minority of readers who recognized this, and it's crazy-making. It was each of their actions and self-centeredness that gave Other Mommy an opening into Bela's life.
And what she does with it is absolutely horrifying. She stalks Bela daily, growing more impatient and aggressive, demanding that Bela let her into her heart, while offering few details on what would happen to Bela or her family if she agrees. She finds various ways to trick Bela into trusting her, and at various points, simply wants to torment us. And by extension, she torments the reader, because holy crap, are these scenes terrifying. You know your brain starts playing a "movie" of what you're reading to help you make sense of the material? You may not want to watch it, because Incidents Around The House is heavy on well thought-out scares, and atmospheric creepiness. When you think Other Mommy can't get any worse, she does exactly that in very unexpected ways.
I really want to see this one in a theater soon.
First, if you're thinking about reading it, do yourself a favor and get the audiobook. It's so much more engrossing to listen to Bela tell her story that to just read it silently and watch the movie your brain plays as you try to make sense of what's going on. It's that good.
One of the main things I noticed and immediately appreciated is that Bela's family is broken. Her mom is toxic, her dad clueless, and to make matters worse, there's an evil entity that makes Bela call it "Other Mommy" that keeps asking Bela if she can go into her heart.
Other Mommy is terrifying, but so is the dysfunction in Bela's house. Both of her parents are objectively terrible, and it's a little irritating that the mother was cast in a very negative light while the father's shortcomings as treated as quirks or completely dismissed. I think I'm in the minority of readers who recognized this, and it's crazy-making. It was each of their actions and self-centeredness that gave Other Mommy an opening into Bela's life.
And what she does with it is absolutely horrifying. She stalks Bela daily, growing more impatient and aggressive, demanding that Bela let her into her heart, while offering few details on what would happen to Bela or her family if she agrees. She finds various ways to trick Bela into trusting her, and at various points, simply wants to torment us. And by extension, she torments the reader, because holy crap, are these scenes terrifying. You know your brain starts playing a "movie" of what you're reading to help you make sense of the material? You may not want to watch it, because Incidents Around The House is heavy on well thought-out scares, and atmospheric creepiness. When you think Other Mommy can't get any worse, she does exactly that in very unexpected ways.
I really want to see this one in a theater soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse