Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

25 reviews

jkar7's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I almost DNFed this book, but then there was a hook that got me. I'm glad I finished! There were parts of this that really creeped me out, but also parts that made me laugh. Mary sometimes felt relatable and her inner-monolgue was sometimes funny, and other times super depressing and hard to read. 
But please, don't make the same mistake as me. Do not read the afterword.
And DEFINITELY check content warnings!

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year23's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I get why this wouldn't work for some readers - but it did work for me. I love a weird, horror, vengeful mysteries with elements I won't name here because that would be a spoiler. This worked for me - and the ending was much stronger than I thought it would be given a lot of horror books I've been reading lately sort of short-thrift the big climax scene at the end. 

I don't think the author handled the portrayal of a perimenopausal woman badly, it didn't feel off or out of touch (something that can happen a lot when cis het men write women characters, particularly ones who are older). I see the critiques but it didn't take me out of the story - in part because of the unreliable narrator of it all. I also appreciate that the author did use sensitivity readers and acknowledged the limits of their own experience - and still wrote this imaginative story. I just finished reading Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde - and it was a good reminder that the goal isn't to limit authors to write only their experience. Reading this right after that, I may have gone in with a different perspective - though will name I AM a perimenopausal woman and though that's really all I shared with the MC, I didn't feel personally that the voice or perspective was off or at worse, misogynistic.

There is misogyny in the text, but it's intentional - and thankfully there's a trigger warning by the author in the preface heading in. 

This is a different kind of horror in terms of the POV - it's all through the perspective of the POV apart from a few short scenes at the beginning and end.  I may be in the minority here - but I liked this choice. Yes, she is unlikeable - but there are a lot of reasons for that. 

I appreciated the portryal of trauma and it's impact as you get older - apart from the horror elements of the story, there's an interesting portrayal here of what it means to manage PTSD as you age. I will be seeking out more stories with that theme due to reading this book. 

On a whole - highly recommend to horror fans who are okay with gore (this isn't a cerebral type horror).

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parasolcrafter's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

0.25

i dont think ive ever read a book where i have so VISCERALLY hated an entire cast of characters this much ohhhhhh my GOD. genuinely the only likeable characters are nancy and eleanor,  and eleanor turns out horrible in the end (not unexpected at all, just sad) and nancy ends up dying and being the scapegoat for everything, even though she is the only genuiely Good Person (see what i did there, haha โ† chanelled the author of the book for that, do u see how annoying it is) in the WHOLE cast of characters. like...im sorry, but what the fuck? like i am genuinely asking: what the fuck. this book just REEKS of being written by someone who has no idea what on earth theyre writing about. and beyind that, the story is so wholly unsurprising, unshocking, un-fucking anything enjoyable. its a spectacle. it really is. its so truly incredible how badly everything came together.

none of the twists feel earned since they were all so easily guessable (like noooo way, mary is the serial killer reincarnated??? oh say it isnt so...surely nobody guessed that at all) and because of that, fell entirely flat. like never once was i caught off guard by a piece of info or shocked or felt as if anything we learned put anything into place snce everything felt obvious from the beginning. like we KNOW there's something wrong with mary from the beginning. we know she killed her neighbours dog. we know that. its obvious. like...i dont even know what else to say about that. it was all just SO badly implemented.

also like it truly is a little mind-blowing how this book still managed to drive home the old 'the serial killer is just a crazy psycho on the loose' despite the fact that i dont think that was meant to be the case...? thats an entirely horrible trope in and of itself and the fact that this book has it in it, just a somewhat misdrect from the entirely obvious plot point, is BAFFLING to me. like it adds nothing the story. nothing. and like..are we supposed to care about mary? are we supposed to sympathize with her? feel pity for her? i hate her. i wish she died out in that fucking desert. i wish the furies would have clawed her eyes out and skinned her the way the members of the flock do to their sacrifices. thats what she deserves. she is a horrible woman, through and through, with no redeeming qualities. i dont believe for even a SECOND that she was ever acting not of her own volition and that its all blamed on 'being the reincarnation of damon cross', aside from the few times he Actually took her over. but before that? before she knew? no; that was all mary.

the only few good parts about this is, at least, that the book is at least self-aware. i appreciated that there was a little bit of satire against true crime culture and it did seem to have (some) insight into what women g through during their lives and how they change during menopause, but those parts were few and far between.

the book also just isnt scary; except, maybe, scary how bad it is.

and to answer the question in the authors afterword which is, directly; 'Was this a story I should have pursued? Or should I have let it scratch in vain inside the haunted trunk of ideas that sits inside every writer's brain?' yes; you absolutely should have locked it away and never looked at this idea again, for fucks sake.

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scytheria's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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spookytaco's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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crispr_breadboard's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was incredible. Gory, lots of triggers, but the careful lens of looking at a peri-menopause woman deeply embedded in the toxic patriarchy WHILE STILL being a book about religion, sexism, ageism, and horror? Phew. It was a great book. 

Another impressive noteโ€” the author wrote with notable care and sensitivity about menopause- he has also written an afterword discussing the very real and complex topic of whether a man should even be *allowed* to write about the topic with such core themes around womanhood, menopause, and self identity. He did a fantastic job, which he acknowledges is also thanks to his editor and her team of sensitivity readers. Great work. 

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owlribbon's review

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2.5


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wylovat's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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magellen's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The author's note alone made me doubt continuing - what is it about white dudes where they beg you to give the book a chance because you'll LOVE it if you do? And then an afterword of 'I probably am not the person to write this book but I wanted to so SHRUG'?

Anyway my spouse asked if the author had used 'heavy pendulous breasts' yet, being a dude writing middle aged women, and literally two paragraphs down, badabing badaboom. ๐Ÿ™ƒ

Book takes far far far too long to get its legs and then keeps on ass dragging. There's decent turn of phrase but ugh. Like. Through and through, just...give yourself a break. Read something else.

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sarah984's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was just okay for me. It was way too long and unfocused in places but it had a few good scares and some of the stuff with the ghosts was great. I get what the author was trying to say with the ending but I'm not 100% sure it worked.

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