The Call Is Coming from Inside the House: Essays

by Allyson McOuat

From Allyson McOuat, author of the popular 2020 New York Times Modern Love essay “The Ghost Was the Least of Our Problems,” comes her debut essay collection .

In a series of intimate and humorous dispatches, McOuat examines her identity as a queer woman, and as a mother, through the lens of the pop culture moments in the ’80s and ’90s that molded her identity. McOuat stirs the ingredients required to conjure an unsettled the horrors of pregnancy and motherhood, love and loss, the supernatural, kaleidoscopic sexuality, near-miss experiences, and the unexplained moments in life that leave you haunted.

Through her own life experiences, various tall tales, urban legends, analysis of horror and thriller films, and spine-chilling true crime incidents, McOuat uncovers how cultural gatekeeping has forced her, as a mother and queer femme woman, to persistently question her own reality. Through this charming and humorous exploration of what moments have made her who she is, McOuat demonstrates for readers a way through by forgiving herself and exorcising her stubborn attachment to a phantom, heteronormative, nuclear family structure.

6 hrs. 49 min.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Queer, LGBT, Canada, Horror, Feminism

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2024

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly incredible essay collection, effortlessly weaving together personal narrative and (pop) cultural criticism. Themes include: motherhood, queerness, pregnancy, true crime, horror movies, bisexuality / labels, patriarchy and men's violence. If you like Carmen Maria Machado's non-fiction (particularly her essay on the cult film Jennifer's Body from the queer horror anthology It Came from the Closet) and Melissa Febo's Girlhood, read this!

Full review on Autostraddle: https://www.autostraddle.com/the-call...

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv) · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5 stars] A very solid collection of heartfelt and personal essays. McOuat uses a conversational, matter-of-fact delivery in her writing that worked really well for me. I'd recommend this as an audiobook especially.

The epilogue was particularly beautiful, an important reminder to slow down and appreciate where we're at. The Victim and The Crone, The Maiden and the Raccoon are the strongest entries in this and offer meaningful commentary that will stick with me.

The first entries in the collection are by no means weak, but they didn't offer as much depth or critical analysis as I would have hoped for. The collection needed a bit more cohesion and throughline for me to rate this higher, but I did enjoy my time with this. It touches on a lot of subjects (McOuat's life, pop culture, colonialism, identity, grief) without belaboring a particular subject, so it works well as a book you take slow and chip away at.

Thank you to ECW for the free copy!
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Is there anything better than a good essay collection?

[kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brilliant collection of essays is out today—April 30—and you should absolutely read them.

Original Review {03/28/24}:
In these essays, McOuat reflects and seeks for truth and understanding in her experiences as a queer woman, a daughter, and a mother, drawing comparisons to the horror and supernatural films and literature that shaped her.
“Wading through the fog of nuance to reach the clarity of truth might be frightening, but I think I’m still going to go looking for it,” McOuat states in the prologue.
Like horror films themselves, the essays in this collection are filled with suspense and a foreboding tone and they were truly addicting.

Topics include: queer-coding in film, motherhood and postnatal anxiety, lost love, gender-based discrimination, female friendship, victim complex, women’s trauma, the simultaneous beauty and terror of pregnancy, buying a house with a “history”(read: murder), and so much more.

These read like short stories and I would recommend them to anyone, really, but especially women within (or interested in) the queer community who love horror pop culture.

Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the digital copy!

[Sahitya · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 I guess.

I’m usually not a personal essay reader, so I frankly don’t know what I was thinking requesting an arc of this. While there were some essays about her personal loss and love and motherhood which were interesting, the rest of them felt just very unrelatable to me. The overarching message the author probably wants to convey also didn’t really get to me. So maybe this was just a disconnect between the subject matter and me as a reader. But I did listen to the audiobook and the author is a very engaging narrator, who made the listening experience quite fun.

[fer pacheco · Rating 5 out of 5]

cuatro y algo. he sido y seré una persona de ensayos y me gusta leer como relaciona todo con lo cotidiano. es divertido leer anécdotas de saficas divorciadas JAJJAJA. el capitulo de su hija y las relaciones en secundaria me hizo pensar mucho en mi educación básica. entendí el 5% de las referencias. el epílogo me rompió: love is gentle, an action, responsible, complicated, work, sacrifice, exhilarating, unfair, hurts, a memory, a flight of fancy, digging the grave. y su párrafo de la maternidad destinada a “vanish” que no es desaparecer pero no me acuerdo de la palabra me hizo llorar y querer abrazar a mi mamá.

le doy el resto de la estrella por que elige una canción para cada capítulo y la última es without you, without me de las niñogenio.

