This Horror Book Broke My Heart...& Mended ItThe September House

[00:00:00]A haunted house book that is creepy, entertaining, funny, and also left me struggling to breathe in just a couple of sentences. That was my experience with The September House by Carissa Orlando. One of the horror books that truly shook me.

[00:00:16]Welcome or welcome back to my channel.

[00:00:18]If you're new here, I'm Chenade and this is my spooky corner of YouTube where I talk about the spooky books that I've read, the spooky films that I've watched, and I share the occasional spooky shenanigan with you. The blood in the elevators is becoming a problem.

[00:00:27]Horror books have a way of terrifying us hopefully, but also sometimes reaching into our chest, pulling out our hearts and showing them to us as if to say all of this horror, you know, it was a huge metaphor for your feelings. I know the audacity. But it's true that every now and then, if you are fortunate, a horror book may come into your life that has the ability to scare and entertain you, but also to really move you in an unexpected way. The power of this genre is to constantly surprise us, confront us with all sorts of things, and every now and then find a little paos and find a little solace in our pages. And one of those books for me was The September House by Cararissa Orlando. The September House is one of my favorite horror books that I have read in recent years. I think it's an excellent haunted house story. I think it does a great job of taking a trope that we feel or we may feel has been done to death and gives it a fresh perspective. I recommend it to people who are looking for a different twist on old tropes. And I also recommend this book to beginners who are just dipping their toe into horror and they don't want anything truly bone shatteringly terrifying. They're not really into a huge amount of gore, but they're ready to be scared and they want a rich layered story beyond just shocking scenes. This was a book that also got me. I have mentioned in passing in previous reviews of the September house that there was a moment in this book that I had to put it down and sit back and catch my breath because it spoke to me in a way that no other book had really done before. So today I am sharing my review of this book and why I think it works so well. And I'm also going to be brutally honest about why this book moved me so much. I will be giving a spoiler-free overview of the book and then I am getting into my analysis of the story. If you are someone who wants to go into a book completely blind, not knowing anything about it, apart from what is on the back of the book in its blurb, then I would recommend saving this video and coming back later when you have read the September house. The latter part of this video will be me sharing very specific, very personal readings and views of this book. I will be sharing little bits about me that maybe you didn't know, but this is all because I want to convey the power that horror has to move us and to sometimes to change us with a truly great story. And there will be trigger warnings for those who need them. If you are someone who doesn't like trigger warnings where horror is concerned, don't read them. Don't listen to them.

[00:02:50]They are there for people who need them.

[00:02:51]And criticizing them is not the big horror flex that you think it is.

[00:02:54]Remember, if you like what you see, if you like what you hear, please do subscribe to my channel, hit the bell, hype this video, do all of the things, and leave a comment below with your own favorite horror book recommendations so I can keep bringing you all of this. The September House is predominantly the story of Margaret. She is our narrator.

[00:03:09]She is our protagonist. We understand that Margaret, a woman in her middle age, has been married to her husband, Hal, for many years, and a few years ago, they bought their dream house.

[00:03:18]Margaret and Hal have an adult daughter, Katherine, who lives elsewhere. So, they are ready to have their retirement in their dream home. But wouldn't you know it, the house is haunted. But here's the twist with the book. The explanation that I just gave you, you would think would be the start of, well, any haunted house book that you've read. We've seen that a million times. Okay, people move into the dream house and then they start to notice things. When we start the September house, Margaret and Hal had been living there for years. Margaret knows about all of the ghosts in her new home. It is a house that shows strange activity through the year, but it ramps up to an absolute crescendo, a cacophony of chaos every September. Hence the name of the September house. Blood runs down the walls, pours out of the taps. There are ghosts that stalk the corridors and in different rooms appear to Margaret.

[00:04:08]And they all look the same way they did when they died. whether they died from an ax through their head, from being disembowled, from being just tormented horribly. Oh, these specters will just suddenly appear. But as I said, the book opens not with this couple discovering all the hauntings. Margaret, it seems, has learned to live with the different ghosts that come with her dream home.

[00:04:28]The issue at the start of the novel is that her husband, Hal, has left. He has decided he cannot take it anymore. We hear from Margaret at the start observing her house, acknowledging the different hauntings that are happening and her in a very kind of unformed, sensible, planning way, thinking about what's going to happen in the house and how she has to prepare for it and also referring to the fact that her husband is not there anymore. She seems set on just getting on with things as usual.

[00:04:55]But then her daughter Katherine calls.

[00:04:57]She has not been able to get hold of their father and Margaret has to reveal that he has not been there for around a month and she doesn't really know where he is. He's disappeared. Catherine is horrified by this news and starts asking all the questions of her mother to say, "Well, where is he and why did he leave?" And her mother has been hiding the fact that she lives in a haunted house and can't reveal to her daughter, "Well, uh, he left because blood pours down the walls and I see spirits every day." Her vague replies as she scrabbles for a logical explanation as to what is happening in the house do not satisfy Katherine. Katherine immediately says that she is boarding a plane. She is coming down to see her mother and they're going to find out where her father is. And this poses a terrible dilemma for Margaret. Margaret has been able to keep people out of the house to keep it just her and Hal. And now he is gone. What happens when Katherine arrives? How can she protect her from seeing all of the hauntings, all of the horrors that take place in the house?

[00:05:51]particularly as it's now September. At the same time, Margaret starts to reveal to us the story behind her own family, her own story about her relationship with Hal, her relationship with Catherine. What has happened in their past that led them to this haunted house? What are the secrets that they have all been keeping from each other?

[00:06:12]And why doesn't Margaret just leave her haunted house? That is the overview of the September house that you would get from the blurb of this book or any quick descriptions that you would get of it online. To go a little further into it, this is a haunted house tale for sure where you are witnessing alongside Margaret apparent hauntings, terrible visions, moments of real fear, moments of threat, moments of funny domestic just normality as Margaret is living in this house with ghosts. some of whom are quite friendly, some of whom are quite helpful cuz they're stuck in this house, and others that are absolutely determined to mess up her day. You've got ghosts that are really gruesome, that are disembowled and have stuff falling out of them that are horrible visual images and also a malevolent presence in the house, allegedly down in the basement. The house has a history, a backstory that will be explored the further you go into the tale. Really, it's got the setting and it's got all the tropes of your classic haunted house story. But what this book does is offer a fresh perspective rather than having people experiencing hauntings for the first time and being completely worried about no one's going to believe me.

[00:07:22]These terrible things are happening. How do we escape? How do we get out? You have the perspective of someone who has decided to live with it. Someone who has moved into a haunted house. And rather than going, "Never mind what a great deal it is. Let's run for the hills.

[00:07:36]Let's protect our family." We have Margaret who is going, "No, this is my house. This is my dream house. And if it's haunted, well, fine. I'll put up with it." This is a book that's less about why does someone stay in a haunted house? It is more about how do you survive in a haunted house for years, not just the night, not just one spooky occasion. How do you live with ghosts?

[00:08:03]Underneath the story of a haunted house is also a story about relationships. At first, we think we're going to spend this book peeling away the wallpaper of the house to find out what is the story underneath it. And certainly, that is an element of the plot, but it is really about pulling away the layers of Margaret's story. I went into September House expecting it to be a little bit of a twist on a haunted house tale. And certainly, the opening of it was enough to sell me that Margaret, our protagonist, had been living there for years. I loved that idea about the book.

[00:08:31]In most of the cases with haunted house stories, you have people entering the property and then being absolutely terrified by the shock of what's happening and then spending most of their time trying to convince people that what is happening in the house is real and why don't they believe them?

[00:08:46]They they need to tell people about all of these horrible things or proving that ghosts exist. This is a completely different starting point because Margaret has been in the house for 4 years and she absolutely from her perspective knows that these ghosts are there. She's no interest in getting anyone to believe her. Margaret introduces us to the various ghosts and horrors in the house without drama and your spine tingling and absolutely this sense of tension and dread. She describes them as part of going through her daytoday life. her observations of seeing the different ghosts, of the blood on the wall, of the strange sounds, of the stuff that she has just gotten used to. And it's a great way of introducing all of this horror to you in a kind of a funny passive, oh, oh, this is just happening kind of way. Margaret is in control of her household. She's obviously got living here down to a tea.

[00:09:41]And the thing that she reveals from the beginning is that she follows certain rules to make sure that the house stays pretty calm, that she does not exacerbate or annoy or antagonize any of the spirits or any of the ghosts that are in there. If you just follow the rules of the house, you'll be fine.

[00:09:57]You'll be fine. And it's a great nod to all of the stupid things that happen in haunted house stories. You know, when you watch a horror movie, like don't go down into the basement. That's a rule.

[00:10:10]You know, we're quoting scream here as well, but don't go down into the basement. Don't go and bother the ghosts in there. Don't start screaming and running around. She's just like, if you just do all of this, the ghost won't bother you. Like they're like they're spiders. Like there's spiders. There's lots of references to spiders actually in the book as well, but just it won't bother you if you don't bother it. And that creates one of the lovely selling points of this book as well is that it's funny. It's quietly witty and funny because you just have this ridiculous scene of domesticity in the house of Margaret just just going through her rules and just living with all of this horror that is around her. But she's like, "Look, if you just calm down and just do what I say, you'll be fine. Stop panicking everyone." She goes through domestic ts and deals with other people momentarily scatty sometimes forgetting what she's doing because she's got to keep so many plates spinning in the air and she does feel relatable in that sense. There is a clarity of her voice.

[00:11:07]It's great to see an older female protagonist at the heart of this story and to see how she is treated, how she is written off by certain people who want to just kind of go, "Oh, just cuz you're an older woman, maybe maybe you're not in charge of your faculties."

[00:11:20]and her kind of behind the scenes of like you have no idea what I have been putting up with. It is humorous. It's lighter as well as being really really dark underneath it. To me, that was enough of a selling point, a great setup to see how does someone live in a haunted house. And I was ready to laugh at it and I did. Catherine's appearance in the house creates that sense of tension in a really nice, neat, succinct way that works on several levels.

[00:11:45]Catherine is the daughter. It is implied that they haven't necessarily been talking as much as they should have done. And you have this great bickering between Katherine and Margaret. Margaret who is passive and is is a cater is a people pleaser certainly. But trying to insist on her daughter. Look, I know what I'm doing. Please don't come.

[00:12:02]Please don't come. Trust me. I can't tell you why, but but also please trust me as your mother, as the parent, as a grown-up. I know what I'm doing. But then the daughter, the younger person, protective but also thinking, "Look, what this needs is my forthright attitude that you're too passive. I will come and sort this out." The child trying to parent the parent saying, "Look, you don't know what you're doing because you're older." Whereas Margaret's like, "I've been managing this fine for years, but okay, fine.

[00:12:30]Doesn't want to confront or upset her daughter." The dialogue is well written, but it's expositional. You know, you are getting out all the tension that has been, you know, covered up for years. It absolutely works those those scenes between them. I found that relationship dynamic very true. I think a lot of people would read it recognize themselves or recognize others in that interplay and it gets you tense as well because you do feel right is is Catherine about to be haunted to death by all of these things in the house but also poses that question is Margaret really in control and is the house really haunted you know with any haunted house you might be thinking is it all in someone's mind is it all a fantasy is this all stuff that really is it all happening and Maybe Margaret does need some outside help cuz she seems like she's been handling things on her own for a while, but she's been handling a haunted house. That's ridiculous. The whole book is a play on the horror movie dad trope of we can't leave this house because it's our dream home. No, no, no.

[00:13:27]Let's just stay a night. No, Margaret has absolutely dug her heels in and gone, "Yeah, no, I'm I'm not leaving."

[00:13:31]While this is a richly layered story about relationships, about family, about who is haunted and what is haunted and living with the horrors and surviving them, the horror elements in it are really effective. I thought the descriptions of the ghosts were brilliant. I really found them upsetting and unsettling in parts. It was very vivid. You really got this sense of this this real house of kind of kooky horrors in some respects and some very frightening stuff that happens in there as well. There are moments when the horror ramps up in this book and it shows the author's skill at being able to write inventive horror for all of their skill with the family dynamics with the psychology behind it with all of the meaning and the emotional side of the story of Margaret of Katherine of Hal. You also have a writer who can absolutely nail it when it comes to creating terrifying visuals on the page.

