This book is literally insane. Be ready for stream of consciousness that moves to scenes like a movie. That part took me off guard but having had depression, I get it and like this gimmick. I would say it's like "The Yellow Wallpaper" but this one also brings is ghosts and demons--or the idea of. It's up to the reader to decide.
Honestly, I wish I had a third-party epilogue to hear about the fallout.

The title and premise were so intriguing. This book is so confusing, I never knew what was going on. I feel like scenes were thrown in just for an ick factor and nothing about this worked. Disappointed.

this was such a creepy and at times disturbing book, I was OBSESSED. all throughout this book, I was waiting for something to happen that would keep me up at night but by the end of it I realized that “something” was the writing. Hogarth is able to write about a story with characters that are so hauntingly real, THAT’S what kept me up at night! her ability to keep you so engaged in the story like this is incredible (at times I felt like I was one of the characters themselves.) I initially went into this thinking it would be horror but quickly realized it’s psychological with a little bit of paranormal aspects which made this book even more enjoyable.

This is such a sick, disturbing book!! I loved it!! Excellent, twisted explorations of motherhood, wifehood, femininity, depression, and love. Definitely a top reading experience for me this year.

5/5

4/5 stars

What the actually f**k did I read? It was creepy and raw and terrifying in the best ways possible.

I loved the concept of mental haunting and actual ghost haunting, but also portrayed the stages of grief in a real way. I found Abby to be just as creepy as Laura, but obviously in drastically different ways. Her directness and eccentric personality irked me in both good and bad ways, and I always felt weird reading.

Sometimes she’d go off on long tangents that weren’t really my thing and bored me, but that was the only time I felt truly bored during the whole book. It was a lot slower than I thought it was going to be, but that only added to the eerieness.

Other than that, I’m speechless. What was that ending?!?!?

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the e-ARC!

Dark and incredibly thrilling, poignant and possessed, this book reads like a roller coaster through trauma and generational depression. I absolutely loved it, was horrified by it, and will spend too much of my life thinking about it in the back of my mind. Hogarth’s writing is SO GOOD, I’ll read anything she writes from this point forward. This is a great recommendation for any horror lover, especially those who aren’t squeamish.

This book was crayyy zeee. It all started out as normal as any other domestic couple can seem. Then Abby’s world spiraled out of control.

Synopsis: Ralph’s mother committed suicide and appears to Ralph after her death. Abby, Ralph’s wife, feels bad for him because he is grieving in an unhealthy way. I can’t divulge any more than this, I’m sorry to say.

Quote- “he flinches. Not because I am close, but to let me know not to come any closer. “I’m okay”. He smiles but his eyes are glazed cherries and his face is a yanked rag spent from a hook.”

“Negativity was Laura’s (mother in law) mysticism, and maybe that powerful negativity has kept her here on earth.”

🎥 movie to go with this read- Falling Down with Michael Douglas. Because when you’re having a bad day or week, shit happens and you do stuff.

🥨 Snack- jellied salmon with crackers, because eww.

Overall, this was a good read and Hogarth is a fantastic writer

If you are looking for a spook, this book is probably for you! BUT, be warned - of the many triggers, which include but are not limited to gore, violence, foods, & so on. It is VISCERAL!

From the first words in the book, we are gripped by the experience that character Abby and her husband Ralph are faced with. Ralph’s mother, the MIL/Motherthing in question, has committed suicide in the basement of the house which the three of them shared together.

Ralph descends into a depressive state, contemplating what he could have done better as a son. He also won’t leave their basement & Abby wants to know why.

Feverishly, Abby clings to her beloved cookbook and tries saving her family with food like the jiggly jellied salmon dish. But Ralph isn’t that hungry and he’s a bit preoccupied entertaining his zombie/ghost Motherthing in the basement.

Will Abby be able to reckon with her hatred for her deceased mother in law, and in a grand gesture to save her family, can she pull her Ralph out of the darkness of grief?

You’ll just have to see for yourself!

Ey, thanks, NetGalley, for giving me an e-arc of this book! I swear I read it right away, but in typical Potato fashion, I took 1000 years to review it. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, ODDLY ENOUGH, I saw Pearl (A24) the other night and it actually made me like this book more. I was truly on the fence before this week, but now, I SEE!

I think the reason I had a hard time deciding how I felt about this book is because I can't connect to the protagonist/narrator AT ALL. I do think that if you are married or in a long-term relationship where you interact regularly with your S.O.'s mother, who isn't as fond of you as your S.O. would like, you would find this book hilarious and relatable.

