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.

First of all, I am OBSESSED with the cover of this book. I was graciously provided the eARC by NetGalley and the publisher, but I will 100% be purchasing the book because - along with enjoying it - the cover is remarkable. As a quick aside, I think fans of Mona Awad would really enjoy this.

But.. what did I just read?! I really liked it. It was funny, insightful, dark. My three favorite things. The humor is so dark and dry. The relationship between Abby and Ralph is one of my favorites I've ever read. The narrator made her love and adoration for her husband so tangible and believable. And, while I've never been married or had a mother-in-law, I can understand how this could be relatable for so many.

Also, the opal ring as a plot point.. just great. My thoughts are all over the place, but I really loved this. 4.5 stars!

This book completely defied all expectations for me.

What begins as a story of complicated grief slowly morphs, like an acid trip, into a landscape of mental health minefields, ghostly apparitions, and shocking violence. It’s also a love story.

Our narrator, Abby, is helping her partner grieve the suicide of his mother, who was cruel, unpleasant, and unstable – not unlike Abby’s own mother. But the timing is unfortunate. Abby desperately wants to have a baby, but Ralph is drifting further away from her into his own depression, and Abby’s future baby becomes a seed of hope that she holds within – imagining a time when Ralph emerges from his stupor and basks in the glorious light of fatherhood. Surely he will love her more than anyone has ever loved a woman when she delivers him the family of their dreams. His depression will be cured. His mother gone. A clean slate for all.

But that hope is further dimmed when Ralph claims his mother’s ghost is haunting him. At this point, Abby’s had about enough of it, and she takes it upon herself to exorcise the spirit of her dead, vengeful mother-in-law. To further complicate matters, things aren’t going well with Abby’s job as a caretaker for the elderly. One of her favorites – her “baby” – might be moved to another facility. Why do people keep taking things away from Abby? She only wants a simple life…but she might have to choose a very complicated solution to get it. She’ll do it for her future baby. She’ll do it for Ralph. She’ll do it for love.

At times, this story was heavy with grief, loss, anger, and resentment. But it was also hilarious and unpredictable. Abby’s character is both horrifying and delightful. In her mind, the perfect life is almost within her grasp. So close she can taste it. Or maybe hallucinate is a better term. Either way, her vision is clear, and her journey to exorcising the ghost of her mother-in-law reveals her own haunting. Sometimes, there’s nothing more brutal than family dynamics.

This one will especially appeal to fans of Alissa Nutting, Ottessa Moshfegh, Lara Ehrlich, and Rachel Yoder.

What the actual what did I just read?? This was a weird little trainwreck in the best way possible and my jaw is still dropped.

No matter what Abby does, her mother-in-law, Laura hates her. When Abby and her husband, Ralph move in to help Laura, it only makes matters worse, but Abby knows that she has Ralph by her side through it all. However, when Laura takes her own life, Ralph becomes a tortured mess and his mother's ghost seems to haunt every aspect of their lives. What do you do when your horrible, dead mother-in-law still has a hold on you? Turn to your favorite cookbook, of course...

Heads up: child abuse, violence, cannibalism, suicide

I love stories that everything absolutely goes to hell inch by inch, snowballing in slow motion and WOW. Does it ever snowball. Plus naturally I'm in love with the pulpy collage of a cover!

I also just need to give Hogarth some serious praise. Her genius little sentences all come together in the most brilliant, violent way and I adored her writing. I could not stop highlighting all of my favorite sentences. 

The format was fantastic too. Some chapters were written almost like a play, which broke up the madness of Abby's stream of consciousness narrating. It did get a bit draggy about the 2/3 mark for me, but the book picked up speed again for THAT ending.

This book is most definitely weird and disturbing with dark comedy elements. So this read may not be for you. But if you like freaky stories with Moshfegh sort of protagonists, you'll be in for a treat with this one. But definitely not a Chicken a la King sort of treat...

Abby and Ralph are a married couple who recently moved in with Abby’s mother-in-law, Laura, into her home. Abby works at a long-time care home and dreams about starting her own family, especially since her own childhood was very traumatic. The novel opens with Laura taking her own life, which is only the pebble that starts an avalanche of increasingly more dark and terrifying events, culminating in something extremely sinister.

I was hooked on this book since the first page. The writing is witty but feels very natural and has a bit of a stream-of-consciousness quality to it, and the plot is absolutely wild. It’s a very gorey, strange novel, but I enjoyed it so much that I simply devoured this book. It takes so many unexpected turns while also helping the reader understand where Abby is coming from and what pushes her to do the things she does. Truly a perfect spooky season read!

Definitely feel the vibes of authors like Zoja Stage, Ashley Audrain, Nancy Tucker ... Will be enjoyed by reads who liked "The Upstairs House" by Julia Fine for sure.

