I am amazed at how quickly this book took off at the end! From just having sympathy for the main character to her literally murdering someone and feeding them to her husband - that's true horror, y'all. I thoroughly enjoyed all stages of this reading experience and am so excited to read more from Hogarth!

I do not like to give unfavorable reviews when the premise and the cover are so great, both which made me request this on Netgalley.

The reading experience was different. I have several issues with this book:
- I did feel and identify with the struggles the main character had but all the characters in this book are extremely dislikable and it was hard to feel any empathy because of how they were depicted.
-The writing was weird and it was hard to put this book into one fiction category. That was the least of my complaints.
-This book is very strong on trigger topics! Suicide threats. Abuse/narcissism parents. Mental health issues.

I would not recommend this book BUT not judging anyone else for enjoying this.

Thanks to NetGalley, Ainslie Hogarth and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Vintage for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Already available.

Super dark, witty and weird, viscerally stomach-churning and a psychological horror of sorts. A cruel mother-in-law from hell whose borderline disorder haunts a young couple both before and after her suicide…. Brilliant writing and completely unhinged, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I finished it….

OOoooh baby I love a good horror/lit fic!! Weird, creepy stories are some of my FAVES and all of the quirkiness that some people critiqued are the reasons I loved it.

I loved the commentary on motherhood and familial relationships and I thought that the characters were complex and relatable, which usually I find the opposite in lit fic books. I loved the stream of thought consciousness aspect of the book and felt like I breezed through this one.

It was dark without being a thriller, satire without being a comedy, and just a perfect mix of all the genres I love. The random bits of ghosts and cannibalism were so random yet perfect, and I couldn't stop laughing throughout my entire read.

Although I loved this book, I could go the rest of my life without hearing about jellied salmon ever again...

This took me a while to gather my thoughts for, because it was so batsh*t crazy.
Abby’s stress really eminates from the pages, the writing gets just as erratic and unstable as her mind does. It’s not hidden in metaphors, it’s there for all of us to see. The prose gets some getting used to, but it absolutely works. Especially towards the end when we reach the peak.
Abby is a fascinating character to follow. Her worldview is so skewed, you’re either demonized or glorified, and if you’re neither you’re nothing. Her quest for perfect love is so tragic and terrifying.
This was stomach churning, horrifying, and awful to read in the very best way!

I had mixed feelings about this book. I thought it was going to be more of a ghost story. That is not what it is.

This was not the book for me. I just don’t think I actually like this genre. The cover is PHENOMENAL though.

I think I like it a lot because I feel like our main character, narrating, also has ADHD. The way they go off on a tangent during internal monologue is what I do.

There's paranormal activity within the family home, this is the focus. At times there's not enough on that subject. I wish there was more on the Mother in Law being around.

I appreciate how small details lead up to big situations, but it did run short of an ending. This ending was right for the book but I didn't understand how there wasn't really information on how we got there--it seems off from the middle of the book. I just don't see how that was the connection, the monster should not have been the monster, if you will.

This took a different turn from what I thought. It was surprising and I did feel bad for the protagonist of her childhood. Definitely a good read.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Thinking she was finally free of her mother in law… our main character soon realizes that death is only the beginning. Funny, dark, and reminiscent of Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh, this book is seriously so fun. Definitely fits in the category of books- unhinged women. Highly recommend.

Note- has many dark parts, do not recommend for -see trigger warnings-

The premise of this book sounds so good, I wanted to read something weird and a little bit scary. Unfortunately, the story, the way it was written, didn’t capture my interest. This book was beyond my comprehension and I couldn’t get into, too experimental for my taste.

Motherthing revolves around Abby and her husband Ralph grieving the suicide of Laura.
Plot twist: Abby's hope of a happy family in her mother-in-law's free home takes a sharp left turn when Laura’s ghost comes back, Laura still has a hold on Ralph and it's up to Abby to break it.

The story is told from Abby's point of view. Ralph has all the hallmarks of being raised by an overbearing mother. Laura is an attention-seeking grotesque caricature of a person who is awful towards Abby and has constantly threatened to kill herself throughout Ralphs's childhood.
We get to learn that Abby was a neglected child with an emotionally unavailable and narcissistic mother. This helps readers to understand how this has shaped her as an adult, her chosen carrier as a caretaker in an elder care home, and the actions she takes throughout the book.
This made the first 50% of the book great. However, the plot quickly takes an unhinged turn in the latter half that left me unsettled (not in a good way).

The book had all the hallmarks of a good read:

Overbearing and emotionally abusive mother-in-law!!!
Secret Co-dependent mother/son relationship!!!
Wife trying to make everything right no matter the cost!!!

Unfortunately, I would characterize this more as gore porn and not necessarily horror/comedy. It is categorized as horror but lacks the totality of a horror atmosphere. Investing in the book was challenging and plot points ultimately failed to come together.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of Motherthing & PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook!

Absolutely love weird things so I was really excited for Motherthing, however, it didn't really tick any boxes for me. It was just fine, but unfortunately forgettable.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was looking forward to this book. The cover is awesome! I had a lot of fun reading this. Its comedy, horror domestic. I love the idea of a mother-in-law haunting is hilarious. Definitely recommend. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a fun domestic horror. I loved the narrator, and I look forward to more by this author. The idea of a mother-in-law haunting is so funny to me, and it’s every spouse’s nightmare (I know it’s mine).

I could not put this down! Motherthing is a phenomenal ghost story that explores the influence of a mother and child relationship as well as hereditary depression. Abbey and her husband move into her mother in law's house who is struggling with depression and dies by suicide. Her mother in law begins to haunt their home and in particular Abbey's husband Ralph. Abbey's dysfunctional relationship with her mother in law and her own mother makes it clear Abbey has no role model for motherhood, caregiving, or healthy relationships. This manifests in comfort objects such as an old cookbook and a childhood couch, much like Harlow's experiment of giving baby monkey's inanimate objects in place of mothers. Abbey is dependent, self-isolating, paranoid, and socially inept. This is made clear by her making jellied salmon in a big mold shaped like a fish to work and getting upset her coworker just wants to eat her yogurt, resulting in an outburst inquiring about her coworker's digestion. It's an incredibly funny scene. The writing style is incredibly funny at times, while being effervescently gorey. Motherthing truly gets at the root of childhood trauma, internal narratives, and hereditary mental illness. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the ARC in return for an honest review

God, do I truly just love feminist horror. This book has so much to say about female rage and the power dynamics between women in a family. This one will stick with me!

⭐⭐⭐⭐. A darkly funny take on mothers and daughters, about a woman who must take drastic measures to save her husband and herself from the vengeful ghost of her mother-in-law

I feel like my experience reading this book is just the nervous laughter Veep meme where Julia Louis-Dreyfus is just like “what the fuck?”

I didn’t NOT like it, but I also was very concerned almost the whole time? Abby is clearly unwell, as are most of the other characters, and it was very different from what I was expecting. With that said, I do feel like it was well-written and captured the unhinged experience quite well. And when I got to the part with the chicken a la king, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I guess I liked it? I wouldn’t read too many books in this style often.