Book Review | We Used to Live Here | Marcus Kliewer

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Extremely OVER-hyped.

Character - 1

Setting - 1

Plot - 1

Themes - 1

Emotional -1 

Enjoyment - 1

Overall - 1

  • I was very close to DNFing this book multiple times, but the Morse code kept me going (the only original and interesting thing about the story). Sadly, the payoff was not worth it. And again… what was with the Morse code anyway? How does that play a part of the story? 

  • I didn’t appreciate the unreliable narrator. I don’t believe it’s a good fallback for reality-bending stories. Actually, for most stories. I’ve only seen it work once in a thriller. 

  • Nothing is explained. I have no idea why it’s happening, how it’s happening, who the people are, and what makes these locations special—lots of red herrings. I think Kliewer was trying to use the documents as the back story, but they didn’t help. Led to more confusion. 

  • Ended up falling into the basic horror story ending where it’s all a fever dream with lots of “gore”. 

  • The scare factor was about a 3 out of 5 for me. One scene gave me the tingles and made the shadows a little darker. But overall, I didn’t feel anything. 

  • Lots of tropes that weren’t used well. 

  • I couldn’t find a single character likable and I didn’t appreciate how Kliewer painted Eve’s anxiety disorder. 

  • What was with the godamn monkey? 

  • The dog does make it through the story…. I think. At least the real version. 

  • But still… what was the point of the story????? I need a point. A reason that I spent this whole time reading it. That’s the real problem. I didn’t see a point. It was just air. 

  • Initially, a good idea that I would like someone else to try their hand at. 

  • Setting was confusing. I thought they said PNW at the beginning but then they kept mentioning Maine and New York like it was in their backyard. 

  • Would you buy a house like this and fix it up?

If no one agrees with me, then I beg you to DM me on Instragram. I’m dying to talk to someone about this. CJ is no help, even though she already read We Used to Live Here. She doesn’t remember a damn thing (sigh).

Happy Reading.

Love,

Kait