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The Grief Hole
There are many grief holes.
There's the grief hole you fall into when a loved one dies.
There's another grief hole in all of us; small or large, it determines how much we want to live.
And there are the places, the physical grief holes, which attract suicides to their centre.
Sol Evictus, a powerful, charismatic singer, sends a young artist into The Grief Hole to capture the faces of the teenagers dying there. When she inevitably dies herself, her cousin Theresa resolves to stop this man so many love.
Theresa sees ghosts; she knows how you'll die by the spirits haunting you. If you'll drown, she'll see drowned people. Most often she sees battered women, because she works to find emergency housing for abused women.
She sees no ghosts around Sol Evictus but she doesn't let that stop her. Her passion to help, to be a saint, drives her to find a way to destroy him.
“The Grief Hole, like all Kaaron Warren’s horror fiction, has a particular nightmare flavour. On one level it’s a pure, anguished howl against the exploitation and abuse of the powerless. On another it’s like The Slap with added bamboo under the fingernails. Ghosts weep and grotesques loom against a cruelly barren, detritus-littered suburban background. You wouldn’t trust half these characters as far as you could throw them, and the other half you wouldn’t want to be. But beneath their machinations runs a continuous trickle of laughter so faint it might be pity, it might be inky tears. You can’t help but follow them, full of dread, into the darkness.”
– Margo Lanagan, best selling author and prize winner in speculative fiction
“It takes a writer of Kaaron Warren’s talent and imagination to unflinchingly convey the horrors of the real world. The Grief Hole is one of the most effective and affecting ghost stories I’ve ever read.”
– Jeffrey Ford, multiple international award-winning fantasy author
“Kaaron Warren’s THE GRIEF HOLE is a powerhouse of a novel; creepy, disturbing, and genuinely moving. Theresa’s interventions and, of course, the devastating aftermaths will haunt you long after you finish this book.”
– Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock
There's the grief hole you fall into when a loved one dies.
There's another grief hole in all of us; small or large, it determines how much we want to live.
And there are the places, the physical grief holes, which attract suicides to their centre.
Sol Evictus, a powerful, charismatic singer, sends a young artist into The Grief Hole to capture the faces of the teenagers dying there. When she inevitably dies herself, her cousin Theresa resolves to stop this man so many love.
Theresa sees ghosts; she knows how you'll die by the spirits haunting you. If you'll drown, she'll see drowned people. Most often she sees battered women, because she works to find emergency housing for abused women.
She sees no ghosts around Sol Evictus but she doesn't let that stop her. Her passion to help, to be a saint, drives her to find a way to destroy him.
“The Grief Hole, like all Kaaron Warren’s horror fiction, has a particular nightmare flavour. On one level it’s a pure, anguished howl against the exploitation and abuse of the powerless. On another it’s like The Slap with added bamboo under the fingernails. Ghosts weep and grotesques loom against a cruelly barren, detritus-littered suburban background. You wouldn’t trust half these characters as far as you could throw them, and the other half you wouldn’t want to be. But beneath their machinations runs a continuous trickle of laughter so faint it might be pity, it might be inky tears. You can’t help but follow them, full of dread, into the darkness.”
– Margo Lanagan, best selling author and prize winner in speculative fiction
“It takes a writer of Kaaron Warren’s talent and imagination to unflinchingly convey the horrors of the real world. The Grief Hole is one of the most effective and affecting ghost stories I’ve ever read.”
– Jeffrey Ford, multiple international award-winning fantasy author
“Kaaron Warren’s THE GRIEF HOLE is a powerhouse of a novel; creepy, disturbing, and genuinely moving. Theresa’s interventions and, of course, the devastating aftermaths will haunt you long after you finish this book.”
– Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock
323 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 6, 2016
12 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Kaaron Warren
153 books195 followersI wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and wrote my first proper short story at 14. I also wrote a novel that year, called “Skin Deep”‘, which I really need to type up.
I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 150 short stories, seven short story collections and six novels.
I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.
I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 150 short stories, seven short story collections and six novels.
