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ryan's Reviews > Incidents Around the House
Incidents Around the House
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Things this book did well:
- Described the entity (“Other Mommy�, which, Coraline?) in a truly frightening way, such that I could not read this right before bed without needing a palate cleanser. Plus my house creaks too much.
Things this book failed at so badly that I can’t believe all the current ratings because all I could think about THE WHOLE BOOK was how bad these things were:
- Dialogue. What. Who is saying these things??
- Also, dialogue, more like monologue�.. in the middle of all of this crazy shit, EACH character takes the time to sit down this child AT LEAST FIVE TIMES and give soliloquies that 1. are insane to say to a child and 2. nobody would ever actually say. Each one is chock full of some trying-to-be-deep metaphor or psuedo philosophy that was written for people to quote on goodreads. Sorry!!
- Plot. I get that things were chaotic but so much was going on and punctuated by so many speeches that it was� difficult to follow. Skipped over actual interesting things (hello Grandma???) in favor of repetition, describing the same things over and over. Nothing comes together in a satisfying way at any point.
- Concept. The sad part is that when they finally reveal what the entity’s target is and how they’re gonna solve it�.. that’s like, actually an interesting idea that is subsequently blown up by 5 more of the most boring and repetitive monologues put to paper.
- Voice. The problem is that “little girl narrator� has been done so many times, sometimes to great effect, that when it’s bad� well. it’s bad. It was giving “what an adult man thinks a little girl thinks about and feels.�
I am so sorry I didn’t mean to go on this long but all the good reviews floored me and I got swept away
- Described the entity (“Other Mommy�, which, Coraline?) in a truly frightening way, such that I could not read this right before bed without needing a palate cleanser. Plus my house creaks too much.
Things this book failed at so badly that I can’t believe all the current ratings because all I could think about THE WHOLE BOOK was how bad these things were:
- Dialogue. What. Who is saying these things??
- Also, dialogue, more like monologue�.. in the middle of all of this crazy shit, EACH character takes the time to sit down this child AT LEAST FIVE TIMES and give soliloquies that 1. are insane to say to a child and 2. nobody would ever actually say. Each one is chock full of some trying-to-be-deep metaphor or psuedo philosophy that was written for people to quote on goodreads. Sorry!!
- Plot. I get that things were chaotic but so much was going on and punctuated by so many speeches that it was� difficult to follow. Skipped over actual interesting things (hello Grandma???) in favor of repetition, describing the same things over and over. Nothing comes together in a satisfying way at any point.
- Concept. The sad part is that when they finally reveal what the entity’s target is and how they’re gonna solve it�.. that’s like, actually an interesting idea that is subsequently blown up by 5 more of the most boring and repetitive monologues put to paper.
- Voice. The problem is that “little girl narrator� has been done so many times, sometimes to great effect, that when it’s bad� well. it’s bad. It was giving “what an adult man thinks a little girl thinks about and feels.�
I am so sorry I didn’t mean to go on this long but all the good reviews floored me and I got swept away
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Incidents Around the House.
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Reading Progress
April 3, 2024
–
Started Reading
April 3, 2024
– Shelved
April 3, 2024
– Shelved as:
to-read
April 16, 2024
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-19 of 19 (19 new)
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message 1:
by
Donna
(new)
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rated it 2 stars
Jun 29, 2024 07:33AM
Me too!!! I was sooooo excited to read this book because of the ratings and literally SHOCKED at how much I disliked it……🤦♀️Every point you made were my exact thoughts. Was hard to even finish. Not even sure I really understood the ending, but did not want to take the time to even try to figure it out. Because any of the possibilities were not even satisfying
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Agree no one would ever say those things to a kid ! And the dialogue seems like it comes from a three year old.
This is exactly how I’m feeling reading it. I am so tired of the monologuing at an adult level to a child; literally at times talking to her as if she’s a therapist!! And don’t get me started on how many times I’m have to trudge through the phrase “tiny apartment in chaps� lol. This has gone downhill fast and it’s hard to finish!
I really disagree with your 1 star. But I really liked your review. I am very interested in what you would consider a 5 star horror novel. Can you give any recommendations?
Completely disagree. Imo, this is Malerman’s best work so far. If this is a one star to you, what is a 5 in your opinion? Actually scratch that, list your “one star� reads 😂
Agree with every word. I wonder if it would have been better for me to actually read bc listening to it was not the way to go. Bella is probably the most annoyingly written child ever. On one hand, her inner monologues can be so incredibly in depth and far beyond her years. Then on the other hand, her parents will ask if she understands a simple concept and she’s just like “no�.
I was expecting a big reveal when the mom tried to revoke innocence. Girl stop. Yall have been sitting by this child’s bed for years talking about yours affairs and marital problems and you think you’re going to top that now? 😂
Just no.
I did skip the paragraphs of monologues it was crazy unnecessary.
The monologues were insane and cheap. I felt sorry for Bela even as she pretended to sleep. Awful read, I am with you.
I'm with you. People complaining about your 1 star are people ...maybe with different reading levels. It wasn't scary and the plot was a mess. and the whole revoking of innocence, by just sitting with her and divulging too much? Like, that's been your method of parenting for 8 years! Why would that matter now? And why go to a beach to do it? The sheer amount of traveling and they continued to be floored that the monster kept up. duh. I honestly thought they would make her unpalatable to Other Mommy by weakening her somehow. Like poison or something terrible. Not just another soliloquy.
This wasn't scary to me at all. I wish there had been more focus on "other mommy" instead, the real monster was her real mother. This book was excruciatingly boring to read.
Honestly, I don’t totally disagree about the monologues and the suspension of disbelief that was required when it came to what the parents said to their child. It still scared the shit out of me though.
Bela’s parents trauma dumping on her at all time for pages for absolutely no reason adding nothing to the plot or story as a whole🤡The insane good reviews for this book have me questioning so many things bc this was noooot a good book.
I don’t understand the ending
I tried listening to the audiobook and couldn’t get past the kid voice. The dialogue was painful and the writing style was just odd. Maybe I should try the book but I think I’m all set.
This is exactly how I felt. Thank you!
I dnf'ed this pretty early on so I agree with your rating.
the most accurate review, Ever
I'm almost done with this and agree with everything. I'm so disappointed.
Aside from the kid the other characters were hard to care about.