[00:14:24]The structure of September house is also very very strong in my opinion. While you are following this kind of standard haunted house story, let's not say that this is the most inventive original take on a haunted house because it is following the same sort of narrative structure that we will have seen in other horror books out there. It's just that it's a different perspective and that's what gives it its unique flavor.

[00:14:47]What does this look like from a victim's perspective who has been there for a while that is established that has been living in this state of a kind of an equilibrium if you want to call that they have invented their own peace but the disruption of the equilibrium here is not the ghost is not the the horrifying the traditional horrifying bits it's other people interfering it's the appearance of other human beings it's human input that creates the disruption in this weird state that we start the book with of this woman living seemingly happily in a haunted house, but what happens when other people interfere and go, "Well, that's not right. You you can't live in a haunted house." The mood of the book mirrors Margaret's state of mind and the fact that she is just sort of trying to stay steady and calm and follow rules because she doesn't want disruption. She does not want things to escalate for various reasons. It was really interesting to me that the backstory of the house was so gently revealed because in other books you might, you know, it would be the forefront, the center point of like we need to uncover the mystery of the house. Whereas with Margaret, she's clearly done bits of research in the past, but she is just focused on whatever that is. Okay, fine. Fine. I I just want to live here. I just want peace. the ghosts that you have in the house. Some of them are pretty grim to look at and are ghoullishly described, but others are sort of kind of adorable and cozy. You have Frederica, who is a housekeeper who is stuck in the house because she was killed there with an axe to the head. So, she has a gash through her skull that Margaret can see every time she sees her. But the housekeeper is constantly trying to do housekeepery things, but she was killed many decades ago, so is not comfortable using modern appliances. is constantly trying to make tea, is helping to make dinner, is just sort of walking around and trying to find tasks, and is often more of a hindrance than a help. But Margaret's just like, you know what, fine, fine.

[00:16:47]It's just it's just easy enough for her to get on with it. There were moments where I felt you can't help but laugh at this situation because it's unbelievable.

[00:16:57]Ghosts are haunted house by nature. It's supposed to be unbelievable. And so being inside this haunted house where someone is actually not asking to be believed is just trying to keep it all under wraps gives you that farcical feel of just how did we get here? This is mad that she's trying to keep everyone quiet. Trying to keep a bunch of ghosts.

[00:17:16]Sh, don't come out while my daughter's here. It does give you that levity because it is ridiculous. But the fact that it's unbelievable just adds more weight to the story as well because this is a story that is about what we choose to believe and how that changes us and what we want others to believe about us and the faces that we show to try and make people believe a certain thing.

[00:17:43]Margaret is an excellent protagonist even though she is an unreliable narrator at parts. You start to notice the way she uses certain language and the certain things she says in the pros when it's being described to you about what's happened in the past, what's happening then and there in the present and you get to understand that I'm I'm on your side, Margaret, but I don't feel like this is the whole story. We are now getting into slightly more spoilerish territory where we're discussing some of the themes of the book. I will give a trigger warning at this point. This is a book that delves into abusive relationships. It includes domestic abuse and it includes alcoholism. The September house is Margaret's story through and through, not only of how she has survived in her house with all of the ghosts in there, but how she has survived her marriage and her relationship with Hal. She has a reliance on rules for surviving the house because she's also had to develop rules for surviving life as well. that she has had rules that she has followed for a very long time within her personal life. And this is the thing that is the thread through the story is that if you follow the rules, you can survive. What starts off as a seemingly silly, funny, kooky idea of a middle-aged woman of like, here's how to survive a haunted house. Here are the rules for survival are built on a foundation of trauma, of pain, of true survival instinct.

[00:19:10]surviving a haunted house is small fry compared to what you have endured. It's a sort of story that again could be very heavy-handed, could be melodramatic, but with Margaret as our narrator, and as I said, she is slightly unreliable. That's not to say that she's a negative narrator, but she is unreliable because it is her versions of events that she is presenting to us, the reader, to the world, that she is explaining all the way through that living in a haunted house is just a case of following the rules. And then you suddenly see her language about the house is mirrored on what she's referring to in her relationship. She uses the same words about her relationship and her past with Hal. And we have these scenes unfolding of how Hal became verbally and then physically abusive. What Margaret did to survive that. how she managed her relationship with Hal and how she tried to protect Catherine. Amidst the mystery of the house, of these hauntings, you have this story unfolding of seeing a woman who has lived for years in a situation she should never have been in that she should never have had to endure. And then suddenly you go, okay, well, the haunted house really is a metaphor for this one. And it is a welcome metaphor. It is a message that is it the most obscure in the world? I mean, you know, people have attempted to put it in there before, but I personally loved the way that this message was conveyed in the September house. I never felt at any point it was reaching for melodrama. It was trying to be a big kind of wow factor and overly dramatic with this gentle humor and this gentle quiet pacivity that we have with Margaret, if that is the right word, that Margaret is just sort of revealing that feeling of this is what you do to endure. This is what you do to survive.

