Motherthing starts off normal enough, a tragic death in the family shortly after Ralph and Abbie move into Ralph's family home.

You learn a bit about Ralph and Abbies past and how the are in the situation they are in. By the end you are wondering if you are reading paragraphs correctly. I had to double back multiple times to make sure I had just read what I thought I did. This book is weird in all the right places. This makes a great Halloween season read, and potential buy for me in the future. I would.for sure read this again.

I don't think this book was for me. And I don't think it's because the book was necessarily bad, but rather a case of mismarketing. This isn't horror, at least not in my opinion. It's a book about trauma and craving a mother figure in your life and how the main character deals with that as an adult. She forms attachments to people (her husband and a lady she cares for at her job) thinking that they can save her, while desperately looking for approval and care that she never got from her mother when she was younger. It's clear that her mother was awful and that it's stuck with Abby for her whole life, and that's really sad to read about for sure. Her mother-in-law was also awful which gave her basically a double whammy on sucky mother figures. Bummer, huh? But...this wasn't horror. Maybe the last 8-10%? And maybe this is just a different style of horror that I'm unfamiliar with and I'm completely reading it wrong and just "didn't get it" or whatever. Maybe it's "elevated horror" and I'm not elevated enough to understand it? But it wasn't for me. Now I will say that there were several times I did laugh out loud while reading and think "Man, this is just like my experience with my MiL!" so that's what made me give this at least 2 stars, because those were good experiences I had while reading. But the rest of the book just didn't do it for me, sadly. I can see where this would probably be a good book for someone else, though, and based on the reviews that I've seen, it's a pretty well-liked book! Hopefully it finds its audience.

Thank you, NetGalley and publisher, for this ARC! Motherthing tells the story of Abby, a woman who desperately wants to be a mother, despite having a complicated relationship with the mothers around her. Her own mother was neglecting and abusive. Her mother-in-law was narcissistic and cold. She projects the motherly love she’s always wanted onto other people and things around her—her husband, a disabled elderly woman she cares for Mrs. Bondy, a cherished cookbook, even a couch. When her mother-in-law Laura takes her own life and begins to haunt Abby and her husband, Abby must face her own troubled past and resort to strange and drastic measures to free her family from Laura’s grasp.
This book reminded me SO much of Nightbitch—it’s weird and bizarre and has a similar focus on femininity and motherhood. It also has a really unique narrative style, like Nightbitch did as well. However, this is NOT Nightbitch…this book surprised me and had me screaming “WHAT???” While it was a little slow at first, once the plot picked up, I was glued to this weird and wild story and could NOT get to the ending fast enough.

𝑫𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔: 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌, 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒄 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔, 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒚, 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔, 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅.

If the house is a vault of depression, than the keeper is Laura, the Motherthing whose presence lingers, rotting every inch of Ralph and Abby’s lives. The cover is perfect and for some reason reminds me of the show Tales From the Crypt (it was a horror series that began in 1989), much like this gory, vile story, the characters were unhinged and often they were all villains. You knew there were no silver linings, zero chance of a happy ending. The novel begins with Laura’s depression and pain, which she yields like a weapon, even in her final act. It ain’t pretty folks. Ralph and Abby uprooted their lives to move in and support Laura when she needed them. Abby never had a comforting family life herself and if she was looking to her mother-in-law for the maternal love her own mom failed to provide, she chose the wrong family to marry into. We get vague memories of what Abby endured with her own needy mother, as a child she was ‘collateral damage’ to her mother’s tumultuous relationships and her endless rages. She lived on ‘runoff nourishment’ from the adoration her mother’s boyfriends were treated to in the early stages of love. Has this left her unhinged herself?

Ralph is in shock, who wouldn’t be, and swamped by “late love” for his dead mother , who apparently had mental health struggles that she refused to get help for; his mother who was so hard to openly love in life. He cannot comprehend what has happened and is sinking in guilt and shame. She wasn’t your average, critical, mean spirited mother-in-law but a cold, calculated, monster from Abby’s perspective. A cruel woman who stole the very health and joy from her beloved son. Abby is optimistic that with her gruesome exit there will finally be peace and freedom. Now she and Ralph can focus on the future, have a baby, all will be glorious. She may have done something to offend the deceased, but so what? Laura owed them so much and how dare she take her life? Wound Ralph like that? Things are finally going to get better for them. Abby can finally relax, put things where she wants, act as she pleases without fear of condemnation. First she has to clean up all the blood, mind you this isn’t a novel for those with weak stomachs.