I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 26, 2017
Without a doubt, this is a superb and indeed powerful novel whatever genre you want to place it in. I hesitate to call it a Horror novel (though it is), because that incorrectly evokes certain responses in some people, who will incorrectly assume it is generic and gorily sensationalistic. Believe me, you have never read anything quite like this. Is it disturbing? Yes, but in a thoughtful way as the best literature often is. It creates a transcendent metaphor for emotions that affect us all. The writing is evocative, concise and carefully paced to make us follow the characters into a dark place before we realise what is happening and force us to feel it and then think about it. The book is literary without being self-conscious, the characters real and the emotions profound. I highly recommend it.
August 28, 2016
One of the most brilliant and disturbing books I've ever read. Period.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
September 23, 2016
Well, I've just read the book that's going to sweep the horror awards this year, and maybe many other awards too. A truly disturbing, yet poignant and beautiful piece of work. This is Kaaron Warren at her best. Beautiful, tragic, powerful. Just brilliant.
December 14, 2016
This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. There were a lot of trigger points for me and it required a few sessions to get through.
The imagery is stunning and the characters are vivid. Genre-busting and broad in scope, it will amaze and shock you.
Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I was a proofreader for this book for the publisher.
The imagery is stunning and the characters are vivid. Genre-busting and broad in scope, it will amaze and shock you.
Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I was a proofreader for this book for the publisher.
January 17, 2018
‘She could reinvent herself.’
Theresa sees ghosts. The ghosts that Theresa sees are the ghosts that haunt you, the ghosts which indicate how you are going to die. Mostly Theresa sees the ghosts of battered women: she works to find emergency housing for women in crisis. And how close the ghosts are gives an indication of how soon death might come. Theresa helps where she can, but one of her interventions leads to her being injured. Theresa, still grieving from losing the love of her life, moves from her home and job. She moves to be with her aunt and uncle, who’ve lost a daughter to suicide.
Grief is personal; it is both physical and psychic. In this novel, Ms Warren constructs a world in which grief has its own momentum. Theresa tries to recover her cousin’s art for her art and uncle. This takes her on a harrowing journey, into a physical grief hole from which few escape. Along the way, Theresa meets Sol Evictus. He’s a charismatic singer, loved by many. So why does Theresa think he needs to be destroyed? And, given that Theresa can see no ghosts around him, how can he be destroyed?
Ms Warren has written a novel which takes me into some horrible spaces, with no real confidence that there is any light in the tunnel. How can Theresa triumph against such evil? It seems like Sol Evictus is untouchable (except on his own terms). I kept reading: is this horror with lashings of fantasy, or vice versa? Does it really matter? While I’m hoping that Theresa will triumph, that various family secrets will be explained, and that her aunt and uncle will find peace, I’m thinking about the many and varied manifestations of grief.
The book’s artwork, by Keely Van Order, is perfect.
The novel ended. My thinking about it continues. I can see why this novel has won a number of awards, including the top fiction award at the 2017 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards, and Best Novel at the 2017 Ditmar Awards. I suspect I need to add Ms Warren’s other novels to my reading list. Powerful, disturbing, recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Theresa sees ghosts. The ghosts that Theresa sees are the ghosts that haunt you, the ghosts which indicate how you are going to die. Mostly Theresa sees the ghosts of battered women: she works to find emergency housing for women in crisis. And how close the ghosts are gives an indication of how soon death might come. Theresa helps where she can, but one of her interventions leads to her being injured. Theresa, still grieving from losing the love of her life, moves from her home and job. She moves to be with her aunt and uncle, who’ve lost a daughter to suicide.
Grief is personal; it is both physical and psychic. In this novel, Ms Warren constructs a world in which grief has its own momentum. Theresa tries to recover her cousin’s art for her art and uncle. This takes her on a harrowing journey, into a physical grief hole from which few escape. Along the way, Theresa meets Sol Evictus. He’s a charismatic singer, loved by many. So why does Theresa think he needs to be destroyed? And, given that Theresa can see no ghosts around him, how can he be destroyed?
