A strong blend of horror and humor at its pitchest black. Deals with heavy topics that can be quite disturbing, and one cannot help but feel a twinge of complicity when laughing. But Abby's inner monologue is hilarious, and it's fun to read a story with such a quirky, unpredictable main character.

Have you ever read a book and you have absolutely no clue what's happening? I feel like that's exactly what happened to me with Motherthing. This was certainly an...experience. So we've got Abby, who's desperate for a mother figure and who yearns to be a mother herself, but all the women in her life are crap. Her issues run so deep that she works as a caretaker and she calls one of the elderly women "her baby". It's kind of bizarre, although honestly? It's a whole lot bizarre.

First of all, I really think either this book should include trigger warnings or the author should share them at some point because it deals with some really heavy topics that aren't mentioned in the summary. Second, I really think this book isn't being marketed correctly because it's not really horror. Obviously I'm not a marketing expert, but Motherthing feels like a dark comedy mixed with supernatural elements mixed with a fever dream. At times it felt more like reading a mommy-focused version of Death Becomes Her so while I was extremely disturbed, especially by the chicken a la king, I wasn't exactly terrified or scared by the contents of the book.

I'm still giving it three stars because maybe the author wanted to use the shock factor and it definitely worked. Also, I loved the narration style. It was like a string of never-ending consciousness and truly felt like Abby was talking to herself through the whole thing.

I love the cover of this book and I love the idea of the story. There were moments I was 100% hooked and then others that I felt like I was really having to push myself to continue. Overall a good short read.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What an interesting book. Not sure I’ve read anything like it - certainly one of a kind. While this book was quirky and I never saw where the story was going, there were times where reading it felt like a chore. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth; the description promised horror with a tinge of humor. The cover illustration caught my eye, I’ll admit, the colors and the comic book style images seemed to play into what I was looking for. When’ I finally began my journey through the aftermath of Abby’s mother in law’s suicide, it seemed very straightforward; Abby, the loving, caring wife, tries to get through to her grieving husband as he grows more distant, finally admitting he sees the ghost of his mother appearing. Where’s the horror, you ask? Well, Abby is not a reliable narrator it turns out, As we move with her through through the story, her biases, her desires and her memories play out and the horror builds as we realize the horror we expected is not the horror we’re getting. Gripping and fast-paced, Motherthing was an exciting and fun read.

The voice in this is so strong and unique, the dark humor so dark and so humorous, the strangeness so strange, I was absorbed every second.

Every metaphor was perfectly chosen, every object and person fit right in. It was like Abby lives in a whole different world where her thoughts and her actions make perfect sense when looking through her eyes, remembering her memories.

Thanks to NetGalley for this crazy bizarre read. It's described as horror, but I wouldn't put it necessarily in that category, bizarre, weird and a good dose of what did I just read, and if there is humor it's very dark. If you're a fan of Gary A. Braunbeck, you'll probably love it, it's in it's own category. Poor Abby drew the short end of the stick in her mother and the mother in law, both a couple of narcissistic depression hags, and all she wants to be is loved. She meets and marries Ralph, they have plans and she wants nothing more than to be a mother, the good kind, except Ralph's mother has other plans and the story goes from there. Would have loved an epilogue for the future, but were left to our own conclusion.

Creepy! I was intrigued by the idea behind the book and it did not disappoint. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. Abby and Ralph are the "perfect couple" but Ralphs' mother comes in the middle of the relationship. If you've seen the romantic comedy "Monster in Law" featuring Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda, you will probably like this book. This book is like the Grimm Fairytale version of the movie. It tackles some very heavy topics so please read the trigger warnings. They were handled in a that shows the effects of someone's actions on other people and their emotions. It's scary and it may be uncomfortable, but I think it reflects what that's really like for people in reality. I definitely think this would be worth reading, especially during the spooky season!

Hmmmmm. What in the world did I just read.
I think I can summarize this one up with one main word: Bizarre!!! Very very bizarre.
I didn’t dislike it but I definitely didn’t love it either.
Has a little bit of everything (trigger warnings as well) but just all around buzzard.

I have to say I was really looking forward to reading this and felt super excited when I got the ARC from NETGALLEY.

The description basically telling me that a young wife is now haunted by the ghost of her mother in law. That premise sounds amazing and was why I requested the book.

In theory that’s what this book is about, in execution it’s actually trying to say a lot about grief, motherhood and depression. Our protagonist Abby and her husband Ralph are reeling from Ralph’s mothers death and Ralph is slipping deep into a depression and is adamant that the ghost of his mother is haunting their basement.

Abby must do anything she can to bring Ralph out of it and she goes to some extreme measures for sure. I wouldn’t classify this book as horror at all (except maybe one scene). This is more of a psychological meditation about the effects of grief on a marriage. It’s also about the meaning of motherhood and what it means to be there for someone.