Thank you Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage for the ARC of this one. I was immediately drawn to this cover! This one is a domestic horror story, cleverly looking at motherhood through a mother-in-law creepily doing some haunting. I found it witty and entertaining.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I think that was fun. I had a few issues but not enough to detract from the book as a whole. I think this would a good addition to a collection that had similar titles.

This was a very compelling read which I finished in one sitting.

This dark domestic horror story explores motherhood and the impact a mother can have as well as the desire to be loved.

I really enjoyed the authors writing style and the way really dark themes are handled with such wit.

I really could not have predicted the route the ending was going to take, but the book was definitely an enjoyable if slightly disturbing journey.

mother-in-law from hell!!!

abby and ralph have a ghost in their home and it’s not some cute, creepy lil victorian girl but ralph’s own mother. after her suicide, laura, comes back with a vendetta, to further keep ralph under her suffocating watch, plunging him into a deep depression and terrorizing abby and her marital life. abby has to act, and fast to keep laura from destroying her hopes of being a good wife and a good mother.

after a lifetime of not having a mother but instead having things that are mothers, MOTHERTHINGs, abby is determined to turn that around and be the best mother she can be. after laura’s death and ralph in the middle of depression, abby is confident that the only way she can save her husband is by cooking him delicious meals from her favorite cookbook and giving him a baby.

i found the theme of motherhood a strong presence in this novel, abby whole heartedly believes that a baby will save them as a couple and finally be happy and normal. as a sort of practice, abby works in a nursing home as a caregiver and she has a favorite resident. mrs. bondy. who she thinks of as her baby and vice versa, sometimes she feels as she is mrs. bondy’s baby, abby finally having a mother.

motherthing is smart, dark, bold, funny. ainslie hogarth created a masterpiece and achieved to easily blend horror with the domesticity of motherhood. with writing that is sharp and hypnotic i couldn’t put this down and had me captivated from the first chapter.

Abby just wants to be loved. After a traumatic mess of a childhood, she thinks she's found the security she craves with her husband, Ralph, but then they move in with his awful mother, Laura. After Laura takes her own life, she haunts the couple - sending Ralph into a deep depression and terrorizing Abby.

There were a lot of things I loved about this book. The cover killed it. The writing was smart and sharp and hilarious and disturbing. These were two of my favorite bits:

"Boys are boys and they do what they want. Women want things too sometimes, but mostly they're just warm sensory boards for men to tweak and rub and learn about themselves and the world through." BRUTAL.

"The work of women's clothes never more important than at the beginning and end of their lives when it's tasked with broadcasting, as loudly as possible: please don't try to have sex with me." (snort)

I do feel like it could have been a bit shorter and may have worked better as a novella than as a full-length novel because it got a little slow in the middle, but that ending... yuck and wow and gross and amazing.

i admit i asked for this purely based on the cover BUT i have been so very pleasantly surprised by it!!! the writing is so good and so raw and it really teeters that edge of direct wit and tongue in cheek humour. and the ending ??? so satisfying!!! and totally didn't see where it was going at any point, even when in my head i was like okay remember this part for later it'll probably be important when it did come round i was still shocked. really good!! would recommend!! :)

To start, I did enjoy the overall concept, a woman’s cruel narcissistic mother-in-law slowly begins to haunt her and her husband after she vindictively commits suicide. I know, I know, this does not sound fun in the least, but Ainsley Hogarth has a way of shining a black light of humor on the very real difficulties of growing up with a parent with bipolar disorder.

I struggle to review this one, because while I did enjoy the concept I just struggled with the writing style. Even though I really truly do enjoy crass humor, the first pages including a debate about fecal consistencies that goes just a few lines too far, was not a hit for me. I will say that the slow building dread was very well executed, I just never found myself fully engaged with the characters.

Thank you so very much to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for opportunity to read and review this title.

I read about half this novel. I kept pushing through in hopes it would speed up and something more exciting would happen. It did not.

Special thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my own opinion.

Wow. Explaining a book in my review is not enough. I don't have to tell you what a book is about because I'm sure you read the cover jacket or what's it about. What I will say is .my thoughts.

This book started of fine, but it was not a HORROR, which got me a little put off. Horror should be scary, am I right? Nothing of importance happens and than I think Abby is an unreliable narrator or was she supposed to have mental illness and was this the way the author was going? I almost DNF. It wasn't terrible, it just very convoluted and chaos. I was expecting much more.
3 stars

Mothering by Ainslie Hogarth was true HORROR. Abby is planning to have a child sometime in the near future and came from a very traumatic childhood. All she wants to do is be settled with her little family. But her mother-in-law will not allow peace..

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth sounded like it would be right up my alley - horror with dark comedy. Plus, the plot sounded quite unique. Unfortunately, it just wasn't right for me in the end. Honestly, it wasn't what I was expecting and what it was didn't suit me. I wasn't into the stream of consciousness style or the lead character. I also don't think I would quite call this horror.