[Jillane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-ARC!

I find it hard to review personal essay collections, because so much of it is so subjective. Some of the author’s reflections about her own experiences are well-connected with the pop culture she explores, but overall I found there to be a lack of depth when she tries to extrapolate her findings beyond her own subjectivity. Most of McOuat’s analysis relates to a specific kind of white, cis, queer mother who owns a house, but she then attempts to make larger statements about culture in general, positioning her own understanding as a larger truth, and this didn’t really work for me. Many of the things she claims as fact, using a sweeping “we” to describe, only apply to a very particular experience. It makes sense to write based on personal experience, and to connect those experiences into cultural and social realities, but I wished the author took a more critical eye to her own positionality throughout because it would have given the analysis more depth.

[Jess Theworddegree · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Call is Coming From Inside the House by Allyson McOuat was an essay collection examining horror through the lens of womanhood, queer identity, motherhood and feminism. Some essays were definitely better than others- I loved the one about Blair Witch Project and the one about Amber Heard 👌 the second half of the collection, I felt, was stronger than the first. Overall a thought provoking read.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books where, on multiple instances, a single sentence hits you so hard you have to stop and catch your breath.

Admittedly sometimes I was bored for pages at a time, bumping this down to 4/5 for me.

[andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

not really sure what to rate this.

i think there were some really interesting essays, but not much that hasn't been said before.

i really really really really really loathe the way people write about motherhood and their children in a strange, almost fetishistic way of their old children, getting all moony eyed over tiny cherub fingers and sweet milky breaths or whatever and this collection had that problem.

and though i realize this author was speaking of her own experience, i personally didn't care for comments about people not really knowing love until they become mothers. kinda ick imo.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher.

REVIEW
I wanted to love The Call Is Coming from Inside the House, I really did.

The cover–which is what initially caught my eye–is gorgeous. It’s haunting, it’s weird, and I wouldn’t say no to owning it as a print.

The summary sealed the deal: queer essays about identity through the lens of horror, 90’s pop culture, and true crime?

That’s so far up my alley it’s in my house.

The Good
McOuat’s prose is vibrant and evocative–when she’s talking about moments from her life.
The images of her running from a coyote, supporting her children through their first experience of loss and grief, and waking up to a man standing at the end of her bed are striking, real, alive.

Those moments are the ones I enjoyed reading, and it’s those moments that I will remember.

My favorite essay, by far, was “The Harbinger (Death at Every Corner).” McOuat examines her extreme anxiety and how she began to have a healthier approach to the voice in her head that warned her about danger at every corner. It was relatable to me in a way that a lot of writing about anxiety isn’t.

However, there were two main sticking points that kept me from absolutely loving the collection: a lack of connection and uninteresting analysis.

The Unconnected
Besides the broad theme, the collection lacks a consistent connecting thread that supports the reading experience; in other words, a consistent, traceable arc from beginning to end.

For example, take In the Dream House, a book with a very similar premise: examining a queer woman’s life through pop culture, horror, urban legend, and thriller tropes (though ItDH is highly experimental with form). ItDH is sustained essay to essay and as a whole with a central connective thread: Machado and the woman’s relationship, which progresses and changes.

The Call Is Coming from Inside the House does not have a central thread.

From essay to essay we oscillate from from fertility treatments to home ownership to divorce to family oral history to the anxieties of teenage girlhood back to her pregnancy.

I could follow each individual essay’s narrative fine, but jumbled snapshots of McOuat’s chronology paired with wildly fluctuating topics made for a disjointed reading experience when considered as a whole.

And individual essays rarely stayed focused. Even my favorite chapter isn’t immune.

“The Harbinger (Death at Every Corner)” begins with two pages talking about Frozen, discussing queercoding and the Hayes Code. Three pages in we finally get around to anxiety (as per the essay’s title, seeing death around every corner). Frozen connects tangentially a few pages later, when she compares how she handled this anxiety to being shut in a castle.

When I finished reading, I had a bevy of questions. What relevance does the Hayes Code have to the idea of the harbinger and intrusive anxiety? Why bother bringing in Frozen, as the harbinger and the final girl tropes (the latter having been mentioned once) could have said much the same while keeping the essay focused around thematically connected topics?

The Boring
I’m not saying that it would be impossible to connect Frozen with the harbinger trope, or that essays shouldn’t bring together disparate concepts.

The reason I have issues is because the analysis of these two concepts is, well… shallow.

Elsa being queercoded? I read that same exact take on Tumblr a decade ago.

The titular Harbinger trope? Purely exists to explain why McOuat calls her anxiety the Harbinger. Personifying her anxiety as the Harbinger is fine–I like it–but that’s where the lens stops.

There’s also no analysis or connection made between the harbinger concept and Frozen.

To quote the summary, the “examination through the lens” McOuat is doing here boils down to 'my anxiety feels like the harbinger, and I reacted to it like Elsa did, which was by hiding myself away (also did you know Elsa is kinda queercoded?).'

Again, the reason why “The Harbinger (Death at Every Corner)” was my favorite is because when she actually discusses her life, her intrusive thoughts, and how they impacted her as a functioning person and as a mother, the writing is really good. It’s intimate and intense and emotional.

Her experiences speak to me as a person who also deals with those issues, and the framing of the Harbinger could have gone in a really interesting direction!

But it just didn’t, and as a result, the analysis part of the essay–half of the whole essay!–bored me.

Many of her analysis struggles similarly. Her takes are, often, Freshman Intro to Horror level basic.

Her queer and feminist analysis of tropes–such as covens, final girls, and the man at the end of the bed–are both surface level and common knowledge for any queer/feminist horror enjoyer.

For example:

Covens are akin to female/queer community and dressing witchy = flagging.
Final girls are the “right” kind of victim because they fight back.
The man at the end of the bed is voyeurism: the invasion of privacy.


There was nothing new or interesting vis a vis her analysis that made me think about a trope, story, or piece of media in a new or fresh or interesting way.

As a result, I’ve got nothing to intellectually chew on, leaving me, yes, bored for, like, half of every essay.

FINAL THOUGHTS
While I’ve been critical of The Call is Coming from Inside the House, I do think it’s a solid 3 star read. I like McOuat’s prose. When she talks about her life, it’s vivid, emotional, and poignant. She’s a vivid storyteller, and I’d certainly love to read more of her personal essays in the future. I’d go so far as to say I’d love a memoir from her.

Just… temper your expectations when it comes to the “lens” part.

Thank you to ECW Press for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley.

[Kera’s Always Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an easily digestible read, even with some of the more difficult subject matter that is discussed, and it was just what I needed when I read it.

This was great for what it was, giving a look into the one... and also many lives of queer women in the world. While this is personal essays and anecdotes from Allyson McQuat, this is completely relatable. I enjoyed her candid tales of motherhood, sexuality and life. This was bold and fun and completely bingeable.

[Desirae · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Call is Coming from Inside the House" is in essence a memoir told through short stories. The stories are not always chronological, but they fit together fairly seamlessly. The stories frequently reference movies, especially horror movies or movies that feature queer characters, especially bisexual characters (implied/assumed or established), and the lessons that can be learned from those movies or the assumptions about women, especially queer women, that are reflected in those movies, and how those lessons or assumptions have manifested in the author's life as a daughter, mother, lover, and as a queer woman. She addresses how traumatic a difficult pregnancy can be for a woman/expectant mother; experiences of abuse or victimization; and assumptions about her sexuality and what kind of person that implies she is, as well as more prosaic experiences such as babysitting, home ownership, divorce, and grief. She discusses the importance of storytelling and how our memory of events does not necessarily accurately reflect those events. She talks about how her grandmother became a fortune teller to support herself and her children after her husband died in a workplace accident, and how she, the author, used reading tarot cards as a way to combat her social anxiety (and obtain free drinks) while in college. "The Call is Coming from Inside the House" is a very interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking book; well worth reading.

[Jeremy Reppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Call is Coming from Inside the House" is in essence a memoir told through short stories. The stories are not always chronological, but they fit together fairly seamlessly. The stories frequently reference movies, especially horror movies or movies that feature queer characters, especially bisexual characters (implied/assumed or established), and the lessons that can be learned from those movies or the assumptions about women, especially queer women, that are reflected in those movies, and how those lessons or assumptions have manifested in the author's life as a daughter, mother, lover, and as a queer woman. She addresses how traumatic a difficult pregnancy can be for a woman/expectant mother; experiences of abuse or victimization; and assumptions about her sexuality and what kind of person that implies she is, as well as more prosaic experiences such as babysitting, home ownership, divorce, and grief. She discusses the importance of storytelling and how our memory of events does not necessarily accurately reflect those events. She talks about how her grandmother became a fortune teller to support herself and her children after her husband died in a workplace accident, and how she, the author, used reading tarot cards as a way to combat her social anxiety (and obtain free drinks) while in college. "The Call is Coming from Inside the House" is a very interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking book; well worth reading.