Ms Warren has written a novel which takes me into some horrible spaces, with no real confidence that there is any light in the tunnel. How can Theresa triumph against such evil? It seems like Sol Evictus is untouchable (except on his own terms). I kept reading: is this horror with lashings of fantasy, or vice versa? Does it really matter? While I’m hoping that Theresa will triumph, that various family secrets will be explained, and that her aunt and uncle will find peace, I’m thinking about the many and varied manifestations of grief.
The book’s artwork, by Keely Van Order, is perfect.
The novel ended. My thinking about it continues. I can see why this novel has won a number of awards, including the top fiction award at the 2017 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards, and Best Novel at the 2017 Ditmar Awards. I suspect I need to add Ms Warren’s other novels to my reading list. Powerful, disturbing, recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
August 29, 2016
Kaaron Warren’s writing is wonderful. I always enjoy her short fiction and the one novel of hers I read,
Mistification
, was absolutely amazing. Warren always manages to create complexly layered, strangely weird stories that are genuinely creepy, and utterly compelling. Her latest novel The Grief Hole, out from IGFW Publishing last week, is no different. It’s an intense story looking at grief in all forms, featuring a heroine who is at once sympathetic and somewhat off-putting.
At times it felt as if the novel itself couldn’t make up its mind about Theresa. While she is introduced as an inveterate do-gooder, mockingly named Saint Theresa by friends and family alike, at points in the narrative she is also shown to derive a certain twisted pleasure from working with the battered women she encounters as a social worker. She gains validation and the self-satisfaction of knowing herself to be a “good” person, especially in cases where she “intervenes”. She has built her identity by being a helper—if she can’t help, she’s lost. In a way, Theresa is as much an emotional parasite as Sol Evictus is; they both need others’ despair to function. Theresa wrestles with the knowledge of this and tries to stay on the right side of the line, because she is a good person and wants to do the best she can. Her arc in the novel isn’t as much about her grief as it is about finding the balance between her desire to help, her gift of seeing ghosts, and the ruthless side of her nature that allows her to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals—the side that her Aunt Prudence calls her monster.
Theresa’s gift is that she sees ghosts. Specifically, she sees the way a person will die; the clearer the ghosts, the closer the death. She feels a responsibility to her charges to sometimes intervene and save them from their faith, by making sure that the cause of their death, usually their spouse, is removed. However, things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem and everything ends badly. Theresa isn’t the only one in her family to have a gift. In fact, her mother’s side of the family is rife with gifted people. The one exception in the novel being her Uncle Scott, who confesses envy of his sister’s gift and his lack places him outside the family. It did make me wonder whether Amber did inherit a gift and whether this was in part what determined her fate. The gifts are an additional complication to a complicated family history that sheds light on different ways of grieving: Scott and Courtney’s drinking, Theresa’s emotional locking away of herself, Lynda’s constant hostility, and Prudence’s whatever it is. These are all ways of trying to cope with a shattering loss, of trying to ignore the pain, and perhaps not-so-coincidentally preventing themselves from moving on.
Interestingly, there is also a lot of caregiver’s resentment in the book, both from the professionals, like Theresa and her co-worker Raul, and from family members, such as Annie’s mother. Being patient and kind is hard and can be wearying, especially when it feels as if the person being cared for doesn’t ‘listen’. It’s the frustration of seeing someone going back to a bad place, despite knowing it is the wrong thing to do, and the knowledge that they’ll be the ones having to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong, again. There is resentment all around really in The Grief Hole, as we also see Annie being hurt that Scott and Courtney shut her out, and they in their turn are mad at Annie and the rest of Amber’s friends and their parents for staying away. Theresa is angry at her mother for being spiteful and mean and at Tim for being needy and, in her eyes, weak. Despite the emphasis placed by the characters on the importance of being kind and empathetic, most of them have a really hard time with actually being kind and empathetic.
