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ogreatbubblyone 's review for:
Suburban Hell
by Maureen Kilmer
Oh my god, I hated this book so much. I am reluctant to DNF, but this was a struggle to get through.
Surface-level mommy issues. We have to do all of the housework and child-rearing (which must suck because it doesn’t seem like Amy is that interested in her children), some of our husbands are jerks or can’t be bothered to be interested in us ~ but that’s fine, it’s wine-o’clock. Why dive any deeper or try to make a change in your world when you can be a functioning alcoholic? That’s so much easier! No accountability on anyone to do better and we can all keep complaining! These are real issues that real women face - I feel like a more nuanced and interesting point could have been made about these women demanding better. I feel like I’m disappointed in this book because it had potential. It just didn’t follow through with it.
Main character saw a horror movie once, omg so quirky, weird! Thank god she’s here, to continue to not be helpful. And shove in like one slightly-altered plot point from Midsommar to have a smidge of personal development (making peace with her sister’s death (while mostly making it about herself?))? She also did start a company at the end, but it seems like a stretch to the extent that she was unable to find work through out the book - and also seemed to hate having to participate or plan things. Or make more than a half-hearted effort without coercion. So much whining about the Carnival for that not to be the climax of the story.
Also, why did the rabbit at the end have to be a “sign” from the dead sister? I had to go back to refresh on the pet bunnies at the beginning. It didn’t leave enough of an impression for Amy to show, not tell us what the “sign” was at the end.
So much product placement. I am not impressed by your Apple Watch. Why do you keep bringing it up? I do not see how this is relevant. The demons are not impressed by your Apple Watch. No one cares that Jess does CrossFit ~ glad you got a chance to brag directly to the demon-ghost about that one though. It seems like these are a group of pretentious people who think they get a pass on being pretentious because they’re not the popular moms?
It really doesn’t seem like this friend-group liked Liz. Saving her narrowly avoided being an after-thought. Do we like Liz? I guess Liz does stuff for us, we like that. Might as well save Liz. Thank god Liz at least got to ask for a separation at the end (should’ve been a divorce, but baby steps). I was convinced the author was just going to let that slide. I’m glad she got something out of this experience, because being reunited with her friends doesn’t feel like a real prize.
Also, I feel like if your wife says she’s going next door to exorcise her friend, your instinct should be to call the cops before she accidentally kills someone. Not brush it off like, ‘I don’t believe in demons, but to each their own. I think you might be a little weird, but I don’t care enough to try and stop you. That would require some effort on my part and… meh. I’m the good husband, I’m supposed to be understanding not proactive. Gosh.’ This book almost would have been more interesting if they had been delusional and killed their friend, and then had to deal with the consequences of that. The exorcism scene, for what went wrong was still away to easy. I think it’s more likely suburban moms did some property damage than saved the world. That line was pretty ham-fisted. It seems like Heather got possessed by a different entity at the end but it just wasn’t very compelling. There was no tension with this reveal.
Surface-level mommy issues. We have to do all of the housework and child-rearing (which must suck because it doesn’t seem like Amy is that interested in her children), some of our husbands are jerks or can’t be bothered to be interested in us ~ but that’s fine, it’s wine-o’clock. Why dive any deeper or try to make a change in your world when you can be a functioning alcoholic? That’s so much easier! No accountability on anyone to do better and we can all keep complaining! These are real issues that real women face - I feel like a more nuanced and interesting point could have been made about these women demanding better. I feel like I’m disappointed in this book because it had potential. It just didn’t follow through with it.
Main character saw a horror movie once, omg so quirky, weird! Thank god she’s here, to continue to not be helpful. And shove in like one slightly-altered plot point from Midsommar to have a smidge of personal development (making peace with her sister’s death (while mostly making it about herself?))? She also did start a company at the end, but it seems like a stretch to the extent that she was unable to find work through out the book - and also seemed to hate having to participate or plan things. Or make more than a half-hearted effort without coercion. So much whining about the Carnival for that not to be the climax of the story.
Also, why did the rabbit at the end have to be a “sign” from the dead sister? I had to go back to refresh on the pet bunnies at the beginning. It didn’t leave enough of an impression for Amy to show, not tell us what the “sign” was at the end.
So much product placement. I am not impressed by your Apple Watch. Why do you keep bringing it up? I do not see how this is relevant. The demons are not impressed by your Apple Watch. No one cares that Jess does CrossFit ~ glad you got a chance to brag directly to the demon-ghost about that one though. It seems like these are a group of pretentious people who think they get a pass on being pretentious because they’re not the popular moms?
It really doesn’t seem like this friend-group liked Liz. Saving her narrowly avoided being an after-thought. Do we like Liz? I guess Liz does stuff for us, we like that. Might as well save Liz. Thank god Liz at least got to ask for a separation at the end (should’ve been a divorce, but baby steps). I was convinced the author was just going to let that slide. I’m glad she got something out of this experience, because being reunited with her friends doesn’t feel like a real prize.
Also, I feel like if your wife says she’s going next door to exorcise her friend, your instinct should be to call the cops before she accidentally kills someone. Not brush it off like, ‘I don’t believe in demons, but to each their own. I think you might be a little weird, but I don’t care enough to try and stop you. That would require some effort on my part and… meh. I’m the good husband, I’m supposed to be understanding not proactive. Gosh.’ This book almost would have been more interesting if they had been delusional and killed their friend, and then had to deal with the consequences of that. The exorcism scene, for what went wrong was still away to easy. I think it’s more likely suburban moms did some property damage than saved the world. That line was pretty ham-fisted. It seems like Heather got possessed by a different entity at the end but it just wasn’t very compelling. There was no tension with this reveal.