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kasvi_mavani's review against another edition
3.0
Review: Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
After reading this I’m staying single for life and that horrific description of birth makes me very inclined to steer clear of children.
This book follows Dani, a stay-at-home mother, who can’t stop thinking about her husband's death leaving her and her daughter with nothing. On a trip outside the house, she discovers the Temple and is entranced by the idea of working there to bring people to their greatest potential. She meets Renata, the owner, who suddenly disappears when Dani needs her the most.
After Motherthing, I was highly anticipating this release, but unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed. Let’s start with what I liked. I love Ainslie Hogarth’s humour and writing style. The dark jokes and sarcasm hooked me right away, and I actually laughed out loud at a couple lines throughout the book. Which probably says a lot about me, so let’s not analyze that. I liked the feminist and toxic masculinity commentary too. The author does a great job of saying what she wants to without taking us out of the story.
Here’s what didn’t work for me. The first half of this book was pretty slow and got a bit repetitive. I was hooked at the start, but by the time I got halfway through, I was starting to feel a bit burnt out reading the same thing over and over. The description of the book was misleading for me since it suggests that her friend going missing is what the book is about, while that was just a super quick plot point at the end of the book. The end didn’t leave me fully satisfied, I felt like we were building up to something different and more psychological than it ended up being.
So while not loving this as much as Motherthing, I’m really very excited to read what Ainslie Hogarth comes up with next.
I want to say a quick thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Genre: Domestic Fiction/Dark Comedy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
After reading this I’m staying single for life and that horrific description of birth makes me very inclined to steer clear of children.
This book follows Dani, a stay-at-home mother, who can’t stop thinking about her husband's death leaving her and her daughter with nothing. On a trip outside the house, she discovers the Temple and is entranced by the idea of working there to bring people to their greatest potential. She meets Renata, the owner, who suddenly disappears when Dani needs her the most.
After Motherthing, I was highly anticipating this release, but unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed. Let’s start with what I liked. I love Ainslie Hogarth’s humour and writing style. The dark jokes and sarcasm hooked me right away, and I actually laughed out loud at a couple lines throughout the book. Which probably says a lot about me, so let’s not analyze that. I liked the feminist and toxic masculinity commentary too. The author does a great job of saying what she wants to without taking us out of the story.
Here’s what didn’t work for me. The first half of this book was pretty slow and got a bit repetitive. I was hooked at the start, but by the time I got halfway through, I was starting to feel a bit burnt out reading the same thing over and over. The description of the book was misleading for me since it suggests that her friend going missing is what the book is about, while that was just a super quick plot point at the end of the book. The end didn’t leave me fully satisfied, I felt like we were building up to something different and more psychological than it ended up being.
So while not loving this as much as Motherthing, I’m really very excited to read what Ainslie Hogarth comes up with next.
I want to say a quick thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Genre: Domestic Fiction/Dark Comedy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5
jordanbet's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like this had potential but it didn't really do it for me. I loved the conversations around the societal expectations of women and mothers and how parenting is so gendered. Overall it's very "meh".
heather3086's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
mellove's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
harperhg's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
lit_laugh_luv's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 stars rounded up - thank you to Vintage and NetGalley for the ARC! I was a fan of Motherthing and Hogarth’s dark humour and quick wit, so Normal Women was on my radar the second it was announced. Unfortunately this ended up being a huge disappointment for me and a stark departure from the qualities I enjoyed in Motherthing.
The novel focuses on Dani navigating the tribulations of motherhood and the social pressures of parenting, marriage and inequities in the roles of motherhood versus fatherhood. Her dissatisfaction with her life draws her to the Temple, an organization of sex workers who Dani slowly integrates herself into for its promise of independence and financial freedom it can provide to her and her daughter. Beyond that, there is an odd fascination with affogatos which get mentioned literally dozens of times throughout the novel?
The pacing of the book is very slow, with much of the book circling around the same topics and doing little to develop the characters beyond the exaggerated tropes they represent. Though I recognize I won’t ever be able to relate to motherhood nor the unequal social pressures women face, the depiction of both motherhood and sex work in this felt at times to be a bit of a mockery rather than satire. The book delves very little into some of the broader discourse at play here (like gentrification, sexism and capitalism), but the dark humour ultimately didn’t land for me. The representation of internet culture, modern stay-at-home moms and gender roles just felt very literal without much exploration, and lacks the sharp wit behind the commentary which made Motherthing so successful. Several subplots are introduced and quickly abandoned with little to no impact on the events of the book.
The plot of the book teases a dark direction (along with several other heavy handed red herrings), but ultimately ends up flatlining and ending in a very obvious and unsatisfactory way. Dani was a very bland and unlikeable protagonist for me, and ancillary characters only existed to push the narrative forward without offering much else. There is certainly allusions to horror elements and an underlying mystery (which the synopsis heavily advertises yet is a very minor part of the book), but ultimately the book is very much a simple domestic fiction with an abrupt and unrealistic ending. I wouldn’t call this a horror or mystery at all.
Certainly not my favourite book this year but may be loved by a target audience I just don’t belong to!
The novel focuses on Dani navigating the tribulations of motherhood and the social pressures of parenting, marriage and inequities in the roles of motherhood versus fatherhood. Her dissatisfaction with her life draws her to the Temple, an organization of sex workers who Dani slowly integrates herself into for its promise of independence and financial freedom it can provide to her and her daughter. Beyond that, there is an odd fascination with affogatos which get mentioned literally dozens of times throughout the novel?
The pacing of the book is very slow, with much of the book circling around the same topics and doing little to develop the characters beyond the exaggerated tropes they represent. Though I recognize I won’t ever be able to relate to motherhood nor the unequal social pressures women face, the depiction of both motherhood and sex work in this felt at times to be a bit of a mockery rather than satire. The book delves very little into some of the broader discourse at play here (like gentrification, sexism and capitalism), but the dark humour ultimately didn’t land for me. The representation of internet culture, modern stay-at-home moms and gender roles just felt very literal without much exploration, and lacks the sharp wit behind the commentary which made Motherthing so successful. Several subplots are introduced and quickly abandoned with little to no impact on the events of the book.
The plot of the book teases a dark direction (along with several other heavy handed red herrings), but ultimately ends up flatlining and ending in a very obvious and unsatisfactory way. Dani was a very bland and unlikeable protagonist for me, and ancillary characters only existed to push the narrative forward without offering much else. There is certainly allusions to horror elements and an underlying mystery (which the synopsis heavily advertises yet is a very minor part of the book), but ultimately the book is very much a simple domestic fiction with an abrupt and unrealistic ending. I wouldn’t call this a horror or mystery at all.
Certainly not my favourite book this year but may be loved by a target audience I just don’t belong to!
maisilu24's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
honestly couldn’t stay engaged, took me awhile to finish this one, which is hard when you don’t like the majority of the characters in this book. i was hoping it would pick up but i was overall pretty disappointed by this one
swept_up_in_books's review against another edition
Originally picked this up in January and picked up again yesterday. I realised why I hadn’t gone back to it.
I’m not sure where the plot was going and I just didn’t like the MC enough to carry on. Felt like a fever dream.
When a book makes you fall asleep it’s time to quit.
mars_clutter's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"A whole village, Dani realized then, in the cozy dark of the parked van, in one normal woman."
But also sooooo unhinged!
Ainslie Hogarth speaks to my soul in everything she writes.
But also sooooo unhinged!
Ainslie Hogarth speaks to my soul in everything she writes.
georgiaanderson's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75