A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher is a Southern Gothic horror novel with paranormal elements (4.5/5 stars)

(4.5 out of 5 stars)

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher is a Southern Gothic horror novel with paranormal elements. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at seven hours and is narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal. We follow our main character with a first-person point-of-view.

Sam Montgomery is spending some time at her mother’s house while on a sabbatical from her latest archeological dig. The house seems to be haunted by her racist and abusive grandmother, not to mention there are vultures surrounding the property at all times.

Kingfisher weaves those sorts of heavy topics into the story along with her usual snark and sense of humor. The main character is a scientist, so she keeps trying to come up with logical explanations for all of the creepy things happening around her. She is an entomologist, so please note that there are many descriptions of bugs in here.

Sam is also an unapologetic fat woman, which is always lovely to see. There are casual mentions about how she deals with fatphobia in the medical industry that all rang true for me. I felt very seen in Sam, as I am also a fat woman and an “elder Millennial.”

There’s a lot in here about attempting to break from toxic traits that have been passed down through generations, and how to heal from the resulting generational trauma.

CW: racism, fatphobia, verbal and emotional abuse, body horror, insects

I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

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