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A review by jayishino
Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
TikTok owes me some money.
On the surface Mary is the story of a perimenopausal woman who leaves NY to care for her ailing aunt in AZ. A more in-depth look will tell you it's a story about misogyny. However, it's told as a horror, a very grotesque one too (and more often than not it's gratuitous). It seems to be gross for the sake of being gross. I won't post spoilers, but there are other reviews that have them if you're really interested.
This book is a lot. And I mean that literally. In fact, I mentally checked out (thank goodness for audiobooks amirite?) at about the 60% mark because I had no clue WTF was going on. There are cults and reincarnation and ghosts. Oh my! Yes, like I said it's a lot. More than that there are approximately 1700 characters (obvi an exaggeration but it really felt like that many), and I couldn't keep them straight after a while. Mary herself is not only an unreliable narrator, she's also incredibly unlikable. Being in her head for 400+ pages was excruciating. Not only because of those facts, but because the pacing of this book is incredibly slow. Also, if I never heard the words "Loved Ones" again it will be too soon.
If you like gross-out horror, and books about middle aged women written by men, then maybe pick up this book. However, it goes without saying (but I'm gonna say it anyway) that this book was not for me.
On the surface Mary is the story of a perimenopausal woman who leaves NY to care for her ailing aunt in AZ. A more in-depth look will tell you it's a story about misogyny. However, it's told as a horror, a very grotesque one too (and more often than not it's gratuitous). It seems to be gross for the sake of being gross. I won't post spoilers, but there are other reviews that have them if you're really interested.
This book is a lot. And I mean that literally. In fact, I mentally checked out (thank goodness for audiobooks amirite?) at about the 60% mark because I had no clue WTF was going on. There are cults and reincarnation and ghosts. Oh my! Yes, like I said it's a lot. More than that there are approximately 1700 characters (obvi an exaggeration but it really felt like that many), and I couldn't keep them straight after a while. Mary herself is not only an unreliable narrator, she's also incredibly unlikable. Being in her head for 400+ pages was excruciating. Not only because of those facts, but because the pacing of this book is incredibly slow. Also, if I never heard the words "Loved Ones" again it will be too soon.
If you like gross-out horror, and books about middle aged women written by men, then maybe pick up this book. However, it goes without saying (but I'm gonna say it anyway) that this book was not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Sexism, Murder, Mental illness, and Misogyny