A review by jarvvis
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

dark funny mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This was fucked up and strange and interesting, but also thematically incoherent. There were a number of weird ideas, symbols etc. but none of them were fully expanded upon and therefore lacked impact. For example

Abby briefly references the idea that she loves Ralph because he is kind and maternal which is so twisted and weird I wanted so much more of that

. The writing style also bounced between having intrigue and a very personal tone, and just being plain bad. Also,

I feel like I’ve read every cannibalism novel ever and I’m kind of getting sick of it now. In order to make cannibalism land, you’ve gotta really tie it in to your themes and character motivations. I will not accept a simple “cannibalism-love-consumption” tacked on at the end. God I love hit show Hannibal.