[00:21:02]It's so rare, I've certainly found, in horror books where you see the perspective of a victim, unfortunately, of trauma, of showing their survival instinct long term. While some of the conversations and interplays in the book are on the nose, you know, they're they're pretty there we go. Okay, we're going to get all our feelings out.

[00:21:21]Margaret as a character, she is quiet and she is trying to hold everything together. She felt more genuine for anyone who has ever seen someone react to trauma with I'm just going to I just don't want to talk about it. I just don't want to have to confront it. I know what I'm doing. Please leave me alone. Please let me get on with this. I have worked out how to live with this.

[00:21:43]And that is what you get from Margaret.

[00:21:45]Why do you stay in a haunted house? Why are you staying? Becomes the story of Margaret literally being asked why did you stay? And this isn't a story of why do these people stay? It is a story of this is how we survive. The book is very affecting when you understand that this is a story about a survivor and a survivor who has obviously been in these situations where they feel it is their responsibility to hold everything together to feel like they are the ones who have to survive, who have to endure, they have to be the strong one. There's a great deal of anger and distress on the pages and the the distress that clearly Margaret has been holding in on herself for years is brilliantly manifested through the various ghosts and the horrors and everything that happens in September house. As we got to the climax of the book, I felt with Margaret that I didn't really care if it was real or not. I felt for Margaret. I could see completely how she could have manifested all of the horrors in this house. And I could also see that she could have lived with actual genuine horrors whether they were real or not.

[00:22:54]And you do get an answer by the end of the book. As opposed to Margaret desperately trying to stay calm and trying to pleate and manage a situation.

[00:23:03]Katherine, her daughter, represents a lot of the rage that we have had hints from from her father that she is an angry person and we also understand that she's having problems in her personal life and that fear sort of comes through is you know are there patterns of behavior being repeated but also shows that for everything that Margaret has tried to do to protect her daughter. She still was aware of what was going on.

[00:23:26]Margaret thought that she was keeping it all secret. No one would be affected as long as she managed all the pain of it.

[00:23:32]You see the folly of what Margaret has set up for herself. Again, as an unreliable narrator of her completely convinced that her system and her rules are the way forward, are the best thing for everyone concerned. We know that that's not true. Rules don't work like that. That it's not her fault. It was never her fault or responsibility to come up with these things. the rules that we hang on to and believe believe that this this will work. It can seem to other people as ridiculous as saying I believe in ghosts. We are constantly presented in the book with this image of the house and people saying no one should have to survive this. No one should have to live like this. But that in regards to the horror is something that Margaret has been hearing and feeling for years. Her attitude is very much no but I have to well there's no choice I have to even though there is a choice she is just so in a place where she feels it is survivable so I will survive so it's okay she's surviving not thriving that is not living it is merely surviving you are the voice shouting why do you stay that's what people ask about haunted houses and people unfortunately say that to survivors of domestic abuse why did you stay that shouldn't be a question that was asked because those people will go. I had to survive. The metaphors that are being drawn in this may seem obvious. You know, when you take a horror story and you sort of say, you know, the horror is actually a metaphor for trauma, for grief, and all these things. It seems so painfully obvious, but there's nothing wrong with sharing those kind of sentiments. The ending of this book in particular, excellent. I loved the choice that was made at the end of this. I wasn't sure.

[00:25:19]I was all set up for One Direction. I was like, "Okay, okay, interesting." And then, woo, right, okay, good, good, good. That's my overview of the September house. But I did promise you a little personal segment here. I wanted to take a moment to convey why I think the September house is a very, very moving and very good haunted house book.

