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annagy's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.25
It was too short to really make much impact on me. It was like a suggestion of a lot of interesting themes that you will never get to explore.
The story of MC's mother's slow decline into infirmity and her daughter grappling with helplessness, anger, lack of patience, regret, were all just primed to stab me in the heart (due to my own family history). And yet, a slight twinge of discomfort was all I got.
The MC's comment about dating a guy because it was "familiar" also hinted at some interesting exploration to be had, and yet she then dates a woman like it's nothing.
I would have liked the dialogue to be an actual dialogue too, instead of a recount of what was said.
I'm starting to realize that I'm neither a novella girlie nor a gothic horror girlie.
The cover is 🔥 tho.
The story of MC's mother's slow decline into infirmity and her daughter grappling with helplessness, anger, lack of patience, regret, were all just primed to stab me in the heart (due to my own family history). And yet, a slight twinge of discomfort was all I got.
The MC's comment about dating a guy because it was "familiar" also hinted at some interesting exploration to be had, and yet she then dates a woman like it's nothing.
I would have liked the dialogue to be an actual dialogue too, instead of a recount of what was said.
I'm starting to realize that I'm neither a novella girlie nor a gothic horror girlie.
The cover is 🔥 tho.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent
sarah984's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The plot was fine, but everything felt kind of vague and unfinished. I think there were too many ideas for a short story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Dementia, and Grief
Minor: Medical content, Murder, and Sexual content
madarauchiha's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️
I mean eh, I shoulda expected from the cover it'd be about white people. Couldn't really relate tbh, they're too weird about death and grief. But the writing was nice and it was pretty creepy as far as haunted houses go. I enjoyed reading it.
Content warnings
minor child death, animal death, sexual content, parental death,
medium alcohol use,
major child death, gore, grief,
I mean eh, I shoulda expected from the cover it'd be about white people. Couldn't really relate tbh, they're too weird about death and grief. But the writing was nice and it was pretty creepy as far as haunted houses go. I enjoyed reading it.
Content warnings
minor child death, animal death, sexual content, parental death,
medium alcohol use,
major child death, gore, grief,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Gore
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Animal death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
wardenred's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Have you ever lived on your own, after living almost forty years with someone else? It’s eerie. It’s like sitting alone in your own head for the first time. The free hours stretch on forever when you don’t have someone else to worry over, and you wonder what you could possibly fill them with. What are your interests, your hobbies? You hardly know yourself.
This is a really moving short story, focused on a woman who tries to start a new life after the death of her mother—or rather, perhaps it should be said, after the dying of her mother, that long, torturous process sponsored by a terminal illness, the journey with only one possible outcome. The time of grief started long before the burial; the situation that gets one reduced to the role of caretaker, and then when it's all over, what do you even do with your life anymore?
The MC here buys a house that ends up being haunted. But her own ghosts are a lot more vicious than that old lady that lived in the house a while ago, or the child who keeps falling off the stairs every night, or the rotting seagull. The ghosts in your head, after all, are never the ones you can hide from under the blanket.
But ghosts can be exorcised, and that's what this story focuses on. It's not about being haunted—it's about letting go, making peace with the past, building something new in its place. It's sad enough that it made me tear up a couple of times during this very short read, but it's also exceptionally hopeful, and the ending is full of relief and that special freedom of a new beginning.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, and Death of parent
gay's review
dark
emotional
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent
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