Enter the vengeful ghost, the Motherthing, lurking in the shadows, creeping into her son through his darkening moods. Could it be? Or is Abby losing her grip on reality? Worse, Ralph is taking on behaviors just like Laura, retreating into his all-consuming grief, refusing to move out of the house, which has been a prison for them. Nothing is going as she imagined it would. In fact, Abby spends a lot of time playing out scenarios in her head. She is going to cure Ralph, she is the only woman who can save him from himself, and from the ugliness Laura has stirred within him. Abby best knows how to care for people, like the ailing Mrs. Bondy, a favored patient whom she tends to at the long term care center where she is a support worker (not a nurse). Mrs. Bondy’s own vile daughter needs to stop interfering, obviously doesn’t love her mother enough, doesn’t understand her like Abby does. Listening to her talk about thinking of Mrs. Bondy as her baby gives the tale a peculiar feeling. In fact, so much of this story gives the reader the heebie jeebies, and isn’t that the mark of a good tale, even if it is disturbing? It rattled me. I don’t even want to imagine it on the big screen, it would be a abhorrent, but there is an audience for it. It’s too real, I suppose, the psychological torment. It is human beings at their worst. Violence is entering Abby’s blood stream, is it her mother-in-law from the grave causing all these earthquakes in her life? Ralph is rejecting her love, will she be able to wake him from this disturbing new person he is becoming? Will she save Mrs. Bondy from her scheming daughter? Will Laura ever retreat to the other side, where she belongs?

This is a weird book, no one can deny it. I absolutely love the title, I think the explanation of “Motherthing” is very creative. Did I love the gore, or the vile behaviors within? No, but it takes a talented writer to make such loathsome people come alive. It will set you off, no doubt about it this is very dark fiction. I wouldn’t suggest lending it to your mother-in-law, unless you want to make an enemy for life. Now I must go shake off the jitters still crawling up and down my spine.

Publication Date: September 27, 2022

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Vintage

Yall, before reading this know that in here we have probable CSA, child abuse, mental health issues, murder, forced cannibalism, suicide, and so many other messed up things. And I inhaled this in one day. The formatting on this one has errors, I hope they are fixed before release.

Spoilers abound in this one.

This entire story was told by Abby, the most unreliable narrator to ever narrate. She has undiagnosed mental issues and she is married to Ralph who, since a child, has diagnosed mental issues brought on by his mother. His mother was diagnosed with BPD and ended up killing herself. The entire story is what happened after she died.

We never get details on what exactly happened in childhood for either Abby or Ralph. This story really could have used those details, because while this was entertaining, it could have been so much better.

Some of this book was written like a play or tv script, which was not good. I disliked that immensely. [The one that Abby kills and feeds to Ralph, Janet, is one of the rare times my actual name is used and it was in here 144 times. It really did not need to be used that many times.

Overall though, this was not a horror book, there is nothing really scary about mental illness. I personally don't think, in the year of 2022, that we need to keep making people with mental issues the bad guys in horror books.

This book was just okay to me. It didn’t grip me from the start and I became very annoyed with Ralph and Abby…but Ralph more. At first, this book intrigued me because I have a not so great MIL either and that’s why I wanted to read it. However, I got so annoyed with the way Ralph handled his mother’s poor behavior and that Abby let’s him do it. Maybe it’s because I’m a therapist IRL and I see this kind of stuff with my clients every day. But I couldn’t get into it and it wasn’t for me. I think it does have the potential to be a good book for other readers and there were some interesting and quick witted parts that I enjoyed.

A great piece of work by Ainslie. Kept me very engaged and looked forward to reading more everyday. I’m excited to be able to recommend this to friends and certain students.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth is horror with dark humor liberally sprinkled in it. I love this book, but it's not for everyone. The entire story had me laughing out loud. Hogarth's humor is dry and unlike anything I have encountered before. While it is difficult to say I enjoy the gory concept of horror, the author's presentation of it was outstanding.

Synopsis:
Abby and Ralph are happily married and live with Ralph's mother Laura. When Laura commits suicide, she comes back as a ghost to haunt Abby and Ralph. Since she and Abby never got along, Laura is determined to destroy the marriage and regain control of Ralph. Abby decides to fight back against the evil forces of her mother-in-law with unconventional methods. Which woman will win the battle?

