Sooo…I was really psyched about this one. A crazy mother-in-law!? Cool premise that’s for sure. I also loved the cover.

I was able to follow it through the ring issue where Abby stole the MIL’s ring and then was like oh crap when the hospital assured her son that the ring was def with her/her belongings. Abby why’d you have to take the ring!?

I felt that the story didn’t feel very cohesive and was very choppy…hard to follow. There were parts that I was like ok that’s awesome for gore/grossness and shock value but I wanted more substance.

The characters were just…flat.

I was going to DNF but I just really had high hopes that it would get better. I usually finish books in a day, or 2…a week tops. This book took me like 2-3 months to finish. It had potential but I just really couldn’t get into it.

I saw that a lot of people really loved it though…so you definitely should check it out for yourself, it just wasn’t for me.

I was so excited to read this due to the amazing cover! But unfortunately I couldnt finish the book: I was bored, confused, and did not find it to be funny nor horror like even though 46% of the book. The plot felt very random and loose. The characters were unlikable. The writing felt forced and overdone. I do think this shouldn’t be marketed as horror.

first of all, i would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book. the cover immediately caught my eye and i thought i would love it... AND I WAS RIGHT!

i was hooked right from the start of the book. the word choice is honestly so weird at times but i truly think that the language makes the book - Ainslie Hogarth has really been meticulous with her wording in this book. i love a gruesome, as well as funny, book so it really is no surprise that i LOVED this! and the fact it is about toxic relationships and wanting to see validation? it was perfect - the story was funny but also shattered you at certain points.

however, i did find that the plot seemed a bit long. it did drag ever so slightly for me, to the point where it started to get a tiny bit boring. this book tackles a wide range of themes, including but not limited to, madness, depression, motherhood, seeking validation, death of a parent, grief, suicide, graphic scenes, self-harm and toxic relationships (which are portrayed amazingly i would like to add).

If you love dark humour and creepy situations in the books that you read, then i recommend this to you!

Well well well. Where do I begin. Is the mother in law crazy? The son? The wife? How about all of them In there own way. The whole time I kept asking myself what is real and what isn't. But how often in life and relationships do we do the same thing " is this real"?

A quite disturbing (and disgusting) but funny read. The book tackles depression and grief, motherhood and cannibalism with a ton of dark humor and a touch of folly that just make you say "what did I just read?" at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.


This book wasn't for me. I didn't find the characters compelling, likable, or at the very least interesting. I did like the disorienting horror aspects but unfortunately it wasn't enough to make me want to engage with the characters. I do think there are people out there who will really enjoy this book, so if you are into family dynamics and horror this is for you.

With its clever insights and inventive storyline, Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth will stay with you for quite some time. It’s a dark, humorous book that touches on everything from codependent family relationships, to vengeful dead mother-in-laws and a woman who desperately longs for a child. While it does get quite intense at times, the writing is incredibly impactful and unbelievably thrilling. It was one of those books that I really couldn’t stop reading.

It starts off somewhat normal, with Abby and Ralph deciding to move in with Ralph’s mother, Laura, to help her out a bit. What Abby later comes to learn is that Laura is a cruel woman, who does whatever she can to manipulate her son. And even after killing herself, Laura continues to haunt their lives from beyond the grave. What follows is a daunting portrayal of a marriage that is quickly falling apart, as Ralph becomes more and more devoted to following his dead mother’s wishes.

While Abby feels like she’s losing her husband, the want of a child continues to consume her. But she knows that a baby could’t thrive in her womb until she frees Ralph from the torments of his mother. She embarks on a mission to prove her undying love for him, through one of his favourite dishes, Chicken a la King, but she has a rather unconventional ingredient in mind. With gory details and dry humour, Hogarth creates a story that is equally disturbing as it is compelling.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor as well as NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I have one thing to say:

HOLY SHIT.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth is the most unhinged female rage book of all female rage books. This novel delivered all its pretended and more!

Newly wed Abby deals with her husbands grief of his late bipolar mother in increasingly unusual ways. As the plot evolves we learn of Abby’s unsavoury relationship with her mother-in-law, Laura, which shows in how Abby deals with her husband Ralph’s grief by placating him with food and her want for a baby.