Grief can be expressed in many, many ways— anger, resentment, guilt, despair, depression, resignation, and acceptance. And all of these are reflected in The Grief Hole. The horror in this book is purely psychological, despite Sol Evictus collecting gruesome art and some splatter passages. It is an insidious form of horror, one that gets under your skin and stays with you, leaving you unsettled and wondering why. I was absolutely captivated by The Grief Hole, drawn in until the last page. Kaaron Warren is a fantastic writer, one who should be read by anyone who enjoys horror or the weirdly fantastic.
This book was provided for review by the publisher.
At times it felt as if the novel itself couldn’t make up its mind about Theresa. While she is introduced as an inveterate do-gooder, mockingly named Saint Theresa by friends and family alike, at points in the narrative she is also shown to derive a certain twisted pleasure from working with the battered women she encounters as a social worker. She gains validation and the self-satisfaction of knowing herself to be a “good” person, especially in cases where she “intervenes”. She has built her identity by being a helper—if she can’t help, she’s lost. In a way, Theresa is as much an emotional parasite as Sol Evictus is; they both need others’ despair to function. Theresa wrestles with the knowledge of this and tries to stay on the right side of the line, because she is a good person and wants to do the best she can. Her arc in the novel isn’t as much about her grief as it is about finding the balance between her desire to help, her gift of seeing ghosts, and the ruthless side of her nature that allows her to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals—the side that her Aunt Prudence calls her monster.
Theresa’s gift is that she sees ghosts. Specifically, she sees the way a person will die; the clearer the ghosts, the closer the death. She feels a responsibility to her charges to sometimes intervene and save them from their faith, by making sure that the cause of their death, usually their spouse, is removed. However, things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem and everything ends badly. Theresa isn’t the only one in her family to have a gift. In fact, her mother’s side of the family is rife with gifted people. The one exception in the novel being her Uncle Scott, who confesses envy of his sister’s gift and his lack places him outside the family. It did make me wonder whether Amber did inherit a gift and whether this was in part what determined her fate. The gifts are an additional complication to a complicated family history that sheds light on different ways of grieving: Scott and Courtney’s drinking, Theresa’s emotional locking away of herself, Lynda’s constant hostility, and Prudence’s whatever it is. These are all ways of trying to cope with a shattering loss, of trying to ignore the pain, and perhaps not-so-coincidentally preventing themselves from moving on.
Interestingly, there is also a lot of caregiver’s resentment in the book, both from the professionals, like Theresa and her co-worker Raul, and from family members, such as Annie’s mother. Being patient and kind is hard and can be wearying, especially when it feels as if the person being cared for doesn’t ‘listen’. It’s the frustration of seeing someone going back to a bad place, despite knowing it is the wrong thing to do, and the knowledge that they’ll be the ones having to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong, again. There is resentment all around really in The Grief Hole, as we also see Annie being hurt that Scott and Courtney shut her out, and they in their turn are mad at Annie and the rest of Amber’s friends and their parents for staying away. Theresa is angry at her mother for being spiteful and mean and at Tim for being needy and, in her eyes, weak. Despite the emphasis placed by the characters on the importance of being kind and empathetic, most of them have a really hard time with actually being kind and empathetic.
Grief can be expressed in many, many ways— anger, resentment, guilt, despair, depression, resignation, and acceptance. And all of these are reflected in The Grief Hole. The horror in this book is purely psychological, despite Sol Evictus collecting gruesome art and some splatter passages. It is an insidious form of horror, one that gets under your skin and stays with you, leaving you unsettled and wondering why. I was absolutely captivated by The Grief Hole, drawn in until the last page. Kaaron Warren is a fantastic writer, one who should be read by anyone who enjoys horror or the weirdly fantastic.
This book was provided for review by the publisher.
December 14, 2016
I've read several of Kaaren Warren's books with the Walking Tree being my favourite until this one. I had kept the book for a day when I could read and concentrate and enjoy. Kaaron's writing is unusual and absorbing, keeping you turning the page. I'm also very lucky to be acquainted with Kaaron.