But Abby (the aforementioned protagonist) is also someone who wants to be loved and wants to give love (wants to practically smother her husband and her charges with it), and I am the cartoon Grinch from days of yore, back before his heart increased in size. I do feel bad for her, because she had a horrible childhood with a mother that chose to pay attention to an endless string of boyfriends instead of to her daughter. Young!Abby was so desperate for motherly attention and comfort that she started to project her feelings onto the living room couch and view it as a "motherthing", the way those baby monkeys in that one horrific real-life experiment with the surrogate sock-mothers did.

So I can see why her mother-in-law's scorn and disapproval would bring back bad thoughts and memories, especially since Abby's husband is a mama's boy and he is also the ONLY person Abby truly has to rely on in her life. She has no friends (just coworkers who are nice, but who she barely tolerates because of her own insecurities), no family, just him. And he seems to be in somewhat the same boat, except with the overbearing mother who he loves to the point that he can't let her go even after death (or she won't let him go-- I can't really decide). Talk about unhealthy! The obsessiveness and the downward spiral do make for fun horror, though.

Another thing that bothered me about this book (and this is a me-being-a-germaphobe problem, so as usual, it doesn't factor into the rating) were the gross descriptions of everyday things, like the smell after you lie in bed without showering for a week or how disgusting and unclean sex is when you REALLY think about it (which is why it's better to do and not think, lol), and MOST OF ALL, how much the characters don't seem to care! EUGH! *SCRUNCHES UP NOSE*

Equal parts horrifying and hilarious, and such a delight to read! Couldn't stop guffawing at Abby's internal monologues, some of which sound like my own, tbh. From a fellow Jellied Salmon.

Motherthing is an experience. I dare you to ask anyone to properly explain to you what this book is, and I can almost guarantee you that they’ll tell you that you just have to read it to find out.

Preferably the audiobook. So immersed by the narrator that you’ll feel like you’re sitting down with Abby and she’s unloading this onto you, every single twisted and demented thing.

Motherthing is lowkey kind of feeling like the white woman’s ‘Earthlings’ (by Sayaka Murata) …and I’m not entirely mad at it. Confused, sure. But I am definitely thinking about it (chewing on it??) for the next few days.

WHEW.

Sadly, I would have liked this book more if the book description didn’t give it all away. It felt like watching a trailer for a funny movie and being disappointed when you watch the movie and the only funny parts were already shown in the trailer. I did enjoy Hogarth’s mix of prose with screenplay to demonstrate the parts of our leading lady’s life that were real vs imagined and how these blurred over time. I think additional points of view from the mother or the husband would have been welcome to make this a more nuanced and layered story. Overall, this sometimes funny, sometimes freaky novel was enjoyable, but the fact all major (and even minor) plot points fit neatly into a one paragraph summary was disappointing.

An easy read that kept me engaged with thoughtful characters and storyline - I’ll keep an eye for this author, no doubt!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC opportunity!

"The night Ralph's mother flayed her forearms, a woman in a red dress handed him a business card."

You know by the cover and the opening line that Motherthing is going to be a wild ride. It is razor sharp (no pun intended) and twisted. There are three main characters: Ralph's mother Laura, Ralph, and his wife, Abby. Abby's mother appears just long enough to provide some background on Abby's life.

In life, there are many types of bad mothers but those with Borderline Personality Disorder are some of the worst. They are extremely needy, manipulative; unpredictably vacillating between love and hate. Suicide threats and gestures are common. Laura's death was not accidental but she was still manipulative and destructive even in death. Abby's mother, in contrast, felt like a nothing without a man in her life, any man would do. Her daughter's needs were never a consideration.

Now, Ralph is not a bad guy, Sort of a Mr. Milquetoast with episodes of severe depression. Abby wants to be a good person and a perfect wife but has no idea how to be in a healthy relationship. Following his mother's death, Ralph quickly spirals downward and Abby will do anything to save him. But Abby's solutions are cringeworthy at best. Horrible things happen and I was smiling and laughing. What the heck!

Motherthing is not a book for everyone but exactly who it is for I have no idea but it is worth checking out.

I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.

MOTHERTHING is unlike anything you've experienced - it's heavy, weird, scary, provocative, and downright fun. Also, no spoilers but I told you cannibalism was in!

This creepy book, perfect for October, starts with Abby's live-in mother in law dying, and Abby's desperate attempts to help her depression-prone husband fall into a depressive state. But there is so much more to the story. There are possible ghosts, murders, the stealing of heirlooms, weird food, and a sense of foreboding that is palpable. You will not be able to anticipate what comes next, and this wild book has made me such a fan of Ainslie Hogarth.

Also, this cover! Even better after you read the book.

I adored this book, even (especially?) when it got completely bonkers, and so much darker than I expected. I love love love when women write Weird, and I quadruple love when they really double down on the bizarre - this did that and then some. Still smiling to think about it, weeks after finishing it. Definitely recommend if Weird Horror is your bag.

I knew almost immediately that I was going to like this book. I enjoyed it immensely. As usual, I judged this book by the cover before hitting that request button on NetGalley. I mean who wouldn't be drawn in by that cover? It's grayscale on Kindle, of course, but the physical cover is boldly colored and resembles a comic book.

Because I hadn't finished reading this book before the publishing date, I picked up the audiobook during the last Audible sale and read along with it. Top notch performance from narrator Adina Verson.

Content warning: suicide, depression, mental illness. Probably others, but those are the big ones.

I have heard of the dreaded monster-in-law, but having never been married (and not met many past partners' mothers), I have not had the (dis)pleasure of experiencing one. This book takes that concept and expands it beyond the grave. That said, this is not a horror book as I expected. This is more a psychological horror, the monsters being grief, depression, and trauma. The story follows the lives of Ralph and Abby Lamb, who move in with Ralph's mother to care for her just before she commits suicide. Naturally Ralph is consumed by grief and falls into a deep depression, all the while insisting that his mother is still alive and in the house. There are some disturbing scenes, plenty of weirdness, and lots of laugh out loud moments. But that may just be my dark sense of humor.

This was my first Ainslie Hogarth book, but it won't be my last. I love her writing style. It's easy to read, flows well, and I love the dialog. The book is full of these little conversations between the main character and her husband and they're just delightful. Then again, I tend to read more extreme horror and my sense of humor is a little warped, so the idea of a conversation about brown eyes resembling pools of diarrhea seems natural and fun.

Big thanks to Ainslie Hogarth, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can buy Motherthing, by Ainslie Hogarth on Amazon or any major bookseller.

This was such a funny, dark ride of a book! Abby's childhood is filled with trauma and neglect, so her adult personality is all about giving love and nurturing the people around her. Ralph and Mrs. Bondy are the two people who receive all of Abby's TLC, and she gets feral when they are threatened.

I loved Abby's narration, and her character in general was very well done. The darkness of the story and the humour were right up my street too.

Although the book was less frightening than I expected it was, I did feel a creepy-creeping sense throughout the book, as if someone was reading over my shoulder. I wished Laura to be more physically (?) present throughout the story, to make it just the bit more spooky (as I expected it would be based on the blurb).

Abby, the narrator of Motherthing, is absolutely hilarious... and unhinged. From reviews, I thought this book would be about the actual ghost of her mother-in-law, but I enjoyed the slow descent into madness much more. I read "Is Mother Dead" by Vigdis Hjorth right before this, and I would recommend reading both in tandem. The conversation about motherhood, what mothers owe their children, and how that relationship can be so damaging in not only childhood, but adulthood as well, is extremely interesting. I would also recommend this book to fans of The Odyssey by Lara Williams.

4.5 stars

Female-authored batshit horror fiction is one of my favorite genres. If, within the same novel, you can terrify me, confuse me, intrigue me, and make me laugh, I tip my hat to you. Motherthing covers all these bases easily, and in an incredibly thought-provoking way.

Abby and her husband Ralph are recovering from the suicide of Ralph’s mother. As Ralph becomes consumed by grief, Abby tries to resuscitate him in a number of ways; sex, a potential pregnancy, pretending that she, like Ralph, sees the ghost of his dead mother. You know, standard stuff. But as Abby reflects on her relationship with her mother-in-law, as well as with her own estranged mother, she begins to unravel in increasingly disturbing ways, resulting in a hell of a denouement.

On the surface, this is an incredibly funny novel about marriage, grief, and how we deal with the literal and figurative ghosts of our past. But this is also about the many roles women play, both adequately and grossly inadequately; mothers, daughters, lovers, friends, caregivers, and survivors. Ainslie Hogarth has created an unexpectedly deep book that I’ll be thinking about for a while.

Motherthing contains a lot of unanswered questions; some things are deliciously hinted at, but never confirmed. The book somewhat reminded me of American Psycho, because I was never quite sure what was real and what was not. Is Abby an incredibly unreliable narrator? Yes, and I love her.