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booksandpepper · 2 years

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🎃 a quick stop at the pumpkin patch 🎃

Is this not the most Halloweenie thing to do during spooky season? Of course I couldn’t resist picking up some decorative pumpkins and for pumpkin carving. Who’s going to make a Jack-O-Lantern this year? 🎃

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semper-legens · 5 months

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187. The Book of Accidents, by Chuck Wendig

Owned: No, library Page count: 525 My summary: Nate's father is dead. Good, the bastard deserves it - but he's offered Nate the house, for the high price of a single dollar. His empathetic son is struggling in school, his wife needs a space for her art, so why not? But not all is as it seems. Oliver's new friend knows a little more than he should. Maddie's making things she can't explain. And Nate's seeing things in the woods... My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

Sometimes, you can judge a book by its cover. And this book has a particularly good cover. I had no idea what to expect going into The Book of Accidents - vaguely supernatural horror, yes, but beside that I wasn't sure what else. And what I found was a book with bleeding edges; a book about fear and trauma and mundane horror writ large that will stay with me for, doubtless, quite some time. It was interesting, it was thought-provoking, and I just wanted to sink into it and stay there for quite some time. Reader, if any of this sounds appealing to you, I would urge you to get out there and read this book blind before continuing. It's that good a book.

Our main characters are three - Nate, recently moved from the police to Fish and Wildlife after the death of his father; Maddie, an artist who finds herself unconscious of the art she creates; and Oliver, their unusually sensitive and vulnerable son. Their relationships are messy and strong. Nate is unsure of himself and trying his best to be the dad that his father could never be. Maddie is burying secrets and repressing her memories and trying her best to protect herself from her past. Oliver is figuring out who he is, and in the meantime discovering the depths of that question's answer. None of them are perfect, all of them make mistakes, but they're all making smart choices, even if they turn out to be the wrong ones, which is key to my enjoyment of a horror story. Nate coming to terms with the abuses he suffered and trying his hardest to break that cycle of abuse is a really strong story - at every turn he's offered the opportunity to slip and become just like his father, he is stopping and removing himself and not making excuses for bad behaviour. Maddie's the most out of the loop of the supernatural happenings, at least at first, but she manages to keep her head and keep her family together while still dealing with her own stuff. And poor Oliver is a good example of how kind and empathetic characters do not have to be weak. His strength is his big heart, and the way he can literally feel the pain of others.

Speaking of pain, this book is largely about trauma. All of our characters have experienced it in one way or another. Antagonist Jed survived the accident that killed his wife and daughter, an accident he caused. Nate was abused. Maddie was adjacent to serial killings in her community. Jake, our villain, is an alternate version of Oliver from a world where Nate ended up just as abusive as his father. How the different characters respond to trauma is a major theme. Nate keeps his trauma close; Oliver can heal trauma and pain, Maddie blocks it out of her memory, Jake weaponises it, and Jed grieves over it. None are, necessarily, presented as the right or wrong approach (other than Jake). It's how that healing affects the character that matters. Nate finds himself forgiving his father - or, at least, a version of his father who is trying to make amends. Maddie finds her past and uses it to save the day. Meanwhile Jake is consumed by it, and Jed falls apart over the guilt not just of what he did then, but what he does over the course of the narrative.

See, one thing I find interesting here is how the narrative uses metaphor and analogy. There's that element of the metaphor also being literal. Oliver is literally an empath who can experience other people's feelings, as well as being a sensitive kid. Maddie's art is literally a release for her and others. Jake literally uses the titular record of deaths and injuries to bring pain to the land. The serial killer is literally visited by a demon. I kind of like that in horror, bringing the analogy close to the skin while also treating it with a layer of truth. It blurs the line between the real and the supernatural; the heart of the story is still these characters working through their pain and trauma, it's just abstracted with this supernatural overlay. I cannot recommend this book enough, it's a gripping read, and I find myself loving it the more I think about it.

Next, we take to the ocean, with a mermaid, a witch, and the sea.

#The Book of Accidents #Chuck Wendig #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #5

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nerdynatreads · 2 years

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☆☆YouTube | Tumblr | Instagram | Storygraph ☆☆

book review || The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

video review || 5 by 5: Goodreads 2021 Horror Finalists || 5 Horror Reads and Reviews

This book is weird and I’ll admit, really unsettling in a way that I can’t pin down. We alternate POVs between a husband, wife, and their teenage son. After moving into Nate’s, the husband, childhood home, they start experiencing weird occurrences, each in their own way. It’s pretty obvious this has to be paranormal horror, which definitely adds to the uneasy tone.