[00:25:42]And that does involve me sharing a little bit about myself. This is the emotional attachment I have to the book.

[00:25:47]And if you find that interesting, if you find it helpful, if you find it cathartic, listen away. You do not have to watch this section or listen to it at all. If you felt that you didn't want a book to be colored by someone else's personal take on it and very personal reaction to it. If you haven't read the book, maybe come back later, see if you agree. So, just forewarning, I am going to be talking about the elements of domestic abuse and alcoholism that runs through this book. I have said in previous reviews that there was a moment when listening to The September House because I listened to it on audio. I have the hard copy here that I had to turn off the book. I stopped it and I sat back. I remember sitting back and taking a breath because I had read on the page something that I hadn't seen in any other book to date. I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, but a sentiment was expressed in this book in regards to toxic relationships, in regards to being unfortunately a victim in one of those circumstances that really got to me because it described a thought process that I thought I had been alone in for many years. Through the story of the haunted house, we also get Margaret's story of her past with Hal. and Hal has been violent to her, has been emotionally abusive, and had a serious drinking problem that resulted in several DUIs. Within the book, we understand that Margaret took the decision at one point to send Katherine away. She takes this decision because she is fearful that Hal is going to attack the daughter, that he's going to hit her. She sees one instance where his anger flares up. Margaret feels that she has protected her daughter up until this point that there has been this rule between her and Hal that Katherine is to be left out of his anger that his drinking whatever happens should be directed at Margaret and not the teenage girl. Through the book we get chapters from Margaret detailing and revealing what her past has been like with Hal of how the abuse manifested and how it starts. It's not particularly graphic.

[00:27:51]It is not drawn out. It is told Margaret as our protagonist is quite matterof fact in her delivery and her words are always broken up even when she's referring to the worst things of her saying but it's okay. I survived. I'm okay. These lines are peppered in with sentiments from Margaret along the lines of it was my fault really or but I'm okay now and it's it's survivable. It was fine. I learned a new rule. all of these explanations she's giving to seemingly reassure the reader in the same way that she will do when talking to Katherine to just constantly be like, "But it's okay. It's not as bad as you think it is." And we as the reader can step back and go, "It is that bad. It is." Cararissa Orlando has a background in psychology as I understand it. And that really shows in the text of this book because there are bits, it doesn't seem like overly therapized speech, but there's patterns of speech from Margaret that you recognize as someone who has clearly been in a controlling relationship, has been in such a controlling relationship that they are paring off certain phrases that they have just had to learn to live by. I was reading chapter 17 of this book, which starts and the chapter starts, there are rules to these things. Everything is survivable. And this is where Margaret shares a bit more about the rules that she devised to survive her relationship with Hal, to survive her marriage. And in the chapter, she says most of the rules are no big deal at all. They were fine. They were fine. Things like, "Don't go into Hal's office or touch his things. Don't contradict or disagree with him." As much as can be helped anyway. She has to let him know wherever she is. She has to text him if she goes out several times. She can't talk to other men. She can't talk to her sister.

[00:29:39]And you see this pattern of clearly she is being cut off. What would happen when Hal gets angry and the pattern of behavior of him being very remorseful and very sorry. But the cycle continues and her acknowledging the cycle. But this was the passage that got to me. And the paragraph starts, mind you, it wasn't all difficult. There were good times. Times when things were peaceful and everyone got along. She describes when they have friends over, when they go for ice cream, when they've occasionally had a weekend away once or twice, when he's nice to her, all these things that should be the bare minimum, but these are the beacons. When they lasted for a while, it was almost enough to make me think I'd solved it, that I'd finally figured out the right combination of behaviors to keep everything happy, blissful. Of course, nothing lasts forever. That's just the cyclical nature of it all. However, if the rules were followed, the good times could last longer.

[00:30:36]Yeah, that segment was the bit where I turned off the audio book and I sat back and I gasped because reading that book and reading up until that point, I empathize with Margaret. I don't mind sharing that I was previously I was previously in a in a quite an emotionally manipulative relationship thankfully not physical but I also grew up in a family environment involving alcoholism and lived with that as a child with a family member who I loved very very much but it was not easy and not pleasant. Reading the September house did affect me personally because it is profiling this haunted house, but you have this character who is an alcoholic and who is abusive and you get Margaret's perspective, the family member, the person who isn't in the throws of addiction, but has to deal with it and has to manage it. And I have been there. I understood that process. I understood the thought process that Margaret reveals through the book of the rules and the rules suddenly came into glaring focus in that chapter. In listening to that bit, I realized that I had done the same thing. I think a lot of people could possibly relate as well.