The story is about Theresa, a young woman with a special talent, seeing ghosts that show how people might die and how soon. Her family is different and secretive, some with other talents as similarly unpleasant. She's lost the love of her life and is still grieving and works helping battered women. One of her interventions leads to a severe battering for herself. As a result she leaves her home and work to stay with her Aunt and Uncle who have lost a child to suicide. This move, in turn, leads Theresa on a very unusual investigation of a popular and charismatic entertainer, Sol Evictus and his unorthodox lifestyle.
A horror story, a mystery thriller and a look at grief and all it's manifestations. A fabulous read.
Additionally, the artwork by Keely van Order is fantastic. Not just the cover but several illustrations throughout the book enhance the eeriness of the storyline. Keely is a talented illustrator and the cover art was the professional prizewinner at Conflux 12 in October 2016.
The story is about Theresa, a young woman with a special talent, seeing ghosts that show how people might die and how soon. Her family is different and secretive, some with other talents as similarly unpleasant. She's lost the love of her life and is still grieving and works helping battered women. One of her interventions leads to a severe battering for herself. As a result she leaves her home and work to stay with her Aunt and Uncle who have lost a child to suicide. This move, in turn, leads Theresa on a very unusual investigation of a popular and charismatic entertainer, Sol Evictus and his unorthodox lifestyle.
A horror story, a mystery thriller and a look at grief and all it's manifestations. A fabulous read.
Additionally, the artwork by Keely van Order is fantastic. Not just the cover but several illustrations throughout the book enhance the eeriness of the storyline. Keely is a talented illustrator and the cover art was the professional prizewinner at Conflux 12 in October 2016.
December 20, 2016
A beautifully written, disturbing and surprising novel with two of my favourite things: ghosts and revenge.
December 30, 2016
This book was an amazing read, so well balanced and so finely written. It's not horror. Not that blood curdling kind. It looks at human nature, the evil that people do but with such inventiveness that only Warren can manage. She weaves a story like she weaves her very cool ideas. She examines grief and guilt and how interlinked they are. She exposes the underbelly of gender relations, of aggression and violence. Most of all I thought she ended the story on an optimistic note. I thoroughly recommend this book.
November 13, 2017
This book was way out of my comfort zone
but I gave it a chance.
I was impressed!
Review
but I gave it a chance.
I was impressed!
Review
April 15, 2018
No review or rating until after the Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel 2017 is announced; I received this book as a judge for that category of the Awards.
October 9, 2017
Kaaron Warren is a multi-award-winning author and The Grief Hole shows why. I've held off reading her work for a while, since horror is really not my jam. However, when The Grief Hole was nominated for a Ditmar Award, I knew it was time for me to dive in.
At first glance, the book looks like supernatural horror. Theresa can, after all, see ghosts. These ghosts reflect the way a person is most likely to die.
However, the ghosts are not the scary part.
Although they're keen to gather more of their number, they are ultimately powerless background noise. As the story progresses and Theresa comes to understand things better, they become somewhat more sympathetic.
Instead, what is clear from the start of the novel is that it's about human monsters. The story is divided up into Interventions. These are times when the ghosts around someone are so numerous or otherwise strange that Theresa is prompted to act: to commit some deed that results in death or incarceration for the perpetrator. She's very clear she acts out of a sense of justice, rather than revenge.
However, this doesn't make Theresa a good person by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, we're shown all the ways that Theresa herself is monstrous. She thrives on the suffering of others, often poking at emotional tender points and claiming it's to help. She frames newspaper smeared with blood from her cousin's suicide, looking on it as somehow inspirational. She keeps files of atrocities reported in the media. And she jumps to conclusions about what her ghosts are trying to tell her, acting on information that is sometimes incomplete or incorrect. She shows how good intentions are sometimes self-delusion.
While the ghosts aren't exactly central to the story, I still refused to read this story after dark. The author does a fantastic job of creating an oppressive atmosphere that lingers over the reader as much as the characters. Towards the end, the story took on a dark fairytale resonance, somewhat reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm or the story of Bluebeard. This is enhanced by the characters, some of whom feel otherworldly. Theresa's aunt Prudence is a prime example. Her association with the colour red and the way she always carries balloons with her gives her the feeling of a hallucination, only kept partially at bay by the fact she's visible to people other than Theresa.