There’s a male and female narrator for the audiobook, though the man doesn’t do a change in voice for Nate and Oliver to showcase a change. Sometimes POV changes happen at the chapter mark, other times midway through. In the writing, though, it is pretty easy to keep each character distinct. Nate and Maddy seem to have a healthy relationship, genuinely feeling like a couple who have been together for over 15 years. Oliver actually does read like a teenage boy as well. However, Oliver is empathetic to a fault, and can actually see the pain other people feel, which is a very intriguing element of his character. Unfortunately, he’s also pretty naive.

I will praise that as for logic, even though Nate and Maddy are both experiencing these otherworldly things they can’t explain, they do at least talk about it with one another. Oliver hasn’t, of course, since he’s a fifteen-year-old boy.

Wow, I did not expect this to develop into what it did, but unfortunately, that’s not a super positive thing. As I guessed, the juiciest bit of this story was the last 25%, but I think this just tried to do too much, making the beginning a slog.

The reveals at the end were shocking! They interweave sci-fi horror, a haunted house, a serial killer, and black magic, which is all cool, but put together just seemed like a mess. It makes sense the book is so long, because Wendig had to set up each of these avenues, but some of them felt really unnecessary by the end. The world-building is pretty strong and directly ties in with all those different avenues the story has, but it does sometimes make for repetitive reading and a very slow pace. Even with that, my intrigue was pretty high the entire time, but toward the end, I couldn’t believe there was still more to happen, because it took so long to reach the climax, and even then, felt pretty slow-moving.

Oliver’s character was probably the most interesting to follow and had the best development in this story. I really liked how his empathy ability was handled. Nate and Maddy were still strong characters and I do think each had their own arcs as well, but they didn’t stick with me as much as Oliver’s did. The ending that all three had was nice, though, not very surprising.

3.5 / 5 stars

#book review #the book of accidents #the book of accidents by chuck wendig #horror books #horror book recs #horror book recommendations #horror book reviews #studyblr #bookblr #booklr #book tumblr #booktube #booktuber #book youtube #bookshelf #book end

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sharry-arry-odd · 2 years

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At first, she said nothing. She just stood there, quaking a little. And then, Maddie made a sound like–well, like if happiness were itself a living thing, and this was its mating call to summon some other happiness in order to mate in the hopes of spawning /even more happiness/. She wasn't sure she'd heard herself /squee/ before, but these days, given everything, she was embracing as much joy as she could muster.

The Book of Accidents, by Chuck Wendig

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libraryofbaxobab · 1 year

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August 6, 2021:

Competently wrought, but doesn't have the magical spark I expected. This would hit hard for the right person (tw abuse). Throws in a few good ol' mind twists for your money Eerily similar to a certain other PA author's horror envoi but admittedly better 7/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

#WhatsKenyaReading #twitter #pastposting #books #reading #the book of accidents #horror #pennsylvania #interdimensional #wildlife

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arachnaesghost · 1 year

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Reading the book of accidents and mannnn I don't like Maddie. And none of the reviews I read have talked about her and so I feel like I must be crazy/too grumpy lol. But ugghhhhh

#arachnaes ramblings #the book of accidents

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konboyblues · 2 years

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the book of accidents is just exposure therapy in words. did wendig HAVE to throw nate into a world where his sack of shit father was still alive AND useful? no. but did he do it anyway? sure did.

#it’s such a sad but riveting tale #the book of accidents #chuck wendig #real talk #book hoe

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stargirl230 · 7 months

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Take a break!

This is for anyone who's been working hard (me, because once exam season starts it never ends...)

