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A review by annmariereads
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
4.0
What the actual what did I just read?? This was a weird little trainwreck in the best way possible and my jaw is still dropped.
No matter what Abby does, her mother-in-law, Laura hates her. When Abby and her husband, Ralph move in to help Laura, it only makes matters worse, but Abby knows that she has Ralph by her side through it all. However, when Laura takes her own life, Ralph becomes a tortured mess and his mother's ghost seems to haunt every aspect of their lives. What do you do when your horrible, dead mother-in-law still has a hold on you? Turn to your favorite cookbook, of course...
Heads up: child abuse, violence, cannibalism, suicide
I love stories that everything absolutely goes to hell inch by inch, snowballing in slow motion and WOW. Does it ever snowball! Plus naturally I'm in love with the pulpy collage of a cover!
I also just need to give Hogarth some serious praise. Her genius sentences all come together in the most brilliant, violent way and I adored her writing. I could not stop highlighting all of my favorite sentences.
The format was fantastic too. Some chapters were written almost like a play, which broke up the madness of Abby's stream of consciousness narrating. It did get a bit draggy about the 2/3 mark for me, but the book picked up speed again for THAT ending.
This book is most definitely weird and disturbing with dark comedy elements. So this read may not be for you. But if you like freaky stories with Moshfegh sort of protagonists, you'll be in for a treat with this one. But definitely not a Chicken a la King sort of treat...
No matter what Abby does, her mother-in-law, Laura hates her. When Abby and her husband, Ralph move in to help Laura, it only makes matters worse, but Abby knows that she has Ralph by her side through it all. However, when Laura takes her own life, Ralph becomes a tortured mess and his mother's ghost seems to haunt every aspect of their lives. What do you do when your horrible, dead mother-in-law still has a hold on you? Turn to your favorite cookbook, of course...
Heads up: child abuse, violence, cannibalism, suicide
I love stories that everything absolutely goes to hell inch by inch, snowballing in slow motion and WOW. Does it ever snowball! Plus naturally I'm in love with the pulpy collage of a cover!
I also just need to give Hogarth some serious praise. Her genius sentences all come together in the most brilliant, violent way and I adored her writing. I could not stop highlighting all of my favorite sentences.
The format was fantastic too. Some chapters were written almost like a play, which broke up the madness of Abby's stream of consciousness narrating. It did get a bit draggy about the 2/3 mark for me, but the book picked up speed again for THAT ending.
This book is most definitely weird and disturbing with dark comedy elements. So this read may not be for you. But if you like freaky stories with Moshfegh sort of protagonists, you'll be in for a treat with this one. But definitely not a Chicken a la King sort of treat...