Blog Post #3

 I think what makes The Good House an authentically terrifying piece of horror literature is its unique duality of real-life tragedy and fantasy of the demonic forces. My family is from Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies and voodoo practice is something that I have always believed in, and from a young age I’ve been warned to stay away from negative entities--so much so that as a young girl my parents did not allow me to go trick or treating with all of the other kids in my neighborhood. As they seriously believed, that the line between life and death was dissolved on that one evening. But that’s beside the point. What I am trying to get across while it’s easy to point and laugh at and assume that the practice of voodoo is fictitious and performative for many people (like some of my extended family members) voodoo is its own religion and serious faith that people live their lives under. I think the Good House does a fantastic and difficult job of honoring the integrity of voodoo while not fetishizing and or romanticizing it. In the practice of voodoo, there’s this element of giving and take, like the phrase there is no such thing as a free lunch is the best way I can describe the cosmic retribution that needs to be fulfilled if one is asking for favors from spiritual entities. Also, for many practitioners, it’s very easy to combine legitimate voodoo practice with calling out to demonic forces, but practitioners typically to do not purposefully want to summon demons. So many people, myself included believe or have even witnessed the scary powers of voodoo. This novel is a perfect cautionary tale of the pandora’s box that can be opened when voodoo practice is not executed properly, and calling out to the spirit world for a favor but not being sure who exactly is fulfilling that request. Another aspect of the novel that I find truly unsettling is this theme of generational curses and subsequently how to break these destructive patterns in bloodlines. In real life, it’s common for children to repeat the mistake of their parents. So there’s a pattern of children who for example are raised by drug addicts, alcoholics, narcissists, abusers--themselves take on these negative characteristics or addictions and destructive behaviors as they become adults themselves. This novel definitely takes the idea of generational curses and takes it to an extreme, as this demon that has been released by Angela’s grandmother has been lurking for decades and Angela is left to counter this negative and demonic entity before it consumes and destroys her.