As Ralph’s psyche starts to mirror his mothers, believing her to be a ghost living in their basement, Abby begins to have manic thoughts of fixing him and getting rid of Laura forever. She has convinced herself that becoming pregnant will solve their problems in order to start a new life.

Abby’s obsession eventually leads to her down fall as we learn of her tragic past and why it causes her to think and act the way she does.

This was a novel I could absolutely get behind. It was unpretentious and astute with enough crazy to make you both sad and angry at the world for relating to such a wild novel.

Overall, I have rated this book 4 out 5 stars!

You’ve heard all the jokes about nightmare mother-in-laws, but in this case, she truly is terrifying…

Abby and her husband have moved back into his childhood home to care for his ailing mother, Laura. When Laura takes her own life (not a spoiler, it happens within the first sentence), Ralph sinks into a deep depression, while Abby begins to see and hear things that cannot possibly be real. As the horror of the situation unfolds, and the vengeful ghost is slowly revealed (like details from Abby’s traumatic past), she realises that in order to save everything she holds dear, she’ll have to make some drastic sacrifices (and cook the best Chicken à la King Ralph has ever tasted).

A warning, this book is not for the faint of heart, with some graphic descriptions of violence, and references to mental illness; abuse; fraught family relationships, as well as the difficulties of trying to conceive. While these are heavy subjects, Ainslie Hogarth’s dark sense of humour allows them to be explored in a way that doesn’t feel so heavy.

Motherthing is full of clever writing devices-the switch from first person stream of consciousness narrative to play script format builds further on the 1950s domestic horror story element hinted at by the excellent cover art, as does the incorporation of the recipe book that Abby frequently refers to. The quick-witted conversations between Abby and Ralph provide some very funny dialogue which had me laughing out loud at times.

Ainslie Hogarth is a master of metaphor and word play, as evidenced by the title-without a reliable and caring maternal figure in her own life, Abby seeks comfort in other people and objects. She feels a particularly strong bond to her favourite patient, Mrs Bondy (no pun intended) at the nursing home she works at. While while Mrs Bondy might be Abby’s ‘baby’, at the same time she is also a substitute mother to Abby, and when this relationship is threatened, all hell breaks loose.

As the story progresses, Abby becomes more unhinged, and so too does the plot-it follows the trajectory of her madness. While seemingly starting off as a regular heroic protagonist, Abby turns into somewhat of an anti-hero by the end of the novel.

For more than one reason, this reminded me of another favourite book that I read this year, Sayaka Murata’s ‘Earthlings’. Like Earthlings, it was disturbing, gruesome, hilarious and sad, yet also had a redemptive quality to it. I loved it.

"...I wanted to die but nothing happened. I wanted to not be alive anymore but I had to be. Alive still, in this terrible moment too, even though frankly I have that feeling again where I wouldn’t mind not being alive."
Well, this book was soME OTHER THING(does this count as a pun? If so, then it was very much intended)
It was almost perfectly unhinged and fresh and raw and relatable and also kind of disgusting at times and I loved it way more than I expected.
Also, the story is very food and cooking oriented, in the end it all led to the perfect recipe of love and devotion, with madness sprinkled on top.
I don't usually give away plot points in my tiny reviews, because there are others who already do that, so I'll only say this: (spoiler, maybe) it's a cannibalism story, perfect ending of this crazy story and I'm so glad I read it, because I have a slight obsession with literary Cannibalism.
I loved the audiobook as well, the narrator did amazing job, I kind of want to listen to more books by her. Reading and listening at the same time provided an interesting side of Abby's character, giving voice to her thoughts was needed to fully immerse myself in her life and inner workings of her brain.

I'm so sorry to say that, while I tried many times, I just could not get into this book. I wanted so much to like it but I kept losing interest.
I'm very thankful that the publisher and Netgalley gave me a chance to read this. I truly wish I could've given it a positive review..

ABSOLUTE BANGER.

A slow descent into madness that ends with a WTF-did-I-just-read. The sentences are so honest. It feels like the main character, Abby, is a realized person. The twist and turns are set in reality, and the book's form, going from modern format to screenplay, makes it a delicious read.

Love love loved this book. It’s so unique. And don’t get me started on how much I LOVE the cover! This book is one where you’re constantly like,”oh no what’s going to happen next?”. You’re saying it all the way until the final line. This is such an emotional book and so well done. It talks about depression and suicide for those who may need a trigger warning.

I really tried to like this book because the summary seemed like something I would enjoy. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the writing style which felt disjointed. The conversations were weird and hard to follow. Too bad, because I love a good haunting/ghost story.

Reading Motherthing felt intense for so many reasons. Wild, funny, and pretty grim, this book took the haunting presence of generational mental illness and toxic family dynamics to a horrifying level.

The story follows Abby, a care professional whose mother-in-law recently took her own life. Already feeling in competition with mother-in-law for her husband’s attention, Abby feels even more distant from Ralph as the death of his mother pulls him into a grief-filled depression. To make a difficult situation worse, Abby begins seeing the ghost of her dead mother-in-law who continues to taunt Abby in death with the same cruelty she did in life. As Abby becomes more isolated, more haunted, and more desperate to pour forth her love, she begins to spiral. Her acute need to care for her husband, potential child, and Mrs. Bondy, a resident and mother-figure at the long-term care facility where she works, soon increases Abby’s profuse love to reckless and dangerous places.

At times, I wanted to shove this book between my couch cushions and forget about it for awhile. Not because of the writing quality or any other technical reason. No, instead Ainslie Hogarth's ability to tap into real-life challenges and turn them into an unhinged nightmare affected me in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable.

This discomfort, though, is a sign of Hogarth's skilful and darkly effective storytelling. From the absurd lengths Abby goes to express her love to her tactics for exorcising the ghost of her mother-in-law, Mothingthing really forces us to question who's the dangerous one here. I loved every second of this guessing game, and now that I'm finished with the book, I think I will hide it in my couch cushions.

I tried for a while to get into this book. I read half of it and it sadly wasn't keeping my attention throughout so I stopped. It took me longer to read half of this fairly short book than it usually does for me to complete books that are even longer. I found this too slow moving for what the synopsis promised.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for this e arc.
What a dark and twisted book. I will be buying a physical copy asap.

I enjoyed this book on an OK level. It's probably not something I would have chosen for myself, but after I got into the book, it blended with me more. Abby moves in with her MIL (something at least half the American population would dread on any given day) and hopes that this move will rekindle their friendship. Her MIL isn't interested in her however and suddenly dies. How will Abby progress from this and move forward?

I will say it also had a few odd turns and twists which I think again allowed me not too give it 100%.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

***


Netgalley wish granted me a copy of Motherthing which was exciting. Hearing only good things, I expected to love it.

I didn't think it was terribly funny like some folks do, but dark humor is maybe not my thing. I found it traumatic but not scary.

I was immediately interested in the story and what was happening but that wanted a bit around the 20% mark. All trauma and depression, no ghost yet.

Once the odd things started happening, I was back into it.

I think it's an interesting idea and definitely a hot take on a mother-in-law from hell.

"What the hell did I just read?"

Was my initial reaction after I reached the last few pages;
It was the perfect 'surprise myself' kind of book and I honestly don't know what to feel about this.

I love the writing style, it reminded me so much of 'The Year of Rest and Relaxation' only this time I actually enjoyed reading. All throughout the experience I was conflicted with the thought of liking Abby or be scared of Abby or to rationalize her way of thinking and actions.

Another thing that I loved about this is the accurate if not close enough portrayal of Depression, Psychosis and Psychotic Delusions, I guess also of folie a deux.

It came to the point that it was actually triggering to read some of the passages but that only made the reading experience thrilling.
I wouldn't suggest doing what I did of course. Mind your mental space at all times.

What I'm saying is, the author didn't shy away from writing the dark, scary and messy truth of having this disease and that it's not something to be romanticised.

Besides the topic of mental health problems obviously this book talks about mothers and mother figures and I think it's brave to openly discuss about this, about the significance of not just a mother's guidance and love but both parents with how a child grows up, how it might affect their way of thinking and how they express their love and admiration and how they view a family and marriage in general.

I don't know if it's morally right to say that I loved this but I said it anyway. It's not something that I normally read and recommend openly and I still won't unless you tell me you want to be surprised or you want to try something new.

So if you're looking for a book that's out of your normal genre and you're not squeamish and scared so easily?

This one's for you.