I had a difficult time trying to rate Motherthing. The writing is beautiful, the story is unique and provides an enthralling examination of what motherhood is and who deserves to be a mother. What are the depths to which one will go to show their love? Are you a "motherthing" if you love someone unconditionally and take care of them?

However, I personally did not like this book at all. I found the main character completely childish and unlikable, her actions made no sense even though she was clearly disturbed. For the majority of the book, the horror elements felt forced and were just periodic bursts of gruesome thoughts from the main character. It reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk - musings about the world which leads to some horrifying statement or imagining that is "edgy."

The thing is, I think I am in the minority. Motherthing will likely be a great success, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a contemporary and feminist look at motherhood. I went into this thinking it was a horror novel about a haunting, and it is not that.

This is pretty much everything I want in a book. Unhinged woman is my favorite genre of book and this hit the spot. I really enjoyed the writing style and the way I had literally no idea what was going on at any point. The strangest, most bonkers little book and I loved it. No notes.

Very unique idea and way of telling the story. The main character has a quirky way of think that made me chuckle but I could see other readers not liking.

This is a book where you don’t fully understand everything going in because it is written with past, present and imagine scenarios.

I love how Abby was wanting to play out some retro housewife ideas. And to have her make the chicken recipe at the end. I would read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this book. I have written this review voluntarily.

I decided to request Motherthing on NetGalley for two reasons:
1) That cover
2) The synopsis
And then, in a very un-Sadie-like manner, I actually jumped right into it. I never, I mean, never get approved for a NetGalley book and immediately read it. There was just something so utterly magnetic about this book’s potential.
Allow me to set this book up for you with no spoilers and the right expectations.
The narrator, Abigail Lamb “Abby,” is a caregiver at a nursing home. She’s good at her job; loves the elderly patients in her care.
She has also just become a live-in caregiver for her ailing mother-in-law, Laura. Abby and Ralph have just made the recent transition of moving into Ralph’s mother’s home so it’s still a bit fresh and awkward especially because Laura has an unhealthy attachment to her son causing Abby to feel like an outsider.
Tragedy strikes and Abby finds herself fighting for her husband’s mental health; maybe even his life.
I found Ainslie Hogarth’s storytelling voice compatible and comfortable. I slipped into my favorite “reading zone” where I am at peak levels of entertainment-the words on the page translating those visuals into my mind like a little movie.
And the humor! My goodness, this book is hilarious. Plenty of snarky, razor-sharp wit, and a way of using humor to diffuse hurt feelings.
The storyline is a bit of a slow burn enticing readers to invest in Abby and Ralph upfront before circumstances beyond their control peel back to reveal all the ways their marriage is vulnerable; unstable. It’s deeply unsettling. A strong sense of growing tension and impending dread nips at the reader’s heels as the story progresses. Things get bleak! As Ralph begins to descend into a grief-induced depression, things definitely take a dark turn.
Without going too deep into my own, personal experience, I do feel it’s appropriate to say that I felt a kinship with the protagonist. I could relate having gone through similar situations. And given what I already know about the difficulties many women have maintaining healthy boundaries with their mothers or mothers-in-law, I’m sure this book is going to find its audience.
Quirky, unexpected, and charming, Motherthing uses all the right ingredients combined in equal measure to ensure a delicious experience. Highly recommend.

THIS BOOK KINDA SLAPPED TBH
the suspense, the prose, the building dread and tension and insanity?? so good wowww
it has the same kind of fantastical reality fake reality writing as alls well by mona awad which did take a little time to get used to
but hogarth absolutely nails trauma and effects it has on a woman through different writing styles and dialogue choices and it’s so so good
also giving dead to me vibes if you’ve seen that show
SO GOOD

Oh god, I hate having to write this review, but I really did not like this book. And usually I absolutely love unhinged female main characters! To be honest, at about 80% through I started quickly skimming just to get to the end. Abby’s family history was thrown in, but not explained very well—your mom sucked and so did her boyfriends, that’s it? Everything regarding Mrs. Bondy was like “oh right, Mrs. Bondy, forgot about her” because there are just pages about jellied salmon in the break room and eating yogurt. There are also chapters that are written like a script which makes the story confusing to read and takes you out of the flow of the story. The “plot twist” of the story was absolute insanity, but it didn’t make sense of how we got to that point?!

I read all of the reviews of this book on NetGalley and GoodReads and I just can’t see how people like this book?! It read like a bad attempt at writing like Chuck Palahniuk and ultimately the plot points were weak.

Oh well, I guess.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this!