I can't say I enjoyed The Grief Hole; it is not a book intended for comfort or enjoyment. However, it is a well-written and thoughtful examination of grief and altruism. It won three major Australian awards this year and most certainly deserves the accolades it has received.
This review first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.
At first glance, the book looks like supernatural horror. Theresa can, after all, see ghosts. These ghosts reflect the way a person is most likely to die.
However, the ghosts are not the scary part.
Although they're keen to gather more of their number, they are ultimately powerless background noise. As the story progresses and Theresa comes to understand things better, they become somewhat more sympathetic.
Instead, what is clear from the start of the novel is that it's about human monsters. The story is divided up into Interventions. These are times when the ghosts around someone are so numerous or otherwise strange that Theresa is prompted to act: to commit some deed that results in death or incarceration for the perpetrator. She's very clear she acts out of a sense of justice, rather than revenge.
However, this doesn't make Theresa a good person by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, we're shown all the ways that Theresa herself is monstrous. She thrives on the suffering of others, often poking at emotional tender points and claiming it's to help. She frames newspaper smeared with blood from her cousin's suicide, looking on it as somehow inspirational. She keeps files of atrocities reported in the media. And she jumps to conclusions about what her ghosts are trying to tell her, acting on information that is sometimes incomplete or incorrect. She shows how good intentions are sometimes self-delusion.
While the ghosts aren't exactly central to the story, I still refused to read this story after dark. The author does a fantastic job of creating an oppressive atmosphere that lingers over the reader as much as the characters. Towards the end, the story took on a dark fairytale resonance, somewhat reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm or the story of Bluebeard. This is enhanced by the characters, some of whom feel otherworldly. Theresa's aunt Prudence is a prime example. Her association with the colour red and the way she always carries balloons with her gives her the feeling of a hallucination, only kept partially at bay by the fact she's visible to people other than Theresa.
I can't say I enjoyed The Grief Hole; it is not a book intended for comfort or enjoyment. However, it is a well-written and thoughtful examination of grief and altruism. It won three major Australian awards this year and most certainly deserves the accolades it has received.
This review first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.
September 18, 2019
Beautifully disturbing, masterfully written, dark as congealed blood but with virtually no gore factor: just the way I like it.
Theresa's story drew me in from the start, but when Sol Evictus appeared I could not stop reading until the end. A day later, I'm still reeling.
Also I now have a tendency to look over my shoulder, wondering how close the ghosts are hovering.
A 5* must-read. Thank you, Kaaron.
Theresa's story drew me in from the start, but when Sol Evictus appeared I could not stop reading until the end. A day later, I'm still reeling.
Also I now have a tendency to look over my shoulder, wondering how close the ghosts are hovering.
A 5* must-read. Thank you, Kaaron.
September 2, 2018
The more I read, what at first felt like stylised yet simple prose was revealed to just be mediocre prose. Characters were bland, their motivations and desires often flip flopping with no real reason, and the books supernatural concepts sort of just flung onto the page as an afterthought. I appreciate what Warren was trying to do, but the quality of the writing just wasn’t there.
But maybe I’m just wrong.
But maybe I’m just wrong.
Read
September 18, 2016Beautifully written and disturbing horror novel that doesn't just fall back on overused tropes. Recommended.
January 5, 2022
Persisted until I couldn’t take it any longer (about 40% of the way through). Terrible writing and not even edited properly. Very frustrating. Do not recommend.
April 7, 2020
Who'd have thought musicians have a dark side?
Theresa helps women find emergency housing. But sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes she has to intervene because she can see ghosts clustering around an imminent victim. After an intervention leaves her battered, she goes to reconnect with her Uncle and Aunt, where she is drawn into the mystery surrounding her lost cousin and her art. Is she strong enough to not be drawn in too far?
This is a tough review for me to write as I haven't actually finished it, yet feel compelled to say something before DNFing.
I bought Kaaron's book almost two years ago and thought it was about damned time I read it. I was immediately drawn in. As much as I hate using the terms "powerful" and "evocative" in book reviews,* I actually think they are apt here. There are some real gut-punch moments that bring you to the world of grief. The list of awards it has won are thus unsurprising.
