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ptstewart's review against another edition
3.0
Mad Honey’s depiction of the nuances, ebbs, and flows of an abusive relationship is at once expertly woven and horrifyingly accurate. I oscillated between needing space from the novel for this reason and wanting it to be over so I could move on from its weight.
It should be stated that while official trigger warnings are not required in the world, the lack of implications for the extent of the violence in this novel—both physical and psychological—in relation not just to a married couple but to gender related and LGBTQ+ related violence is deeply unfortunate. Had I known the degree to which I would be exposed to such imagery, which also includes suicide and assault, I may have opted away from this. That said, I am unsure of the nature of either authors’ other work, so such subjects may be expected.
The writing is solid; if you ever want to see effective use of metaphor, this is a good example. The characterization is robust in the cases of both Olivia and Lilly, and plentiful but appropriately less thorough in the likes of Braydon and Jordan; Asher’s characterization was mixed and confusing, but this was clearly intentional, and it’s valid and well done. The information about bees is enjoyable and extensive, and it creates a soft edge to a character for whom it would be reasonable to be brittle and harsh given her lot. That said, what begins as information and experience begins to stumble into serving primarily a metaphoric purpose, which was well done but drawn out.
I will admit that I did not see the twist coming, and it was highly enjoyable. This appropriately complicated the case and the identity of Lilly. However, as time goes on, Lilly’s identity as an individual—regardless of gender—disappears as her narrative pulls away from her relationship and fixates on her identity. Perhaps this is true to the trans experience: you cannot separate your everyday experience from the complicated implications of being trans. Being trans is all consuming and informs every part of your being. I imagine if I pause to consider it, the reason I move through every minute of every day in the manner that I do is because I am a woman. However, I don’t pause to consider it. When I considered my sexuality, every moment of my experience was not defined by the possibility that I might be bi, even though that possibility resulted in great fear and a significant desire to hide. And maybe that’s my experience with identity and it’s not universal, but I’d like to believe we are more than our genders and sexualities. However, where Lilly’s narrative was intricately crafted around her relationship at first and the questions surrounding it, the connection to her murder begins to vanish as the novel continues and becomes more a depiction of child abuse and trans related trauma. And this is fine. But it shows an unraveling of the writing structure.
Let me argue my biggest point:
A novel with multiple perspectives and timelines begs for those timelines and perspectives to either run parallel to one another or converge. Take the Heroes of Olympus series, in which each POV aligns with one another, or The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell, in which the victim’s past perspective moves closer and closer to the event reveal while the victim’s mother’s current perspective moves closer and closer to solving the murder. These structures work because the tension in each plot line rises in tandem with the other plot lines.
Mad Honey doesn’t do this. Instead, the current timeline moves forward in the trial, presumably toward the reveal of the mystery, while the past timeline moves backward, away from the crux of the story. The success of this structure is that the reader has the unique experience of new chapters of Lilly’s providing substantial context for the previous chapter, as well as disorienting the reader when events that were mentioned early on by Lilly are revealed late in the trial in Olivia’s perspective. The failure is this: while tension rises in Olivia’s POV, it dissipates in Lilly’s as her narrative moves farther and farther from the crime and the story itself. The interactions between Lilly and Asher are so brief in her final chapters that the importance of those encounters is highly questionable in terms of the necessity of their inclusion. What we are left with is a trial in which we are deeply invested and a secondary narration that feels practically disconnected, and for which I finally sped up the audio playback so I could get back to the meat of the story more quickly. Did the story need to be so long? What work did Lilly’s final chapters do that either wasn’t accomplished or could not have been accomplished earlier?
I would be remiss not to mention the ending, which I found surprising but weak. The murderer’s characterization was not thorough enough to make the payoff fulfilling, even if it was surprising.
(I would like to add that the inclusion of Elizabeth was a helpful tool to clarify both information and the fact that the trans experience varies between each person. However, she was underused, making her purpose obvious and slightly disingenuous.
There’s a lot of discussion about this novel dealing with countless issues, and while I think that’s true, I think the complexity of motherhood is underdone, especially for Ava, given the attention offered to other topics.)
It should be stated that while official trigger warnings are not required in the world, the lack of implications for the extent of the violence in this novel—both physical and psychological—in relation not just to a married couple but to gender related and LGBTQ+ related violence is deeply unfortunate. Had I known the degree to which I would be exposed to such imagery, which also includes suicide and assault, I may have opted away from this. That said, I am unsure of the nature of either authors’ other work, so such subjects may be expected.
