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A review by ashction
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power
5.0
Wow, this book is so! fricking! good!
I didn't have the pleasure of being able to read Power's debut, Wilder Girls, mostly because I couldn't stomach the body horror in the first two chapters and figured it would only get worse from there. So, when I requested Burn Our Bodies Down (and actually received it! Thanks Netgalley and Random House!), I was hoping it would be more tame. For those of you who, like me, can't handle intense body horror, definitely give Burn Our Bodies a try!
Burn Our Bodies follows Margot Nielson, the daughter of Josephine Nielson, as a girl who has been walking on eggshells all her life. Margot has always wanted to know about the family her mother never talks about - they must exist, right? - and after a chance discovery that finally gives her the link to a grandmother she's never known and an escape from Jo's selfish, burning, barbed-wire love and care, she takes it and leaves to find herself in Phalene. But even when she arrives, all is not as it seems, because there's a fresh fire on the Nielson farm and a dead girl who looks an awful lot like Margot that leads to the unraveling of a family mystery that will leave you breathless and desperate to turn every page.
The Nielson family is super toxic, so if that's a trigger for you, please be warned. I'd list other content warnings, but Rory Power does it best on her website, so please consult her before reading this book if you have any concerns.
Once I started this story, I couldn't put it down. I read a quarter of it in one sitting, and the other three-quarters of it last night, because once I started it back up, I couldn't put it down until I knew the truth. Power's writing here is phenomenal; she does such a great job of using simple. short sentences and Margot to really push the story along. The twist was a bit unexpected, and it was a fun journey trying to piece together the fragments of the past that left Jo to want to leave Phalene a long time ago. The twist itself is unique; I personally haven't seen anything like that before, so I thought it was really cool. There's really nothing about this novel I don't like! Everything feels tight, and the story completely ties up in a way that is both appropriate and without any loose, unsatisfying ends.
If you wanted to read Wilder Girls but couldn't, definitely give Burn Our Bodies Down a try. It's so powerful both as a story and as a mediation on family, motherhood, and the bonds of the past. I completely recommend!
I received this book from Netgalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.
I didn't have the pleasure of being able to read Power's debut, Wilder Girls, mostly because I couldn't stomach the body horror in the first two chapters and figured it would only get worse from there. So, when I requested Burn Our Bodies Down (and actually received it! Thanks Netgalley and Random House!), I was hoping it would be more tame. For those of you who, like me, can't handle intense body horror, definitely give Burn Our Bodies a try!
Burn Our Bodies follows Margot Nielson, the daughter of Josephine Nielson, as a girl who has been walking on eggshells all her life. Margot has always wanted to know about the family her mother never talks about - they must exist, right? - and after a chance discovery that finally gives her the link to a grandmother she's never known and an escape from Jo's selfish, burning, barbed-wire love and care, she takes it and leaves to find herself in Phalene. But even when she arrives, all is not as it seems, because there's a fresh fire on the Nielson farm and a dead girl who looks an awful lot like Margot that leads to the unraveling of a family mystery that will leave you breathless and desperate to turn every page.
The Nielson family is super toxic, so if that's a trigger for you, please be warned. I'd list other content warnings, but Rory Power does it best on her website, so please consult her before reading this book if you have any concerns.
Once I started this story, I couldn't put it down. I read a quarter of it in one sitting, and the other three-quarters of it last night, because once I started it back up, I couldn't put it down until I knew the truth. Power's writing here is phenomenal; she does such a great job of using simple. short sentences and Margot to really push the story along. The twist was a bit unexpected, and it was a fun journey trying to piece together the fragments of the past that left Jo to want to leave Phalene a long time ago. The twist itself is unique; I personally haven't seen anything like that before, so I thought it was really cool. There's really nothing about this novel I don't like! Everything feels tight, and the story completely ties up in a way that is both appropriate and without any loose, unsatisfying ends.
If you wanted to read Wilder Girls but couldn't, definitely give Burn Our Bodies Down a try. It's so powerful both as a story and as a mediation on family, motherhood, and the bonds of the past. I completely recommend!
I received this book from Netgalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.