The writing is great and I’m glad this book exists. I’m giving it 3 stars because it wasn’t exactly what I expected or wanted and that was disappointing. While I enjoyed the writing there are definitely parts that felt like a slog to get through for sure.

If you want a more literary take on the horror genre this might be for you.

What it’s like:
Mother meets Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Men meets Ghost

Book Grades:
Plot Development and Pacing - 90/100
Character Development - 90/100
Theme and Subject Matter - 90/100
Writing Style - 90/100
Reader Engagement - 75/100

Overal Grade: 87% - B OR 3/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

WHAT THE FREAKING HECK I JUST READ!

This is BOLD, BLEAK,PROVOCATIVE , TERRIFYING, DISTURBING! Not for everyone! It’s not an horror story! It’s quirky, intelligent, harsh, depressing, shaking you to the core kind of psychological drama with filled with so many sensitive, triggering subjects like suicide, mental illness, mutilation, rape, psychological and verbal abuse, parental abuse!

There are some extreme explicit graphic chapters make your stomach revolt and your blood run cold! Definitely hard to digest and accept!

The author chose truly different subjects and brought them out without sugarcoating. The situations the characters have to get through extra complex, overwhelming, horrifying. Writing style is comfortable, direct, razor sharp witty with extra dark sense of humor vibes.

Summary of plot: Abigail works at nursing home, taking care of elder people, achieving a great job even though she’s yearning the emptiness of caring mother figure in her life.

She’s married to the nicest man Ralph. But this lovely man comes with a baggage. A mother who treats him unfairly. When three of them live together, we realize Ralph’s mom Laura suffers from borderline disorder that makes her more cruel and suspicious about the entire men community’s true intentions. She thinks all those men are monsters so she treats her son like a garbage. Abby also gets her share of meannesses.

At the opening of the book Laura commits suicide. She cannot survive. And she literally haunts the poor couple at their house, putting Ralph at the edge of nervous breakdown.

Abigail tries so hard to help her husband but her restrained mother issues start to emerge after Mrs. Bondy: her favorite resident in the nursing house she deeply cares is about to leave the place because of her daughter’s stubbornness.

Abby doesn’t want to lose the only person who is closer to a perfect mother figure to her. Dealing with Mrs. Bondy’s daughter triggers her memories from the past! And the motherhhing comes out from her hiding space!!!!

Overall: this book terrified me! It hurt me! It truly disturbed me! But I have to say it’s truly well written and worth your energy!

I think It shook me harder than most of the horror books! Maybe this book’s genre can be defined as psychor ( something in the middle psychological thriller and horror)

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/ Vintage for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Motherthing
by Ainslie Hogarth

Thank you, NetGalley, ALFRED A. KNOPF publishing for the chance to read an advance copy of Motherthing.
Well, it was very different than the norm. Which is not at all a bad thing. I laughed, and then felt creepy things. Very original and one of the retro cover was great as well.

Big thanks to Vintage/ Penguin publishing also Netgalley for the ARC.
What a strange quirky book. After moving into his mothers house to help her deal with her depression, Ralph and Abby come home to find her dead in the den after an apparent suicide. As Ralph sinks into a spiral of depression, Abby makes it her mission to save her husband from his demons by ANY means necessary.
3.75/5⭐️

First, , thank you to #NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I adore this cover art so much. It’s what first drew me to the book. This is the story of Abby, her husband Ralph and Ralph’s mother Laura. Laura has mental health issues and falls into a depression and Ralph and Abby move in to help her. Laura commits suicide and then haunts them. Abby must save them both.
I don’t know if horror is the correct genre. It was weird and disturbing, kind of gross in areas. Gross ranging from jellied salmon to a lot of period blood. This story deals a lot with mental health issues so check trigger warnings. So, although I didn’t love this book, I didn’t dislike it either.

MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR

Never have I read anything so dark, funny, and messed up (and I’ve read Earthlings). Like… every single sentence contains something both gross and wrong, but absolutely poetic. Ex. "Her fourteen-year-old Pomeranian hung from her hip like a colostomy bag.” I'm DEAD 🤣 This book is for people who want something a little different. It’s like one giant psychotic intrusive thought and is basically a satire on what it means to be a wife and mother. Picture American Psycho if Christian Bale were a housewife. I’ve literally never met a more deranged narrator/MC that I love more than this one.

“‘A nursing mother should try to cultivate a cheerful frame of mind.’ A cheerful frame of mind. Just the phrase makes me laugh. How could I ever have expected Cal to root in my gloomy uterus? I need to put a smile on this uterus.” Like, tell me that is not good writing.

Idk.. I just want to be best friends with this writer because she’s a literary mastermind. She’s HILARIOUS. The messed up, dark humour is just absolute perfection.

