Head Full of Ghosts, A

2.5 really. I can't seem to find a book that gets inside my head, makes me think and blows me away. I had high hopes for this one, but alas, it was mediocre at best. I hated the narrators. If it wasn't an annoying 8 year old, then it was an obnoxious OTT blogger (I'll not spoil), or the grown up 8 year old being interviewed by a writer through the most unnatural sounding dialogue. Lots of things happened in the book. There was the slow spiral of a girl into mental illness/possession, complete with swearing, rude comments, masturbation, green vomit, weird voices, peeing, pooping, possible levitation, injury, and death. There were parents tearing their hair out and turning to god for help. There was a camera crew that didn't seem terribly bothered by all the horrific goings on. I admit I speed read a lot of the blogger chapters because they were boring; sort of a recap of the events of the previous chapters with some interpretation of whether the events could have been faked or comparing them to movies and books about possession. The voice was typical 'read my blog now because it is great...look at all the great stuff I've got for you!!!!'. There was supposedly a twist at the end, but it wasn't really a twist because there were so many hints and ways of interpreting the possession scenes that made the reader expect it. To be fair, if I had never read a book or watched a movie about possession, or seen documentaries or those 'Most Haunted' things, then I would probably have been creeped out. But since I am an avid horror fan, I've been exposed to just about everything. That made this book very ho hum for me. My recommendation is to read it if you are just starting out on your horror journey, but if you are an old hand, you will most likely be disappointed.

Ok I'm going to start by saying that possession(?) stories usually aren't my thing so take everything I say with a grain of salt. That being said I really don't understand the hype around this book. Yeah it had a few creepy scenes but everything else was a bit of a slog. I will say the author is very good a writing from a child's perspective and the unreliable narration that comes along with that is excellent. If that sounds good to you I think you would enjoy this book. **Spoilers** The whole question of the book is whether or not the elder sister Marjorie is possessed or not. Unfortunately for me it never convinced me there was even a possibility she actually had a demon inside of her at all. It seems more like a family on the brink of collapse because a child has schizophrenia and they couldn't cope. I mean yes Marjorie says some disturbing things and acts erratically but honestly nothing else really happens. Her wack job of a father is obviously unwell himself and driving her delusions and her mother's passive helplessness isn't making anything better. Also is the ending supposed to imply that Merry is possessed now? Because besides the exorcism scene (in which there was an open window in late fall) there isn't really a mention of dramatic temperature changes so I'm not sure what the author was going for. The poisoning also kinda came out of nowhere, maybe I missed something but it seemed kinda random. Overall the whole thing just made me sad, perhaps the point but I guess I just expected something actually horrifying. Anyway this book clearly wasn't for me but many people like it so good for them.

The Barrett's are a normal family who live in New England. All of them are devastated when Marjorie, the 14 year old daughter, exhibits signs of acute schizophrenia. At first, they opt to use conventional psychiatry and psychology for treatment, but when her condition worsens, her father John feels that his new found devotion in religion is the key to her health. He believes his daughter is possessed by demons and modern medicine can't help. Merry, the youngest daughter at 8, is just confused. She has no idea what's wrong with her sister and becomes annoyed that no one pays attention to her anymore. The family's lives get turned upside down when they become involved in filming a reality TV show called The Possession about exorcising the demon from their daughter. Is Marjorie really possessed? Is she faking or is she simply mentally ill? A Head Full of Ghosts is a complex book that tells its story in a variety of ways. The story is being told to a best selling author who is writing adult Merry's account of the events. Some scenes are in present day with Merry chatting with the author, but her account is told through the eyes of her eight year old self. Even assuming Merry remembers everything accurately (which she admits she probably isn't) and isn't lying, she doesn't really know everything that happened. She was eight and protected from a lot of what went on behind the scenes and the decision-making processes. Of course she cared for her sister, but after a while simply became annoyed that no one really paid attention to her any longer. No one plays games with her anymore and her boundless energy is now seen as an annoyance since her sister has been sick. When horrible things start happening, Merry is of course terrified but has no idea if her sister is faking, possessed, or mentally ill. All she knows is that Marjorie isn't a fun playmate anymore and has no idea if the things she perceives are real or just imagination heightened by fear. As a result of her sister's situation, Merry's parents are also very different people. Her father John is suddenly devoutly religious and prays for long periods of time. Merry is mostly confused by it because it was never part of her life. Now she feels deficient in her father's eyes and scared of his fervor. The religious leaders that come to supervise and exorcise take complete control. If he's capable of finding such an extreme "solution" to his daughter's problem, what else is he capable of? Her mother Sarah doesn't agree with the religious solution, but she's desperate to find a cure. She isn't happy about the TV show or the exorcism, so she turns to drinking heavily and becoming moody. The TV show portrays her as confused and barely there, but she always tried to keep Merry and Marjorie (to a lesser extent) from being exploited or scared. I found Merry's narrative rings true. She's just a nor...