Reviews

The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs by Celine Loup

Only show reviews with written explanations

mj111's review

Go to review page

2.0

the artwork was great but it was a bit unsatisfying at the end

jess_mango's review

Go to review page

3.0

Ummmmmmm. Somewhere between a 2 and a 3 star rating for this one.

pantelis's review

Go to review page

fast-paced

3.0

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this one! I was thinking it would be like one of Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods short horror stories and while it definitely evokes some of those vibes, this is a lot darker in a lot of ways as it dabbles in fiction, horror, and mental illness.

I LOVED the art and the concept was really interesting but I don’t know if it came together for me. Still ultimately really amazing for the art, at the very least!

lattelibrarian's review

Go to review page

4.0

A perfectly timed short-story graphic novel that serves as a metaphor for post-partum depression. When a young woman and her husband move into a house and she gives birth, Emma's life seems to get turned upside down. Her baby will not stop crying and her husband has started acting very different. Such frustrations bring her to a nervous breakdown, and her husband brings her to a psychiatrist. But is it really her husband? In the same vein of Emily Carroll's "The Nesting Place" or Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs plays on the same fears of domestic horror, the house being haunted with an unknown source of fear, and such horrors psychologically affecting the afflicted to means of potential institutionalization.

With gray colors and semi-realistic illustrations, Loup does a fantastic job of highlighting the horrific aspects of becoming so depressed despite some of the happiest events in one's life, the specific female horror of one's family not being what is expected.

Overall, this was a riveting, psychologically intense short story focusing on a topic that is frequently tabooed. Definitely worth reading, especially for those who want a short spurt of something spooky and downright weird.

Review cross-listed here!