And of course, this is exactly the time to read such a book...
With the stress of a pandemic, the upheavals to work, the uncertainties of the near future, this was just not the sort of book I could keep reading. This is a compliment to Kaaron, as this book certainly "evokes"* but that is just not what I need right now. I will have to return to finish the last third when real-life feels less like a horror novel.
* There are quite a few buzzwords that appear in book reviews and blurbs that don't really say anything. Powerful? Like a steroid munching Nordic strongman, or a highly effecting and engaging narrative? Evocative? As in the imagination is stirred, or the emotions, or both?
Theresa helps women find emergency housing. But sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes she has to intervene because she can see ghosts clustering around an imminent victim. After an intervention leaves her battered, she goes to reconnect with her Uncle and Aunt, where she is drawn into the mystery surrounding her lost cousin and her art. Is she strong enough to not be drawn in too far?
This is a tough review for me to write as I haven't actually finished it, yet feel compelled to say something before DNFing.
I bought Kaaron's book almost two years ago and thought it was about damned time I read it. I was immediately drawn in. As much as I hate using the terms "powerful" and "evocative" in book reviews,* I actually think they are apt here. There are some real gut-punch moments that bring you to the world of grief. The list of awards it has won are thus unsurprising.
And of course, this is exactly the time to read such a book...
With the stress of a pandemic, the upheavals to work, the uncertainties of the near future, this was just not the sort of book I could keep reading. This is a compliment to Kaaron, as this book certainly "evokes"* but that is just not what I need right now. I will have to return to finish the last third when real-life feels less like a horror novel.
* There are quite a few buzzwords that appear in book reviews and blurbs that don't really say anything. Powerful? Like a steroid munching Nordic strongman, or a highly effecting and engaging narrative? Evocative? As in the imagination is stirred, or the emotions, or both?
November 2, 2017
The premise of a man so powerful and so corrupt and immune to the law, that he plays with and disposes of young lives the way Sol Evictus does, is the real horror in this horror story, because when he wields his power in a charming way, as do many powerful men, people fall for him. And that is what, I think leaves the reader feeling vulnerable. I mean, don't we all see that all around us every day?
The Grief Hole, the house, the crazy great aunt, the sister's unspoken power, it is all nicely creepy.
Theresa, the main character, has her own power issues, but mostly she wants to save people. She struggles occasionally to find her path, and makes a few mistakes, but as a main character, she ultimately leads us through.
The Grief Hole, the house, the crazy great aunt, the sister's unspoken power, it is all nicely creepy.
Theresa, the main character, has her own power issues, but mostly she wants to save people. She struggles occasionally to find her path, and makes a few mistakes, but as a main character, she ultimately leads us through.
July 31, 2017
A haunting descent, Warren takes the reader into a place none of us would ever want to go. If you could see the ghosts of future deaths, and your gift, much as it tortures you, might save a life, would you? If art and grief and death and beauty were all wrapped up in one bloody canvas, could you overcome the ghosts in yourself for the sake of resolution; for the taste of vengeance? If you found yourself in the grip of the grief hole, could you find your way out?
April 11, 2019
Profound, disturbing, beautiful, poignant, stunning, dark, intimate and powerful. The Grief Hole is so well written it draws you in effortlessly and makes you feel like you’re living and breathing it. I’ll write a full review once I’ve had time for it to settle, but until then all I can say is that it’s just brilliant!
May 30, 2019
The pathos and despair in our modern age
Beautifully written, insightful and intensely tragic. But there are always rays of hope. This story is simply amazing, and a testimonial to all of us who have a grief hole.
Beautifully written, insightful and intensely tragic. But there are always rays of hope. This story is simply amazing, and a testimonial to all of us who have a grief hole.
December 25, 2020
Poignant and impactful
An amazing exploration of grief and how it warps and changes us, with just the right amount of bone chilling horror. Warren’s characters are complex and achingly human. Beautiful stuff.