The writing is solid; if you ever want to see effective use of metaphor, this is a good example. The characterization is robust in the cases of both Olivia and Lilly, and plentiful but appropriately less thorough in the likes of Braydon and Jordan; Asher’s characterization was mixed and confusing, but this was clearly intentional, and it’s valid and well done. The information about bees is enjoyable and extensive, and it creates a soft edge to a character for whom it would be reasonable to be brittle and harsh given her lot. That said, what begins as information and experience begins to stumble into serving primarily a metaphoric purpose, which was well done but drawn out.
I will admit that I did not see the twist coming, and it was highly enjoyable. This appropriately complicated the case and the identity of Lilly. However, as time goes on, Lilly’s identity as an individual—regardless of gender—disappears as her narrative pulls away from her relationship and fixates on her identity. Perhaps this is true to the trans experience: you cannot separate your everyday experience from the complicated implications of being trans. Being trans is all consuming and informs every part of your being. I imagine if I pause to consider it, the reason I move through every minute of every day in the manner that I do is because I am a woman. However, I don’t pause to consider it. When I considered my sexuality, every moment of my experience was not defined by the possibility that I might be bi, even though that possibility resulted in great fear and a significant desire to hide. And maybe that’s my experience with identity and it’s not universal, but I’d like to believe we are more than our genders and sexualities. However, where Lilly’s narrative was intricately crafted around her relationship at first and the questions surrounding it, the connection to her murder begins to vanish as the novel continues and becomes more a depiction of child abuse and trans related trauma. And this is fine. But it shows an unraveling of the writing structure.
Let me argue my biggest point:
A novel with multiple perspectives and timelines begs for those timelines and perspectives to either run parallel to one another or converge. Take the Heroes of Olympus series, in which each POV aligns with one another, or The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell, in which the victim’s past perspective moves closer and closer to the event reveal while the victim’s mother’s current perspective moves closer and closer to solving the murder. These structures work because the tension in each plot line rises in tandem with the other plot lines.
Mad Honey doesn’t do this. Instead, the current timeline moves forward in the trial, presumably toward the reveal of the mystery, while the past timeline moves backward, away from the crux of the story. The success of this structure is that the reader has the unique experience of new chapters of Lilly’s providing substantial context for the previous chapter, as well as disorienting the reader when events that were mentioned early on by Lilly are revealed late in the trial in Olivia’s perspective. The failure is this: while tension rises in Olivia’s POV, it dissipates in Lilly’s as her narrative moves farther and farther from the crime and the story itself. The interactions between Lilly and Asher are so brief in her final chapters that the importance of those encounters is highly questionable in terms of the necessity of their inclusion. What we are left with is a trial in which we are deeply invested and a secondary narration that feels practically disconnected, and for which I finally sped up the audio playback so I could get back to the meat of the story more quickly. Did the story need to be so long? What work did Lilly’s final chapters do that either wasn’t accomplished or could not have been accomplished earlier?
I would be remiss not to mention the ending, which I found surprising but weak. The murderer’s characterization was not thorough enough to make the payoff fulfilling, even if it was surprising.
(I would like to add that the inclusion of Elizabeth was a helpful tool to clarify both information and the fact that the trans experience varies between each person. However, she was underused, making her purpose obvious and slightly disingenuous.
There’s a lot of discussion about this novel dealing with countless issues, and while I think that’s true, I think the complexity of motherhood is underdone, especially for Ava, given the attention offered to other topics.)
katiefayslacker's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
jessicanl's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
adelynk16's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
cbroderick226's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
darkangel2305's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
dawneelisabeth's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book made me question so much about myself and my belief system. I do wish I would have read up more on the content before reading, since I did need to skip over some more triggering parts. I did enjoy how Olivias chapters were the present and then Lilys was the past. The whole book I was guessing what would happen and I could never quiet pinpoint it. The ending felt slightly rushed though, how quickly Mya admitted that she did it. I would have liked a bit more buildup.
Overall, very interesting story with heavy topics and lots of information.
Overall, very interesting story with heavy topics and lots of information.
muirk128's review against another edition
5.0
I love that I knew nothing about this book other than I have been reading Picoult's novels for years and I hadn't read this one yet. To say that it blew me away with its twists and turns would be an understatement, while also making me wrestle with my own perceptions. Very powerful and couldn't put it down.
teekay717's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5