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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you see a girl who looks like you, run and fight. Don’t bleed. If you bleed, blot, burn, and bleach. If you find a hole, find your parents.
Imagine that, as you read this, you get a nosebleed. How do you feel?
Probably a bit annoyed, right? Maybe coupled with a little latent embarrassment from those times you got one at school. No doubt there's a little acorn of anxiety deep down about it (what if it's a harbinger of something worse?) especially if you're not used to getting them anymore.
Now imagine that, as a result of this nosebleed, a murderous doppelgänger has just been birthed and it's on its way to kill you.
How do you feel now?! Terrified? Baffled? Terribaffled?!
Well, for Molly Southbourne, this is her daily reality- that a drop of her blood spawns a vicious duplicate of her- and in this taut and unputdownable horror novella, you will feel all of that dread and confusion and then some. Thompson's slim read is an immensely creepy affair, one that speaks to an unnamable body horror about our own identities and self-perceived uniqueness. There are allegories about parenthood, adolescence, simulacra and the multitudinous self. Beyond any literary analysis though, this is just a malevolently gruesome and unsettling story. The multiple scenes where Molly wakes up to see a molly staring at her from across her bedroom are some of the most effective horror I've read in years and I read the whole thing in just two brief sittings.
Thompson's prose is blunt and forceful, full of ambiguous spaces where reader's thoughts and interpretations can echo. It is a bizarre, brutal but brilliantly compelling short read.
Just hope you don't get a nosebleed after reading it....
Imagine that, as you read this, you get a nosebleed. How do you feel?
Probably a bit annoyed, right? Maybe coupled with a little latent embarrassment from those times you got one at school. No doubt there's a little acorn of anxiety deep down about it (what if it's a harbinger of something worse?) especially if you're not used to getting them anymore.
Now imagine that, as a result of this nosebleed, a murderous doppelgänger has just been birthed and it's on its way to kill you.
How do you feel now?! Terrified? Baffled? Terribaffled?!
Well, for Molly Southbourne, this is her daily reality- that a drop of her blood spawns a vicious duplicate of her- and in this taut and unputdownable horror novella, you will feel all of that dread and confusion and then some. Thompson's slim read is an immensely creepy affair, one that speaks to an unnamable body horror about our own identities and self-perceived uniqueness. There are allegories about parenthood, adolescence, simulacra and the multitudinous self. Beyond any literary analysis though, this is just a malevolently gruesome and unsettling story. The multiple scenes where Molly wakes up to see a molly staring at her from across her bedroom are some of the most effective horror I've read in years and I read the whole thing in just two brief sittings.
Thompson's prose is blunt and forceful, full of ambiguous spaces where reader's thoughts and interpretations can echo. It is a bizarre, brutal but brilliantly compelling short read.
Just hope you don't get a nosebleed after reading it....
Interesting story that left you hanging for a little more. I liked the main character but the framing aspect left me a little confused. Overall, a nice chilling read that really made me want to explore this world that Thompson has created in more detail.
Welp, you can always rely on the tor.com novellas for that atmospheric wtfery without which the world of SF narrative would be that much poorer.
Thompson picked the right length for this. Too short and it would feel unfulfilling. And longer and it would stop being about the horror and experience and engage with the plot. Like so many good novellas, this isn’t about the plot.
Also, the novella length gives Thompson the space to think about life giving and murder and women without needing to...go anywhere with it. I think I have to think more about this.
Thompson picked the right length for this. Too short and it would feel unfulfilling. And longer and it would stop being about the horror and experience and engage with the plot. Like so many good novellas, this isn’t about the plot.
Also, the novella length gives Thompson the space to think about life giving and murder and women without needing to...go anywhere with it. I think I have to think more about this.
Tade Thompson demonstrates his ability to write stories along the speculative fiction spectrum!
"The Murders of Molly Southbourne" is a unique blend of horror and science fiction, with the story moving back and forth between the two genres. The novella introduces us to a woman chained to a chair in a basement. Another woman enters the room, cares for her, then tells her a story that she needs to remember.
For as long as she can remember, Molly Southbourne has been able to replicate herself into clones of herself. However, these are no mere twins of Molly, but altered versions of her that try to kill her. The "mollys" are replicated from her blood, so she must be cautious about injuring herself. In addition, she has to learn how to defend herself and to defeat the other "mollys." Molly has no idea why this happens to her, but her parents are aware of her "condition" and teach her everything she needs to know in order to survive, but they don't explain to her why this happens to her.
Tade Thompson provides a believable story in which, readers ask themselves: What if that was me? What would I do? The story reveals the numerous incidents throughout Molly Southbourne's life that ends at the climax. Or, does it? How many mollys are there? How similar and different are each one from the other?
This story starts off as confusing the reader as it does the woman who is tied to the chair. But, by the end, enough is revealed that things start to make sense. Then, a decision is made and readers are left wondering: What next? The compassion readers will have for Molly Southbourne are genuine. And, readers will want more.
"The Murders of Molly Southbourne" is a fresh take on the genres of both horror and science fiction.
If you're interested in reading my other review of this book, then please click here: https://mistyaquavenatus.com/2019/06/27/why-you-need-to-read-the-murders-of-molly-southbourne.
"The Murders of Molly Southbourne" is a unique blend of horror and science fiction, with the story moving back and forth between the two genres. The novella introduces us to a woman chained to a chair in a basement. Another woman enters the room, cares for her, then tells her a story that she needs to remember.
For as long as she can remember, Molly Southbourne has been able to replicate herself into clones of herself. However, these are no mere twins of Molly, but altered versions of her that try to kill her. The "mollys" are replicated from her blood, so she must be cautious about injuring herself. In addition, she has to learn how to defend herself and to defeat the other "mollys." Molly has no idea why this happens to her, but her parents are aware of her "condition" and teach her everything she needs to know in order to survive, but they don't explain to her why this happens to her.
Tade Thompson provides a believable story in which, readers ask themselves: What if that was me? What would I do? The story reveals the numerous incidents throughout Molly Southbourne's life that ends at the climax. Or, does it? How many mollys are there? How similar and different are each one from the other?
This story starts off as confusing the reader as it does the woman who is tied to the chair. But, by the end, enough is revealed that things start to make sense. Then, a decision is made and readers are left wondering: What next? The compassion readers will have for Molly Southbourne are genuine. And, readers will want more.
"The Murders of Molly Southbourne" is a fresh take on the genres of both horror and science fiction.
If you're interested in reading my other review of this book, then please click here: https://mistyaquavenatus.com/2019/06/27/why-you-need-to-read-the-murders-of-molly-southbourne.
This book is so. Strange. A woman wakes up in a pool of her own blood, chained to a wall in a windowless room. A woman who appears to be her captor enters, sits down, and begins to tell her own life story. The captor is named Molly. She was raised on a farm by her parents. Whenever Molly bleeds, more Mollys spring from the blood. And then those other Mollys try to kill her.
Astoundingly, both a well crafted and relatable coming of age narrative and also a perplexing science fictional parable with plenty of mysteries left at the end.
Astoundingly, both a well crafted and relatable coming of age narrative and also a perplexing science fictional parable with plenty of mysteries left at the end.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes