Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

4 reviews

blackeyedraptor's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

This book was... Weird, and not in a Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman kind of way. Tbh, I'm kind of disappointed. 
The writing style was fantastic, I would definitely read the authors other works, but I find myself being disappointed in it. 
It went from properly creepy to wannabe slasher fic in about a single chapter, and I hate slashers! They're needlessly gory and when a story has to depend on bloody shock factors, the writing is bad, which is sad because the author has style! I nearly dnf'd at least 3 times, but kept plugging on. 
*Spoilers* 
So turns out, it's not the house that's haunted, even though it initially comes off that way, it's her mom's creepy childhood puppet, who's haunted by her dead uncle who died young. Again, the whole thing felt like it was depending on the shock Factor too much, and was just weird. I love a good spooky ghost story, but I argue that this belongs in that category. If it were a movie, it'd be a slasher, but at least it would get marks for being unpredictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Death, Grief, Blood, Violence, Murder, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm, Ableism, and Emotional abuse

alicroz34's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

This was the closest I came to a DNF in many years. The first third was a bit of a slog for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it overall. The last third almost made up for the infuriating start. 

Little to no applicable advice or information about to sell haunted houses, wth

 I'm all for character flaws, but going from physically fighting your idiotic brother to LETTING HIM PLAN YOUR PARENTS' FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ENTIRELY BY HIMSELF IN THE SAME DAY BECAUSE HE SAID HE LIKED YOUR MOM'S FRIED CHICKEN IS FUCKING INSANE. Parts of it felt campy on purpose & parts of it felt cringey by accident. 
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Vomit, Death, Animal death, Abandonment, Child death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Ableism

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

I enjoyed parts of this, but I always want to like Grady Hendrix's books more than I end up doing. This was way too long and felt like it spent a lot of time spinning its wheels, the characters felt like they were mostly acting however it was needed to keep the plot moving, and a few plot points strained credulity even keeping in mind it's a horror novel.

The anarchist puppet collective putting on a show critical of the Bush admin in the immediate post 9/11 era to third graders and then a group of people dressed as clowns with a puppet trash one of the teachers’ houses and no one ever reacts to this or talks about it?? This would have been bigger than the killer clown craze in 2016.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Car accident, Gore, Violence, Fatphobia, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Self harm

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

this was pretty good but a little too silly to really scare me. i’ve never thought dolls were scary so this didn’t get to me that much, i also thought the ending was kind of out of nowhere?? idk. i do love Hendrix’s writing though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence