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.

Motherthing is a story about Abby, who's mother-in-law unalived herself. Abby does whatever she can to be a good wife to her husband, Ralph, and help him heal.
I loved this book! It was told from Abby's first person POV. It was a perfect blend of horror and literary fiction. Unhinged female narrators are always high on my list. The ending was great!
Thank you Netgalley for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly I love anything this author puts out! I had such a good time reading this. It’s perfectly paced and I would highly
Recommend it to anyone :)

On the surface, this is a supernatural horror. Abby, scarred by her childhood trauma at the hands of her mother, is hoping to find a new maternal figure in her husband’s mum, Laura. However, Laura is not exactly a mother-in-law of the year, and when she commits a suicide, Abby becomes haunted on multiple levels.

I was not ready for the ride that speeds up from there. The writing is stupendously fantastic. It ranges from darkly lyrical beauty, such as:

"It’s unwise to stand out from quiet, middle-of-the-night dark. Like how your body has to imitate water to stay alive in it, arms and legs undulating with the waves to keep your head up and breathing. This quiet, middle-of-the-night dark could drown you if you didn’t conform to it completely."

- to sarcastic humour:
“I know from yogurt commercials that an epidemic is happening right now: constipated women, dangerously constipated, dying for probiotics. A perk of being a jellied salmon type is that I shit regular as clockwork every morning.”

- to: “C*UM-SH*IT-KILL” (if you know, you know, I won’t spoil!)

It is quite safe to say this is a study of mother- and motherhood- inflicted traumas, as well as an extremely graphic (!) portrayal of an obsessive mind’s descent into madness. It is superbly paced, maniacally vibrant and just gut-punching with its raw emotions. The ending made me gasp.

I absolutely recommend, this is a book I will not forget in a long while.
Plus, the cover is fantastic

One thing I really appreciate is the cover. I love the 80's slasher vibe it gives off.

Abby and Ralph have moved into Ralph's mother's home to be with her and help with her depression. It's supposed to be a temporary arrangement before they start their own life. Living with Laura is hell. So is having her as a mother and mother in law. But Ralph loves his mother and is devoted to her. When Laura kills herself things get super creepy. Even though she might be dead, Laura still has a hold on Ralph and it's up to Abby to break it. This takes mothering to the next level in every sense.

Motherthing is original, creepy, dark, funny, and a great horror story. It stayed with me long after I was done. I've never read anything like it. It's definitely not for everyone though.

At times I wanted to shrink back, but not too far because I needed to know what was going to happen. Things will happen. You know they will. Everything is portrayed so perfectly. Perfect. Perfect horror. Perfect Motherthing.

Very fun book that surprised me quite a bit. Started out really silly and thought it would just stick with that as the focus but it actually had a few good scary moments.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review. However, I could not finish this book. I had really been excited as the premise sounds amazing, but the writing was just not for me, The idea of being haunted by your evil mother in love sounds so creepy and interesting, and normally I wouldn't be too put off, but this book doesn't seem to be living up to the haunted house promise.

One of my favorite books of the year. An excellent and unsettling look at mothers and the ways they impact our lives. Funny, unique, and engaging, this book's voice is one of the best I've ever read. This is definitely a weird one, but I love a horror novel with unhinged female characters. Recommended for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh and A Touch of Jen.

This was truly a wild and haunting ride. This book was a combination of horror and psychological suspense that explored dark and disturbing subject matter in a way that was compulsively readable. The characters and the story were truly original and compelling. Not for the faint of heart.

MOTHERTHING didn't work for me, but it may work for others. Overall the story was interesting enough, not necessarily scary but I understand that it's categorized as horror.

This book has a great way of showing what grief can look like and I think it's very powerful and maybe good for someone that is also struggling with griefing someone.

When Abby’s mother in law moves in with her and her husband, Ralph, Abby is excited to finally have a mother figure in her life. But Laura is cruel to Abby, uninterested in bonding with her on any level. When Laura die, her ghost haunts Abby and Ralph. To break her mother in laws hold on their family, Abby has the most chilling plan. All it requires is a unique recipe for chicken a la king…

When a book has a slightly different pacing, tone, feel, etc it can be hard to get into. I desperately wanted to like this because I’m a fan of off beat and strange reads. Unfortunately, this one just went over my head and I felt dragged. I can definitely see this book as a polarizing title, you’ll either enjoy it or not. The synopsis calls it “darkly funny” but unfortunately there was no humour there for me, dark or otherwise.

I did think the writing and visuals were so well done but that just wasn’t enough to hold me. If you’d like to try something strange and unusual pick up Motherthing.

Thank you @penguinrandomca @penguincanada for sending me a copy of Motherthing in exchange for an honest review, 2.5✨.

I was so excited to dive into this book after reading the synopsis, unfortunately I didn't feel like the synopsis accurately described the story. This ending up being a let down for me and I don't enjoy reading about a grown man mamas boy. I think that this book is better suited for someone that ones to read about real life issues instead of creepy, dark stories. It's a mething (see what I did there? lol).

OK I loved this — spooky and unsettling and beautifully written. I thought a lot of the hype was coming from Bookstagram because of the cover, but it's worth it. This is a book about moms that touches on so much of the creepiness of motherhood and the spookiness of having a relationship with your offspring. I don't know how else to explain it. There were so many beautiful sentences. Well done.