(no reposts; reblogs appreciated)

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lesliemeyers · 1 month

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doing Mysterion art inspired by a Batman cover just seemed... right

+ closeups under the cut ↴

#kenny mccormick #mysterion #karen mccormick #henrietta biggle #eric cartman #mike makowski #south park #south park fanart #south park art #the fractured but whole #south park the fractured but whole #from dusk till casa bonita #mine #<- very nearly typed my main's art tag instead by accident lmao #also technically it's a 'tec cover not the main batman book but. still. 'tec is basically just another batman book 95% of the time #if u saw me post this before no you didn't tumblr was being weird with tags #ALRIGHT it was kicking back because i was trying to also include the batman cover this was inspired by??? weird??? so well i got rid of tht #it was detective comics 1034 if u are curious

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desdasiwrites · 2 years

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#book quote of the day #chuck wendig #the book of accidents #horror fiction #creepy #book recommendations #book quotes

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booksandpepper · 2 years

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👻 Currently Reading 👻

Officially beginning to read my first horror book of the season, and starting of strong with: The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig. I’m ready to be scared and I’ve embraced the fact that I’m going to have little to no sleep this month 💀

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mechieonu · 5 months

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i know that disney is too big to boycott effectively but that shouldn't translate to "and so we should keep buying their products like normal" but rather "at the very least we should try"

#i know they have their fingers in a lot of pies but #i've just been thinking #bc i don't watch star wars or sports or marvel and i don't rlly watch tv/cable anymore #and i haven't bought a disney product or gone to the theme parks #and as far as i know disney doesn't facilitate a necessity that can't be circumvented #and at the VERY‚ very least‚ we're supposed to pressure them #the way i personally interpret that is 'avoid directly supporting them as much as you can'#bc i'm aware that you could accidently support them by proxy by buying something they've invested in #which is why we're supposed to PRESSURE rather than BOYCOTT #but i just also want to see disney downfall in my lifetime but that's neither here nor there #idk man #i was so excited to hear abt the book of bill but I don't think i could stomach #directly supporting the company that pledged $2million to the occupation project #free palestine #and don't forget that you can still sail the seven seas (or just go buy old dvds! I need to build a collection)#lol it's easy to boycott if you're broke !

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sweatpantslifeuniverse · 2 years

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I've Started Reading: The Book of Accidents

I’ve Started Reading: The Book of Accidents

The Book of Accidents is awesome. All I want to do is to keep reading!

View On WordPress

#chuck wendig #the book of accidents

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sharry-arry-odd · 2 years

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TWO HINGES ONE KNOB MAKES A DOOR

The Book of Accidents, by Chuck Wendig

#page 483 #the book of accidents #chuck wendig #arc #advance reader copy #advance reader's edition #appalachian gothic #maddie graves #part six #makers breakers and travelers #a face in the glass a message in the snow #quote #quotes #literature #book #booklr #reading #for some reason i adored this repeating theme and quote #maddie is such a good character

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poorly-drawn-mdzs · 5 months

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Call that a Cave Story.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wen chao #wang lingjiao #mianmian #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #I had to cut the comic with JC 'holding WWX back from fighting the Wen Assholes' but it is with me in spirit.#It reads (to me) a little bit like JC is scared of Core Melting Hand and wants to have an excuse to hold on to WWX for comfort.#As far as I can recall they are around 15-17 in this arc.#And a guy who can rip out your golden core? The thing we know JC truly puts so much weight upon that he feels meaningless without it?#Yeah that's pretty terrifying. I hope WWX hugs back (he will not)#I have a lot more thoughts on Wang Lingjiao and Mianmian but I will keep them for later.#WLJ is a character I feel got done a little dirty because she has a ton of interesting potential that gets pushed aside for Mean Villainess #Let's be fully honest. Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao are *THE* characters the Protag of one of those 'Reincarnated as the villain!' stories #Set up to be assholes to the main character and meeting a horrible end in retribution.#Do you think MXTX thought about that? How Wen Chao is basically the original Shen QiugQiu?#Who's going to be the brave soul who writes A transmigrator in wen chao's body (accidently makes wwx fall in love with him) story?#Though If we are going with “any mxtx character sho dies transmigrates to another book” WHO is the transmigrator?#Hear me out. I think it should be Original Liu Qingge. I think he and wwx would make a funny duo and I want to see it so bad.#AND the contrast of womanizer Wen Chao VS 'What is a woman' LQG.

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thebestbookrecommendations · 2 years

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The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig

Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver. And now what happened long ago is happening again . . . and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic. This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.

Read if You Like:

Horror

Thrillers

Fantasy

Mysteries

Paranormal/Supernatural

Science Fiction

Recommended if You Enjoy:

Blake Crouch (Dark Matter)

The Haunting of Hill House (T.V. Series, 2018)

Carly Anne West (The Bargaining)

V. E. Schwab (Gallant)

4/5

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