This is an excellent novel! I really enjoyed the author's writing style. I don't think I've ever read a novel quite like this before. It's very unique and satirical. I wouldn't say this a scary story, but it's very creepy. But to be honest, the story and tone starts to drag around the 60% mark. I wish I had a stronger perspective from Abby's husband, Ralph. I feel like Ralph becomes an afterthought after he becomes seriously depressed after the death of his mother. This story is told from Abby's point-of-view, and I liked her as a character, but she is written in a very one-dimensional way. I wish I knew more about her as a person, instead of a co-dependent, needy wife. There's a standout scene near the end that I thought completely sold this book for me. And look at that cover art! It's glorious and has this cool vintage feel to it (like a movie poster from the 1950's). "Motherthing" isn't a perfect book, but it's definitely entertaining.

Thank you, Netgalley and Knopf for the digital ARC.

This is an odd one to be sure. I think some will love it and some will hate it--no in between. I enjoyed it to an extent. There were subject !matters that really rubbed me the wrong way, I didn't appreciate the writing as it got confusing in several places, the quirkiness was fun, the snarky attitude was laugh south loud worthy in some places, and the overall shade of mothering. Interesting, fun, fresh.

Abby has everything….well almost everything she’s ever wanted. A loving husband and a job with clients she cares about. But when Ralph’s mom needs help at home and begs her son to come stay with her until she is feeling better, Abby’s life is turned upside down. She still has an amazing husband and job she loves but now she is living with her Mother-in-Law Laura.

Abby didn’t have the easiest upbringing and so she’s bound and determine to be the best wife that a husband could ask for. When Laura kills herself, Abby throws herself into healing her husband….by ANY MEANS necessary. No crazy mother-in-law ghost will stop her. Because honestly, no problem is too big when Chicken A La King is for dinner…..RIGHT?!

This book has a lot of moving parts and there were times where I had to stop and reread to understand what was going on. This can cause confusion from a readers perspective. However, Ainslie Hogarth’s character development and dark humor with this novel is on point! I’m not gonna lie it took me a minute to catch on. Hogarth knows how to paint a picture for her readers. I didn’t want to smell the Salmon Gelatin mold though. But hey, I’ll never eat it….EVER. Now I rated this book as a 3.5 stars. I felt that with a little more direction with the writing, the moving parts would have flowed a little easier for me. The conclusion had me shook though.

I just reviewed Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth. #Motherthing #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the DRC in exchange for an honest review!

Woah. MOTHERTHING was NOT what I expected, but honestly, that may have been for the best.

This is the story of Abby Lamb, the ultimate mother. Or at least she will be. She just has to heal her husband, Ralf, from the crippling depression induced by his mother's suicide. Abby has a lot to shoulder, taking care of Ralf and Mrs. Bondy, her favorite resident of the long-term care facility she works for, and preparing to take care of Cal, the baby she is meant to have. Things are even harder after she accidentally takes something precious from her dying mother-in-law and now has to deal with her ghost. Luckily, she has her trusty cookbook.

When I read this was a dark comedy about the ghost of a mother-in-law, I expected sort of light, jump scares and flickering lights. Maybe a good natured exorcism or something.

I was not expecting a heavy, albeit somehow still DARKLY humorous, story of one woman who is losing her mind. The writing was masterful. The backstory was weaved so easily into Abby's day to day that I almost missed how horrible her past truly was. As the story progressed, I had no idea when or how, but I knew she was going to lose it eventually. The flashbacks and her inner monologue just kept layering on the narrative until she wasn't just a quirky woman going through a hard time. She was definitely NOT okay. And when she finally lost it? Woah. Holy crap, I still was not ready for the specifics somehow.

I've never read anything quite like this. If I could do a 4.5, I would just because the whole ghost part of it fizzled out pretty quickly. That being said, a 4 would not do such skillful, psychological writing justice! So 5 stars it is.

What a weird, wonderful, original contemporary horror centering on motherhood themes. Completely different from what I was expecting (a snarky novel filled with complaints about her "monster-in-law"), I don't really know how to summarize this other than to urge everyone to read it!

*arc provided by netgalley and publisher*

ATTENTION ALL UNHINGED HOT GIRLS!!! this book is for you!! what an absolutely wild ride. there was never a part in this book where I knew where it was going. I would highly recommend for fans of bunny or im thinking of ending things! the plot twist in this book was absolutely nuts. the author is so talented, the writing in this book is enthralling. our main character is obsessed with motherhood (or mother things), babies, and her husband. this book was disgusting in an unexpected way. fear of one’s mother in law is definitely a great plot line and this book was so creative. seriously can’t wait for this books release so I can buy my own copy. I know this book is going to be a huge hit on booktok and bookstagram. I can’t wait to see its success and again, I can’t recommend enough!!

