Line #33 Literature/AHeadFullOfGhosts


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_head_full_of_ghosts.jpg]] '' A Head Full of Ghosts'' is a 2015 novel by Creator/PaulTremblay. A blend of Gothic horror and family drama, Tremblay's book won the 2016 MediaNotes/BramStokerAward for Superior Achievement in a Novel.
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3	The book's perspective regularly flips between the childhoods of sisters Merry and Marjorie in the early 2010s, and a the mid 2020s, in which horror vlogger Karen and journalist Rachel Neville discuss Merry and Marjorie. Marjorie is famous because she was supposedly possessed and a cult classic reality TV show was produced surrounding her exorcism. The two adult women wind up uncovering many things not yet known to the public, and try to uncover if Marjorie truly was possessed or of she just had an untreated mental illness.
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5	The book has purportedly been optioned for a film.
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7	!! Some examples of tropes appearing in the story include:
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9	* AbusiveParents:
10	** John, the father of Merry and Marjorie, is suspected of abusing Marjorie, though it's just suggested that he can't handle what might either be her severe mental illness or her possession. While his behaviour is very concerning and definitely abusive at times - like the reality show - Tremblay goes to lengths to show that he's genuinely trying to help them to some extent.
11	** Sarah, their mother, is a full-blown AlcoholicParent and LadyDrunk by the middle of the novel, but it's caused by all of the stress of keeping her family together.
12	* AmbiguousSituation: Throughout...
13	** Who is possessed? [[spoiler:Marjorie? Merry? John? None of them? Marjorie claims that all of them ''except'' Merry were possessed at various points in the book, but it's at least heavily implied that Marjorie at least ''thought'' Merry was possessed.]]
14	** Who [[spoiler:killed the family]]? Marjorie gets the blame InUniverse, but she warned Merry that this was ''John's'' plan, so it appears to be a CassandraTruth. But Merry is [[spoiler:the SoleSurvivor, and there are heavy hints that Merry is possessed throughout, so it's distinctly possible that she's lying about all of this or most of it.]]
15	*** Related to this, was John ever intending to [[spoiler:kill them]], or was that just a RedHerring?
16	** Is it possession or mental illness that torments the family?
17	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Merry, to Marjorie.
18	* BigSisterInstinct: Subverted in Marjorie's behaviour, except in several possible interpretations of the ending where it's played straight, for NightmareFuel. [[spoiler:Marjorie may have faked her possession because she knew that it was actually Merry who was possessed and she wanted to help her. It's also heavily suggested that, ''if'' Marjorie is behind the familicide at the end, that she deliberately spares Merry because of this.]]
19	** At one point Marjorie tells Merry that she faked everything so that her family could get out of their financial rut by selling their story, but the scene is framed so that it's unclear if Marjorie herself even believes what she's saying.
20	* BigSisterWorship: Merry looks up to Marjorie. She wants to do the things Marjorie does (like be a soccer star), and when Marjorie changes her room around, so does Merry.
21	* BreakTheCutie: Both Marjorie and Merry, but more so Marjorie.
22	* BucketBoobytrap: When Marjorie tells her she's been sneaking into Merry's room, Merry rigs an orange can to fall off the door and create enough noise to wake her.
23	* ChekhovsGun:
24	** [[spoiler: Spaghetti]], of all damned things.
25	** Crosses. John is mentioned cleaning a cross obsessively over and over after the reality show. [[spoiler:Marjorie argues that he's going to use the cleaning fluid to massacre them. Merry only later finds out that it might have been because he was just cleaning them.]]
26	* CreepyChild: While Marjorie is 14, she is definitely creepy.
27	* DawsonCasting: An in-universe example, lampshaded. During the reality show, a 23-year-old actress is cast as 14-year-old Marjorie.
28	* TheEndingChangesEverything: Played with. WordOfGod says that the ending is intentionally ambiguous, but all the hallmarks of demonic possession return, revealed to be ChekhovsGuns, and [[spoiler:''applied to Merry'']], which leaves Rachel with the impression that [[spoiler:Merry might be either her family's killer or the one still possessed, although it's never confirmed.]]
29	* EpistolaryNovel: Played with. The structure of the book is in the form of various points of view, including Merry's first person narration about the events fifteen years in the past, the stories the girls like to make up, and blogs devoted to the reality show.
30	* EverybodysDeadDave: [[spoiler:Merry's fate in the past timeline. Her whole family dies except her and she hides under the table for ''days'' until her aunt rescues her.]]
31	* FamilyThemeNaming : Sisters Marjorie and Meredith (Merry). When Merry makes up a story about ants, she mentions the ants will all be given "A" names.
32	* FreakOut : Marjorie gets a spectacular one early on, [[spoiler: including [[NightmareFuel punching holes in the walls and climbing them like]] a spider]].
33	* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry : Marjorie and Meredith start with normal amounts of this, but it gets scary quickly.
34	* HollywoodExorcism: Marjorie's. "Karen", [[spoiler:aka older Merry]], heavily discusses it and points out all the ways that it qualifies.
35	* HollywoodSatanism: In-universe discussed as the blame for Marjorie's mental health "issues", and one of the main reasons that Merry thinks it was a delusion.
36	* IntrepidReporter : Rachel Neville, who is working on a book about the family.
37	* KidsAreCruel: Once the show starts airing Marjorie and Merry start getting made fun of.
38	* LampshadeHanging : Quite a bit, particularly during the "blog analysis" sections. The things that happen to Marjorie are common depictions in [[HollywoodExorcism "exorcism" fiction]], and the blog sections are ready to point this out, making the story self-referential.
39	** Because it's a RealityTV show, ''The Possession'' features several things that are common to the genre, including HistoricalRecreation , ManipulativeEditing, and a ConfessionCam.