[00:31:50]I remember being a child, being younger, and feeling like if I did things in a certain way, if I did, if I was good, if I did certain things, then the bad things wouldn't happen.

[00:32:06]Then if I was okay, I could be strong enough to help the person who was suffering, who couldn't be strong enough, and that person unquestionably was suffering, was going through awful things that I I personally could never understand because I was not them. They were also making decisions and they also were not accepting responsibility. They were also blaming everyone else apart from them for their problems. And that should never have been something that a child and my sibling as well that another should never have had to shoulder that responsibility that if you live by rules for someone else's action that it will be okay. If you follow the rules the good times can last. Her following the rules is going to make it easier for the person who is destroying their happiness, their family, who is making decisions as as much as they can be in a turmoil. And addiction is a terrible, terrible thing that should be understood. I later was in a relationship where the same sort of thing happened where I felt that I was made to feel that I had some responsibility, a lot of responsibility, that I had to do all of these things to preserve the gentle peace of this person who was chaos personified. And it hit me in the chest. I sat back and I felt seen. I felt like, "Oh god, okay." You don't often get that clarity of perspective that is so relatable, showing what it's like for the person on the outside dealing with the person with the addiction, the the abusive person, the the chaos, the person who is chaos, what it is like for that person to try and maintain that calm. You know, often that we get in stories with these different kinds of characters, it is a blowup. It's a row. It's it's fighting for survival in a different way. It's never just that steady feeling of I have to do these things to survive that absolutely radiates through the September house for me that perspective of someone who is just trying to survive and keep the calm. And the huge caveat here is that you know hearing that story hearing the the excerpt that I read out in the book may make you think oh my god that's bleak. This is still such a funny entertaining story and that's why I love the book so much. It goes to show that you don't have to be so completely der and melodramatic to make these kinds of points to read about something and to empathize and actually feel, oh my god, you got me in a funny book. And that is the power of horror. I was able to read something that was so deeply effective and that I resonated with me that was from a difficult time in my life amidst an entertaining book and I was able to draw comparisons and understand those feelings more in the context of a great big ghost story. The metaphors that were made and all of those kind of analogies that are in the book about ghosts and about being haunted and what's you know what's horrific and all of these things that others might go well that's a little bit obvious isn't it? It's like yeah I needed to read that. I needed to see that that allowed me to access my feelings in a safe way. I wanted to share a slice of my personal reading of The September House. Maybe it will resonate with people and hopefully it would convince you to read the book and maybe you would find it cathartic. The September house is beloved by many horror fans. It is a good haunted house book. It is entertaining. It is funny.

[00:35:27]It has great moments of horror in it and it has something to say. It did resonate with me that little bit extra for reasons that I have explained, but I think it is a good modern twist on a trope that has been done to death seemingly. I loved the change in perspective that it offered and I loved all the challenges and questions that that shift in perspective gave the reader. I liked the way it made you question the validity of the protagonist of Margaret herself. Made us look at Katherine in different ways. made us look at all of the activity in the house with a slightly different lens. We may feel like we have gone to every haunted house ever and we have read every story and we have trod the same corridors and the same tried and tested methods of trying to work out what is going on. But September house just gave a shift for me. It just tilted me on my access to look at it just from a different angle and gave me a renewed enjoyment of this genre. Have you read The September House by Cararissa Orlando? Did you love it?

[00:36:32]Were you moved by it? Were you scared by it? Did you hate it? Do you have a different perspective? Is there a horror book that you would always recommend to people because of the effect that it had on you? Whether that is scaring you to near death, really moving you, making you cry, making you laugh, really giving you an overwhelming feeling of God, I love horror. Let me know in the comments your favorite books, your perspective on the September house if you wish. And is there a haunted house book that you think absolutely flipped the genre on its head? Thank you for watching and stay spooky. Bye-bye.