Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

14 reviews

witchofthemountains's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Body horror, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Car accident

Moderate: Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Alcohol, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Animal death

Minor: Cursing, War, Genocide, and Fatphobia

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

cookiehuggles's review against another edition

4.0

pumpkin was actually pretty scary, I didn't expect all the puppets and dolls to be that creepy but damn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Fatphobia

jackieyvette's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. I can say that a million times over about this book and never get tired of repeating it. Wow.
I've read a book by Grady Hendrix before and loved it (The Final Girl Support Group), and thought might as well pick up the next one to see if it was a one off or if Grady Hendrix. I can say with my whole chest, Grady Hendrix is the real deal. This book is exciting, dark, cryptic, loving, etc. The list goes on.
Louise and Mark are a perfect pair. They are what siblings are. They're loud and antagonistic, but also soft and caring and most of all forgiving. I didn't expect the book to open on fighting siblings and not end with a sweet reunion, but the way this was done left a warmth in my heart that might never leave. The family love doesn't stop there though. This family is filled with strong and amazing women who rally to any occasion that comes their way. At the heart of this book is a true look at a family dynamic that I think every one can relate to. Every family has their secrets; it's just a matter of time before they come to head.

Now let's talk a little about Pupkin. He was the perfect antagonist. Creepy and ghoulish and vindictive and I rooted against him again and again until I didn't. He gave his all. The things he did were dreadful (Louise at the Calvins', Mark at BU, Poppy) but when you find out where this all roots from you feel his little puppet pain. His little voice saying 'Not fair' will stick with me and linger on for a while. I hope Pupkin feels at peace in Tickytoo Woods.

This is a book I can see myself reading over again in a couple of months, but always wishing I could read again for the first time.


Crying score: Yeah. Horror can be sad, don't I know it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Alcohol, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Cursing, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

Grady Hendrix’s tinkering with horror tropes continues to be so good.  I loved the horrorfication of generational trauma and the line “to mother is to manipulate” was a punch to the gut. 

The final act was a little bit drawn out for me, but the last line was perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Body horror, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia

vercopaanir's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Not what I expected based on the reviews I’ve seen!  Some of the dialogue tags were repetitive and annoying to me as I listened to the audiobook version, but the story was compelling and captivating even when it didn’t totally make sense to me.  

How did Pupkin bring Spider to life!?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, and Gaslighting

katiereadsbooks23's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Fatphobia

valmai's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Fatphobia

hallowreads's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Hendrix writes another badly stereotyped female protagonist. Louise is the “uptight, successful man hater”. While some parts of the middle were funny and engaging, I think overall this book should be much shorter. Hendrix needs to challenge himself to write male characters, as the most engaging part of this book was the short section from the main character’s younger brother’s perspective. Mark is the only character in the book that is fully fleshed out with interesting motivations and choices. Overall I don’t recommend readers *not* read this book, but there are more engaging, less problematic books out there by authors creating diverse horrorscapes with fully realized characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

soshereads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I am not sure what I just read but I am HERE FOR IT. I really want to get into Henrix’s brain and see how his mind works because how one person could come up with this book is beyond me. I never get scared by books but this creeped me the f*ck out. I still stayed up late reading it through. I didn’t want it to end! One moment you think it has to be done but the next a whole other off the wall thing happens that’s even more outlandish than the last. I will never look at puppets or squirrels the same way!
I promise it’s better to go into reading this book without knowing a lot. It’s much better that way!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Torture, Fatphobia, and Gun violence