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A review by coralinejones
Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
3.0
A book that starts with "there's a corpse in the bathtub" Should have a darker, gothic vibe to it, right? It should flow easily throughout the pages, causing me to shake in fear and grip my e-reader with an intense need to figure out what's going on.
It did when the book first began and the way everything was described was soooo intriguing to me I thought I found another 5 star read this year. Even when we first met Mary and she found that child at her workplace (IYKYK) I was hooked and couldn't wait to see what other weird shit unfolds. Unfortunately, especially when we get to the middle parts of this novel, it kind of dragged with minor horror elements thrown about here and there. By the time we get to the meat and potatoes of the story I was like "eh". I do think the last half of the book is fun if you're willing to sit through it.
I also assume the point of this novel was to feel bad for Mary the same way you do for the original inspiration, Carrie White. However, I did not. I couldn't really find it in me to care for her, feel bad for her, empathize with her, etc. Don't get me wrong, I get that she hasn't had an easy life, nor an easy time as it currently stands, but I didn't really care, lol. As a big "Carrie" (by Stephen King) fan, I don't really see the comparison or the inspiration between this novel and that. I certainly can't take that away from the author but as I read through I kept trying to make the connections but it just fell short.
I will say that Cassidy, I assume, did a good job at explaining what it's like transitioning into middle age-womanhood; I'm not middle aged and I'm non-binary, and the author is a man, but it did feel authentic and realistic. I've read other reviews of this book and people around that age have explained they felt seen, or that the experiences Mary went through rang true to them and their family, so I can absolutely give him that!
All-in-all, "What if Carrie had no powers, lived to be older, and still got revenge on her bullies?!" This book really wasn't any of that to me.
It did when the book first began and the way everything was described was soooo intriguing to me I thought I found another 5 star read this year. Even when we first met Mary and she found that child at her workplace (IYKYK) I was hooked and couldn't wait to see what other weird shit unfolds. Unfortunately, especially when we get to the middle parts of this novel, it kind of dragged with minor horror elements thrown about here and there. By the time we get to the meat and potatoes of the story I was like "eh". I do think the last half of the book is fun if you're willing to sit through it.
I also assume the point of this novel was to feel bad for Mary the same way you do for the original inspiration, Carrie White. However, I did not. I couldn't really find it in me to care for her, feel bad for her, empathize with her, etc. Don't get me wrong, I get that she hasn't had an easy life, nor an easy time as it currently stands, but I didn't really care, lol. As a big "Carrie" (by Stephen King) fan, I don't really see the comparison or the inspiration between this novel and that. I certainly can't take that away from the author but as I read through I kept trying to make the connections but it just fell short.
I will say that Cassidy, I assume, did a good job at explaining what it's like transitioning into middle age-womanhood; I'm not middle aged and I'm non-binary, and the author is a man, but it did feel authentic and realistic. I've read other reviews of this book and people around that age have explained they felt seen, or that the experiences Mary went through rang true to them and their family, so I can absolutely give him that!
All-in-all, "What if Carrie had no powers, lived to be older, and still got revenge on her bullies?!" This book really wasn't any of that to me.