I wanted to love this book. I did love the quirky retro cover and the premise of a horror story and a haunting. Abby grew up desperately wanting a mother she could love. Her own was present physically but unavailable emotionally. When she marries Ralph, she hopes her mother-in-law, Laura, will fill the need Abby has. But Laura is selfish, cruel, and vindictive. When Laura dies, her ghost haunts Abby and Ralph. But there’s no real horror story, at least, not what I was expecting. There is a lot about Abby and her need for a mother figure. There’s a lot about Abby’s desire for a child so that she can be the best kind of mother she knows she can be. There is a lot of praise for this book so I wondered why it just didn’t appeal to me. Perhaps the expectation that it was a horror story when I felt like it wasn’t? Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to provide an honest review.

Motherthing follows Abby and her downward spiral towards insanity. Abby and her husband Ralph end up moving in with his mom, Laura, due to her depression. Laura is a cruel and narcissistic mother. After living together for a while, they find a bloody Laura, who ends up completing suicide. This leads Ralph to enter his own deep depression and Abby is just...Abby.

I think you either love or are meh about this book. The writing style is not for everyone. I am really conflicted with this book. It is very slow. I almost DNF'd it multiple times in the first half of it. At times I had a hard time following what was going on. I think this was supposed to be intentional, as Abby is an unreliable narrator. The last 20% of the book is where things pick up and I'm glad I kept reading on. I love an unhinged girlie and Abby went 100% wild in the end.

I do agree that this book was marketed in a weird way. This is not a horror story, but does have a ghost..

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage for the opportunity to review this book. It was definitely an experience.

A woman desperately haunted by maternal scars that run as deep as Norman's did in Psycho. Abby Lamb is a wife struggling to hold fast to her fragile sanity, reconcile her past, and find ways to form new, healthier familial bonds.

This dark domestic drama is as quirky as it is macabre . . . along with the chills, there's a touch of humor that somehow just works. I believe Horror Fans will love this one!

I'd like to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of Motherthing for my unbiased evaluation. 4 stars

Expected release date: September 27, 2022

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the E- ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Motherthing was NOT what I expected, but that was for the best. I was expecting a funny, possibly lightly spooky ghost story. What I got was so much more terrifying and uncomfortable but in the very best way.

Motherthing is the story of Abby and Ralph, the perfect couple, who were just starting their journey to becoming a family when Ralph’s mother has a mental breakdown and has them move in with her to “help” her. Abby grew up with a terrible mother (basically no mother at all) and hopes this will be her chance to bond with her mother-in-law, Laura, and perhaps have a real mother. Sadly, things turned out quite the opposite and shortly after they move in, Laura kills herself. Ralph falls into a crippling depression and it’s up to Abby to shoulder the burden of the household, taking care of her husband and Mrs Bondy, her favorite resident (whom she refers to as her “baby”) of the long-term care facility she works for. All the while she has daydreams of the baby she is hoping to have conceived and strange sounds coming from the basement, where Laura took her life.

As I mentioned above, I was not expecting this slow descent into madness, the utter bleakness of this story. The things Abby suffered as a woman and a child are horrible and yet the timelines are woven together seamlessly. We see everything through Abby’s eyes/thoughts with occasional breaks that are written like a scene in a play. Perhaps this is when Abby is disassociating? Her descent was written so smoothly that it took a while before I realized, “hmm, maybe Abby is not ok”. Having said that, though, the humor is so good. It’s a dark sort of humor but it’s hilarious nonetheless. I laughed out loud so many times and had to explain to my husband what was so funny. He was then hooked on the story and I had to give him regular updates as to what was happening.

I read this book quickly but not as quick as I could have because the writing was beyond anything I have ever read. I cannot stress enough how MASTERFULLY these sentences were crafted. I would read something and have to sit there and let it marinate in my brain because it was just that good. I savored these words! I wrote them down in my reading journal to come back to later. All this internal monologue Abby has is incredible. At times it’s super relatable and it was comforting to know that other people have had thoughts like this during embarrassing moments or times when you feel alone. Other times, her thoughts were utterly insane but still powerfully written.

I sincerely hope this book gets the attention, exposure and hype that it deserves. I want to see this all over Book Tok, Book Tube, whatever. Hogarth has the golden touch and every word of this story was imbued with power. Do yourself a favor and pick this up when it’s published on September 27, 2022. You won’t regret it. I'd give it 10 stars if I could.

While I loved Abby’s humour and inner monologue, the overall pacing of the book was slow.

Thinking this would be more “horror” than it actually was, I kept waiting for something to happen. Maybe it’s more psychological horror… narcissistic mother in law… shudder.

Definitely a fun read, more than a “scary” one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and Ainsley Hogarth for a copy.