this book was way better than I expected. at its core, it’s not about a demon possession, but about mental illness, exploitation, and family. some parts of it were cringey (aka the blog posts), but overall I thought this book was so gripping and atmospheric. I genuinely felt empathy for each character, and especially loved merry. I was surprised at how well tremblay was able to capture the relationship between sisters, it felt very accurate to my experience. it also heightened the sense of danger and creepiness. plus, the whole back half of the book is basically an homage to one of my favorite books ever, we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson. this was a great read to start getting into autumn/spooky season!