Motherthing will delight fans of horror fiction. It is unique and quirky. The plot twists kept me reading eagerly to find out what happened next. In addition to Hogarth's exceptional writing, I also adore the book cover. I am crossing my fingers for a sequel. This book is not for the faint of heart. It contains graphic scenes and descriptions. Be sure to check the trigger warnings before proceeding.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth is available on September 27th.
(4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫)

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage, for sharing this outstanding book with me. I am still giggling about some parts of it! I appreciate your kindness.

Wow, definitely worth reading. It almost described my mother in law lol. Overall I enjoyed the story. I do wish the author would choose a better book cover though.

What a strange book - a VERY strange book that I wasn't fully invested in....I have mixed feelings on this one. While Abby intrigued me, I don't think I was ever quite there for or even with her - and while I don't have to love or like a character to feel compelled to invest in a book, I do need some kind of relationship to be built - even if it's one of shock or hate. Instead, I was increasingly apathetic - especially as I continued with the book and it was mostly a lot of nothing going on. The ending was.....interesting and I *was* intrigued by that bit, but it just didn't quite mesh together with the first and middle parts. Abby's thinking process was bizarre, and while I know it became more unhinged throughout the book to show her unraveling, it started to throw me out of the story. On top of that, Ralph's character was completely ridiculous and I couldn't understand why Abby was so obsessed, or why she went through everything she did for him. If anything, she reminded me of a poorly done character very similar to Misty on Yellowjackets - who I love to hate much more. Lots of interesting ideas here, but it didn't mesh well together at all.

Mothering follows Abby and Ralph as they move in with Ralph's mother Laura. Abby grew up having a bad childhood and hopes that Laura will be the mother she has always longed for. But Laura wants nothing to do with Abby. Laura takes her own life and in the afterlife she is determined to haunt Abby. 

***TRIGGER WARNINGS: Suicide, Grief, Gore, Sexual content, Rape, Cannibalism, Violent thoughts, Emotional abuse.***

I am mad because this book was so awful. I hate every second of reading this book, I don't think I have ever hated a book this much. First of all this book was classified as a horror and a ghost story, and it was NOT. The whole reason why I wanted to read this book is because I thought it was a ghost story. Secondly this writing was just bad and I felt like it was all over the place. Thirdly I didn't like the characters and I really did not care about what happened to them. The last reason I hated this book is that it just glossed over a bunch of triggering themes and just did not care. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK it will be a waist of your time. The only good thing about this book was the cover.

The plot line seemed intriguing. However it didn't hold my interest and the characters were dull. I really wanted to like this one but it fell flat for me.

This story was just not for me. It felt disjointed and it felt like the author was trying too hard to pull together some supernatural elements and real life descent into madness.

Abby and Ralph Lamb had plans on starting a family of their own but when Ralph’s mother Laura dies, the couple undergo psychological changes that veer them off course. From Ralph’s growing depression to Abby’s guilt of prying Laura’s ring from her dead body, this causes Abby’s obsession with wanting to heal her husband by getting rid of her mother-in-law’s ghost while also fantasizing about being the perfect mother.

This was a strange novel for me and it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I knew it was suppose to be bit silly but I was hoping for more of a ghost story and there’s barely much mention of Abby’s mother-in-law’s ghost. This is more of a domestic horror with dark humor and the majority of the horror happens through Abby’s wild imagination of creating terrible and at times gruesome scenarios in her head - which I can relate to. Abby herself is a bit immature and is obsessed with mother figures because of her poor relationship with her own mother. I will admit while I found her character to be quite funny with lots of “wtf” moments, she also got a bit annoying. What I enjoyed most about this story was the crazy scene that happens at the 90% mark (which is also the only exciting part about this novel). It’s a great bloody scene that also made me strangely hungry… I don’t know what that says about me but the ending is sick and twisted and it’s what saved the novel for me.

While I personally thought Motherthing was mediocre, I was never bored with it. I’d still encourage readers to check it out, just don’t expect a ghost story like I did. It’s mostly about being tormented by the past while spending time in Abby’s wild imagination. Who knows, maybe this book will entice you to make a jellied salmon of your own!

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth is a domestic horror novel about the relationship between daughters and mother-in-laws. The story revolves around Abby, whose has moved in with her husband into her mother-in-law's. Her mother-in-law is biting and take any opportunity to put Abby down. When she suddenly dies by suicide, Abby might feel slightly relieved. But what happens when her mother-in-law decides to come back to life? Is she a ghost or a monster? What does she want?

Here is a chilling excerpt from Chapter 1:

"He screamed, CALL AN AMBULANCE! So I did, right away, without asking, without thinking. They said, Nine one one, what is your emergency? And I said, I don’t know! I hollered down to Ralph, Ralph, what happened? And he shouted back, Mom’s had an accident, there’s blood everywhere, so that’s what I told them: My mother-in-law’s had an accident. There’s blood everywhere! Maybe Ralph didn’t realize at first what’d happened, thought she’d accidentally snapped her veins against that kitchen knife’s cold blade.
A short while later a team of paramedics marched in and, with the orderly calm of ants, strapped her to a gurney and pulled her up the stairs. "

Overall, Motherthing is a domestic horror novel that is like nothing I've read before. It would appeal to fans of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires or Reluctant Immortals. One highlight of this book is the intriguing premise. It sounded so interesting from the description. I did take off 1 star, because I couldn't really relate to the main character and her style of humor. I took off another star, because there really wasn't any tension or thrills until midway through. After reading the end, I felt slightly unsatisfied. I'm sure many readers will enjoy this one though. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of horror in general, I recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in September!

I’m not sure that I have the right words to describe my experience with this book.

The writing style is very different. I believe it is that a at you make the reader feel like they are going a little bit crazy too. The first time I picked it up I read about 20 pages and put it back down. More recently, I picked it back up and managed to read about 80% of the book. I was on the verge of DNFing when the big twist happened and sucked me back in. I spent the rest of the book thinking, WTF?!

Abby is married to Ralph. Ralph’s mother, Laura, hates Abby no matter how hard Abby tries to earn her love. Laura has a sick manipulative relationship with her son. Laura also commits suicide at the very beginning of the book. H then begins haunting the young couple, driving them both the brink of madness. Abby must find a way to save herself and her husband, so she devises an unbelievable plan to stop Laura before she kills them both.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for providing me with an ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Firstly this cover is BEAUTIFUL and it both encompasses and sets the tone for the content inside the book. This was an extremely disturbing yet enjoyable read. I will be recommending this to my fellow readers out there.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

👩‍👧‍👦What in the world did I just read?

👩‍👧‍👦The writing style was very unusual – it felt awkward and verbose. It is a bit of a stream of consciousness thing, where the main character Abby is having random and weird thoughts about various things, and as a reader you must keep up with her meanderings and then decipher and determine what is useful for the story. Also, every few chapters changes to script format, which I thought was odd and messed with the flow of the book for me.

👩‍👧‍👦The supernatural/horror aspect of the book described in the synopsis is what made me want to read this. Sadly, that part is almost non-existent.

👩‍👧‍👦This is more of a psychological study of people with various life traumas and mental illnesses. It is about mother/daughter relationships (or rather the impact of not having one). One truly “horrifying” thing does happen in the story, but I wouldn’t describe this as a horror novel. It is more of a domestic/psychological drama, if anything.

👩‍👧‍👦I’m seeing other reviewers say this book “terrified them”, was “truly disturbing”, and that it was “so dark and funny”. Some even described it as “charming”. I’m glad others found something to enjoy from the book, because I found it to be absolutely none of these things. It was marketed as a horror novel with a vengeful mother-in-law ghost, so I think my view of the book was negatively skewed since that wasn’t what the book was truly about IMO.

👩‍👧‍👦To end with a positive… that cover is one of the best covers I’ve seen! It 100% gave me old movie horror vibes. It was just a bummer that the story didn’t match it IMO.

Thank you @NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This book is unhinged in the best way. Following Abby who is trying her best to support her husband Ralph after his mother passes. Abby’s internal monologue is hilarious - which sounds weird with such a dark topic, but Ralph’s mother was a cruel woman who belittled Abby.

I loved how this book slowly builds tension as Abby tries to prove her worth to Ralph, her colleagues and even her dead mother in law. This book explores the pressure society puts on women to be the ultimate care givers.

Let’s just say this book builds to an unforgettable climax and I loved it. Totally recommend this one!

This is one of the most unhinged, raw, beastly and beautiful depictions I’ve read about complex maternal relationships. Not quite horror, not quite suspense, big handfuls of dark humor and a dash of absurdist wit are at the core of this recipe. I had the opportunity to read to read this prior to publication as an ARC from Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House. Horror usually sits squarely outside my comfort zone, and I typically merely dabble in thriller or suspense, but the cover art and premise drew me in and I was captivated. Newlywed Abbey struggles to overcome her own traumatic childhood and pull her husband out of deep depression following her Mother In Law Laura’s suicide while dodging Laura’s literal and metaphorical ghost in her relationship. This book is gruesome but also gorgeous. Not for everyone, but well done for sure. Publishes September 27.