40	* LaughingMad : One of the indicators of Marjorie's mental collapse is her creepy giggling.
41	* LoopholeAbuse : When their father wants to say grace, Merry says they don't have to because they're at the ''kitchen'' table. She's fond of finding loopholes.
42	* MagicVersusScience: Of course, but deliberately evoked in the differing reactions of Marjorie's parents - her mother firmly believes that only therapy can help the schizophrenic Marjorie, while her father borders on religious zealotry.
43	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Deliberately invoked. There's enough evidence in the book to support the belief that the possession is real or if it is just Marjorie's madness. [[spoiler:Or if Merry is possessed.]]
44	* MidSeasonTwist: Although a book (and one about a television series), the revelation that [[spoiler:Merry's family were the victim of a massacre]] occurs exactly at this point and turns it from just a postmodern exorcism story to a whodunnit.
45	* MostWritersAreWriters : Both Rachel, the writer working on the book, and the adult Merry.
46	* MundaneSolution: Posited as possibilities, but not answered.
47	** Karen theorizes that this is how Marjorie was able to break her bonds during the exorcism. [[spoiler:She didn't. Sarah loosened them because she was scared by the violence of the exorcism and angry at John's fanaticism.]]
48	** There never was a [[spoiler:demon. It took place ThroughTheEyesOfMadness, and the family's mental health suffered.]]
49	* NextSundayAD : Merry's narration takes place fifteen years after the events of the reality show. Young Merry is obsessed with the show Finding Bigfoot, which first aired in 2011, which puts the present day in 2026 at the earliest.
50	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed : If you consider the Westboro Baptist Church a celebrity, the sign-carrying protesters make an appearance but aren't named outright.
51	* OldDarkHouse : The family home is very old and rambling, with odd staircases and crumbling plaster. This also subverts the RealityTVShowMansion trope.
52	* OnlySaneMan: Merry and Marjorie's mother, Sarah, who firmly believes that Marjorie is schizophrenic and needs psychiatric care, but is also the only person with a job and trying to keep the family together when John becomes increasingly obsessed with religion.
53	* RagsToRiches: Once the show starts airing, the family's financial situation noticeably improves. They go from having to ration heir food and eat very little to being able to bulk buy groceries and eat big meals again.
54	* RealityTVShowMansion: Deconstructed and subverted in the family's house. There's a ConfessionCam, it's huge, and it's considered a very appealing settling because of its Gothic architecture, but it's also falling to pieces, they can barely afford to eat most days, and they also live there after the show is finished [[spoiler:until their deaths]].
55	* RedIsViolent: Why else does older Merry wear a red coat in the final scene?
56	* RedShirt: The "young exorcist" might as well be wearing one.
57	* ReferenceOverdosed: An extremely rare example of this happening in-universe. Karen, a.ka. [[spoiler:older Merry]] theorises that this is a direct cause of Marjorie's possession, that she is acting out stories and set pieces of other iconic horror movies, especially possession stories.
58	* SanitySlippage: Occurs to everyone. Obviously Marjorie is the most blatant example, but everyone suffers this under the stress of her illness/possession.
59	* SatanicPanic: A postmodern update, in the context of TheNewTens, especially the recession, after teenage daughter Marjorie appears to be possessed and they invite a reality show into their home for an exorcism. It's left firmly in the case of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane, as it never firmly answers who is possessed, if anybody.
60	* ShoutOut: The text is littered with direct pop culture references, such as ''Film/RosemarysBaby'', ''Film/TheExorcist'' (there are a lot of Exorcist references, including a WallCrawl), ''Film/TheLastExorcism'' (which [[CreatorTirade "Karen" says is awful]]), and just about every other Satanic film that had been released at the time. Some of the more hidden ones are:
61	** No coincidence that the psychiatric consultant Father Wanderly brings in is named [[Literature/HouseOfLeaves Navidson]].
62	** Merry shares her name with another [[spoiler:homicidal little sister]], [[Literature/WeHaveAlwaysLivedInTheCastle Merricat]].
63	** Marjorie likes hanging out in the sunroom, which which is constantly noted as having [[Literature/TheYellowWallpaper yellow wallpaper]].
64	* ShowWithinAShow : The girls are fond of writing their own stories about characters in ''Creator/RichardScarry'' books.
65	* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Merry, of the familicide.]]
66	* StunnedSilence : At the dinner table, after Marjorie says something very strange.
67	* TakeThat: Several, but particularly to Film/TheExorcist and Film/TheLastExorcism, with karen calling out the ending of the latter.
68	* {{Tuckerization}} : Merry's tutor is named for Tremblay's friend and sometime writing partner, author Stephen Graham Jones.
69	* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: [[spoiler: Older Merry is revealed to be 'Karen', the horror blogger.]]
70	* TomatoInTheMirror: One possible interpretation, though WordofGod says it's deliberately ambiguous. [[spoiler: If you believe that demons did follow the family, the last lines suggest that Merry, rather than Marjorie, may have been possessed, and ''she is still possessed''.]]
71	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Par for the course given that this is a possession horror story. Some highlights include:
72	** Marjorie walking into the living room and masturbating in front of her family.[[note]]The act is not described in detail but it's made clear what she's doing. The scene is also not written in an arousing way at all, but is framed as confusing and upsetting. It is implied that the TV show adaptation of the exorcism does frame it this way to an extent.[[/note]]
73	** Marjorie punching holes in her wall and crab walking around on it.
74	** Marjorie [[spoiler: tricking her sister into poisoning the pasta sauce, telling her that it will just knock them out]] and then mockingly telling her how delicious it is at the dinner table. [[spoiler: It's unclear how much of that was the truth, however.]]
75	* VomitIndiscretionShot : At the dinner table, no less.

Context Literature / AHeadFullOfGhosts