[Kayla B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for my copy of The Call is Coming From Inside the House by Allyson McOuat in exchange for an honest review.


I appreciated McOuat’s perspective and manner of expression throughout her essays. Many of them were viewed through the lens of a mother. While I am not a mother, I was able to relate to many of the topics she touched on. I think this is important because this reminds us readers that just because someone becomes a mother it does not erase the other roles or facets of their ever changing and evolving identity. Allyson reminds us that she is not just a mother. She is a woman. She is queer. She is a culmination of a life lived and a number of experiences that made her who she is today. And she is ever evolving.

I feel that most anyone can connect with her essays, on some level, even if they’ve never personally experienced the subjects she explores. If anything this creative nonfiction can be learning experiences that can help readers understand situations they might not have been able to beforehand. Allyson McOuat’s writing style and delivery are easy to absorb, humorous and understandable. Give it a shot, you never know what you might learn.

[Aspen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It really seemed like this book would be right up my alley: memoir-essays talking about queerness and parenting and grief. The author and I are even both Canadian queers of a similar age, so I would get the references! In the end, however, this was just meh for me.

While there were a handful of passages that I found interesting or evocative, on average I found the essays too superficial to draw me in. Many of the pop culture references were nothing more than name drops - I much prefer a deeper exploration even if it means we don't cover as much ground. When McOuat does deeper examinations, they are all about horror flicks. I'm not a particular fan of the genre, though other dissections of these films can still hold my interest. Horror enjoyers may have an easier time appreciating this book than I did.

Agreed with another reviewer that the second half of the book was stronger than the first. The Crone, the Maiden, and the Raccoon plus The Babysitter made me feel like my time wasn't totally wasted.

[auteaandtales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley & publishers for the review copy!

This ended up being different to what I expected but I loved it. It gave some excellent introspection into pop culture, with a strong focus on 90s horror movies (my personal favourite, so I had great fun with that). It covered things from misogyny and biphobia to pregnancy and, with a twist, homeownership with a haunted house. I don’t personally believe in ghosts but it was still enjoyable to read about. All of it tied in to how she, as a queer woman, related to these on a personal and political level.

It was heavy but each essay was handled delicately and with an appropriate dash of humour. It provided a lot of insight, and food for thought. I especially enjoyed the conversation on storytelling and how memories can’t always be counted on as the years go by, making storytelling all the more important.

I’d recommend this to everyone, really! Especially if you are queer and love 90s horror movies.

[Steph Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Call Is Coming from Inside the House is a collection of essays centred on horror tropes and how the author – and possibly other readers/viewers – is able to relate them to her own experiences and fears, in childhood, motherhood, queerness, house-ownership and other life stages and identities.

The essays cover all sorts of classic horror-thrillers from film, TV and book, looking at familiar tropes like the ‘Final Girl’, haunted houses, pregnancy and parenting (plenty of horror to mine there, from my own experiences!).

All of the essays are well-constructed and argued, while remaining easy to read and referencing plenty of pop culture alongside more academic sources. While I don’t think that some of the analogies the author draws are quite as universal as her conclusions may imply, there is plenty of food for thought here and those looking for a cerebral, identity-centred perspective on familiar horrors will find this an interesting read.

[Elizabeth Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

McOuat writes about many deeply intimate issues, including pregnancy, anxiety, divorce, and bisexuality, which can be difficult to approach. She invites readers in with a mix of her own experiences and cultural artifacts that offered a way to balance the vulnerability while also calling attention to it. As someone who loves horror and grew up in the 90s, I had no trouble appreciating many of the references used (though some were ones I wasn’t familiar with). The bibliography included was also great.