Motherthing is a horrifying, hilarious ride and I enjoyed every moment of it. Told from the first person narrative of Abby, Motherthing follows Abby and husband Ralph after the suicide of Laura, Ralph’s mother.
Abby and Ralph both were raised by mostly absent single mothers, and are both trying to be wholly different people than the women who raised them. After her suicide, Abby and Ralph are haunted by Laura and react to the haunting in their own ways.
I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Big BIG thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the ARC in exchange for my honest review (posted on my IG @dark.oracle.reads as well as GoodReads on 4/15)

Psychological family breakdowns are totally my jam, so I was excited to go on this journey. And boy, was I *in it* starting with the very first page. The writing is smooth like butter, and our narrator is just so damn relatable with her snarky voice.

Don’t let the “funny” descriptor in the overview fool you..although there’s plenty of chuckle-inducing dialogue, this novel drips with loneliness, abandonment and paranoia. A cautionary tale on the horrific tolls of unacknowledged emotional labor, this story is a case study in a delicate mind going completely off the rails, so subtly at first that we don’t even notice. But like a frog slowly being boiled alive, we soon find ourselves surrounded and absolutely absorbed by the utter madness of grief, isolation and helplessness. Some more themes this piece touches on are the infantilization of men, the psychology of attachment and development, and the often toxic complexities of mother-child relationships.

I dug the hell out of this novel, and my only disappointment is that it won’t be available to adorn my shelves until October. Yes, I’ve already preordered a physical copy and I highly suggest you do the same!

WOW. I am putting this book at the top of the list of the best things I have ever read. It's sad and funny and disturbing and weird as hell. I love authors who can capture and articulate the disjointed strangeness and disconcerting intimacies of our inner monologues, those thoughts we'd never say aloud, and yet we recognize so much of ourselves in them when we get to listen in on someone else's interior conversations. Hogarth also does a tremendous job of navigating and revealing the aching weirdness of relationships--both in the heartburstingly good and fun ways and the heartrendingly tragic and traumatizing ways. Dead moms and complicated mothers are a huge theme in this book, so if that's a triggering topic, be wary. What is a mother's love? Who deserves it and who does not? What happens when we're deprived of it and in striving to be everything our mother was not, are we not also becoming that shadow, as well? In this story, Abby has found her true-love soulmate in Ralph and hopes to create a family with him, giving their child everything positive and good as a parent that neither she nor Ralph experienced as children. In the wake of Ralph's cruel and emotionally controlling mother's suicide, Ralph is succumbing to a deep depression and is also insisting that he is seeing his mother's ghost. More troubling still, Abby is beginning to sense a presence as well. Feeling her dreams threatened and her fragile sense of self crumbling, Abby becomes ...quite desperate.

This book was bizarre, but in a good way! I really liked the writing style of this one but I will say, there were parts in the story (ex: the couch in the beginning), that honestly were just so confusing and very random. I wasn't a huge fan of the main character. Some of the things she did just really rubbed me the wrong way (ex: contemplating faking pregnancy) which left a a really bad taste in my mouth. Other than that, this was a pretty good book and I know that it will do very well when it is finally released!

A modern masterpiece detailing a woman’s slow descent into madness, a woman whose deepest desire is to be the perfect mother, the kind of mother that she didn’t have (all she had was a damn couch- a motherthing). Abby wanted her husband Ralph’s mother to function as her surrogate mother, but she also turned out to be just a horrible (mother)thing, and now she is dead, and Ralph is drowning in grief. Abby is sure that a baby is just the thing to rid the house of the ghost of Ralph’s mother and to sweep away all the sadness, and she intends to be the perfect woman for this baby. But Abby’s path to perfection is pretty questionable. A shrink would probably say it was because of her mother…

Putting this one down for now at 40% through.

I had high hopes based on the description and cover, but it's been a struggle to get invested into the story. I found the beginning a bit confusing, especially the slipping into the past memory section about Couchy? I do find that this to be beautifully written from a stylistic stand point. However, I find Abby to be insufferable. I'm sure there's an audience for this book, it's just not me.

I am so blown away by this read. What I was anticipating to be a really kitschy read a la Grady Hendrix (and don't get me wrong, I love Grady Hendrix) ended up being something that really struck me to my core. The best horror takes real human issues one can connect with - grief, loss, the desire to be loved - and distorts them into a nightmare you would like to believe would never happen to you. Motherthing does just that. It's so dark in it's depicting of these things, but somehow manages to stay genuine. Pick this up - give it a go. Thank me later.

My full review for Monster Librarian is forthcoming. I know the summary indicates that it is a "darkly funny domestic horror," but having grown up with a BPD mother, it hit really close to home! It's a great read.