An amazing exploration of grief and how it warps and changes us, with just the right amount of bone chilling horror. Warren’s characters are complex and achingly human. Beautiful stuff.
June 1, 2017
"Each monster has only one way to die. There are no rules. You need to know the monster to kill it…"
At age twenty-four, Theresa was a social worker, helping women to escape abuse. She was described as "a born counsellor", "Saint Theresa". But then she made the decision that landed her in hospital and a client in the morgue. Guilt chases her from her task, because like the protagonist of Warren's first novel, Slights, Theresa is haunted, but not by the ghosts of the dead. Cruelly, she sees the ghosts of those who are not yet dead, whom she may be able to save.
The burden of talent is a strong theme throughout this book. The way the Sight manifests amongst the women of Theresa's family has fractured it, erecting walls where understanding and acceptance were required. But her cousin Amber was an artistic genius, able to express the inner soul of a subject in her paintings. When Theresa goes to work for her uncle, seeking a way to heal, she discovers that the talent that should have brought Amber fame instead brought her to the attention of a predator, a collector with a ghastly gift of his own.
Warren's talent as a writer involves twists of perception. She evokes the utterly familiar and ordinary, even the pleasant, then reveals the horror which was always there, only you could not see it. Or refused to, like the people on the street outside the shelter, as Theresa was stabbed and bashed. Theresa's refusal to look away is driven by an older, worse guilt and possibly by something else--the something that sees her brooding over news clippings of accidents and hideous crimes. If she goes up against this monster, does she risk becoming another victim or something worse?
"They need help and you are the best monster to help them."
To read the rest of this review, please go to http://tabula-rasa.info/AusHorror/Gri...
At age twenty-four, Theresa was a social worker, helping women to escape abuse. She was described as "a born counsellor", "Saint Theresa". But then she made the decision that landed her in hospital and a client in the morgue. Guilt chases her from her task, because like the protagonist of Warren's first novel, Slights, Theresa is haunted, but not by the ghosts of the dead. Cruelly, she sees the ghosts of those who are not yet dead, whom she may be able to save.
The burden of talent is a strong theme throughout this book. The way the Sight manifests amongst the women of Theresa's family has fractured it, erecting walls where understanding and acceptance were required. But her cousin Amber was an artistic genius, able to express the inner soul of a subject in her paintings. When Theresa goes to work for her uncle, seeking a way to heal, she discovers that the talent that should have brought Amber fame instead brought her to the attention of a predator, a collector with a ghastly gift of his own.
Warren's talent as a writer involves twists of perception. She evokes the utterly familiar and ordinary, even the pleasant, then reveals the horror which was always there, only you could not see it. Or refused to, like the people on the street outside the shelter, as Theresa was stabbed and bashed. Theresa's refusal to look away is driven by an older, worse guilt and possibly by something else--the something that sees her brooding over news clippings of accidents and hideous crimes. If she goes up against this monster, does she risk becoming another victim or something worse?
"They need help and you are the best monster to help them."
To read the rest of this review, please go to http://tabula-rasa.info/AusHorror/Gri...
February 19, 2022
A very intense ride. Loved it!
(Edit—Celia crawling back through her goodreads to review/rate five stars the books she’s still thinking about and recommending)
(Edit—Celia crawling back through her goodreads to review/rate five stars the books she’s still thinking about and recommending)
March 28, 2017
Honestly, I am not sure what shelf to file this book under.
From the comments I saw before reading The Grief Hole I kind of expected something dark and horrifying or supernatural like Stephen King. And while there were some creepy things like a girl who can see ghosts and Prudence who reminded me of the Pennywise from It, I kind of didn't get it. Maybe if I was a 22 year old English lit major I would be salivating but I just wanted to be entertained.
From the comments I saw before reading The Grief Hole I kind of expected something dark and horrifying or supernatural like Stephen King. And while there were some creepy things like a girl who can see ghosts and Prudence who reminded me of the Pennywise from It, I kind of didn't get it. Maybe if I was a 22 year old English lit major I would be salivating but I just wanted to be entertained.
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