As with many collections of essays, this one has a few that stand out in my memory (The Haunted House, The Man at the End of the Bed, The Fortune Teller) and truly enjoyed. However, the others either left no real imprint, felt repetitive, or had something I actively disliked. For me, these latter outweighed the former, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the book to anyone to read.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

|| THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE ||
#gifted @ecwpress
•
"There is no such thing as too happy, but you sure can be too sad. The gatekeeping I personally witnessed an experienced around the amount of sadness or frustration that society rations out to someone when they have been injured or mistreated includes definite social parameters don't be too maudlin; watch with whom you express your emotions; don't hyper fixate on your troubles; don't including anger in your grieving process; don't put anything in writing; don't let your children see you cry; and don't let your grief affect your productivity for too long. In other words please, go ahead and be sad, but don't wave it around in our faces and make it a problem. Friends want to be there for you but sadness is messy. Sadness wakes you up at 4:00 a.m. and won't let you go back to sleep. The worst the trauma, the more it is like drowning you threaten to bring down anyone who touches you."
•
"With all romances, once you start to see the object of your affection regularly, all of their odd bits and pieces start to stand out. A house was likely no different. When you remove the decorative accents someone made to their home, it's like you're removing that person from their own history."
•
Loved this collection! It was funny, intimate, and queer as it explored pop culture, identity, motherhood, pregnancy, horror, patriarchy, true crime, bisexuality and phantoms. I couldn't put this down! McOUAT seamlessly writes about so much in such an engaging way. It felt like sitting with a friend. I loved her style, stories and perspectives. The pop culture references were awesome, as a 90's kid I knew them all well.


For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong

[Kayla P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories really hit home for me. From anxiety to trauma to learning how to appreciate the things you’ve gone through, each essay felt like a friend sharing intimate stories with you.

The author finds a way to relate every day fears to media relevant to her and the time period which kept me flipping through each story. Her writing kept me entranced and hooked no matter what stage of her adult life and memories she looked back on. It reminds me that there are other women going through some of the same things, and there’s something to real and comforting about that.

I’ll be thinking about some of these essays for a long time and I’m very happy I read it. Will definitely be recommending!

Thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for the ARC :)

[Melanie Dahling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allyson’s essays are both intimate and archetypal. They’re uniquely personal, but deal with relatable universal themes. And, even if you cant see yourself in her stories, Allyson’s gifted at painting a picture with pop culture references. So you’re either the girl in the movie or the one with the popcorn. Either way, you’re engaged.

I was constantly entertained reading this. It felt like the kind of late night conversations you get into at a sleepover- funny, philosophical, heartbreaking.

I was so genuinely moved by her meditations on motherhood- I found myself getting a little weepy on a plane. Then I thought, “It’s like Im a girl in a movie getting weepy on a plane.”

[Tory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a good collection of essays. I wish it had started with some of the later essays as I think it would have pulled me in more. As a childfree woman, a lot of the essays were about motherhood and while they were interesting, it just wasn't as poignant and relatable for me. I do think mothers will enjoy these more than I did. Some of the weaving in of culture and horror was well done and seamless while others felt a bit forced. I did really like the Maiden, Mother, Crone, Raccoon essay. Solid collection, just not necessarily for me entirely.
3.5stars/5 rounded up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the digital ARC!

[RecycledWords · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this essay collection, McOuat focuses on topics ranging from queer motherhood to the loss of her mother. Many of the essays cover heavy subject matter, with references to popular culture serving as good examples to back up McOuat's observations on how our society views and treats women.

The writing style is open and honest, and whilst reading it felt like having a conversation with a friend. Many of the experiences McOuat shares will be familiar to many women.

I devoured this in a day and would not hesitate to revisit again later nor to pick up further titles by this author in future.

[Michaela Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a devoted fan of memoirs or essays. But I bought this book today and have finished it off in one sitting. The book is full of bite sized stories, each of which wanders off onto wonderful tangents that wind around yet always bring you back in where you started or at least to an adjacent place. There is something g here for everyone - about family, loss, displacement, anxiety, happiness, love and fear. Sometimes all at once. Go buy it!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you #Netgalley for this advanced copy!

What a raw and honest recollection of stories from Allyson. The book bounces from different stories she has experienced from being a mom and the impact that placed on her. Also loved the supernatural moments and what has happened in their home/homes they looked at.

[L Bianco · Rating 5 out of 5]

really liked this collection of essays, and I was surprised as I don’t usually like short stories or essays. But there was a continuity to the collection that pleased me, and Allyson blends so many references to books and films that I can see I will be going in many other directions following different threads.

[Alexander Pyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays that blur the line between memoir and cultural critique. A love letter to the "feminine" in horror, McOuat offers a small glimpse of her brilliantly entertaining storytelling.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Sascha · Rating 5 out of 5]

the call really is coming from inside the house.