Thank you to Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth is ‘mommy issues’ if they were a book. This kitschy and dark novel focuses on wife and husband, Abby and Ralph Lamb, who are reveling in the dreary aftermath of Ralph’s mother’s passing. Ralph’s mother committed suicide in their house and Abby wishes that she could have found love, affection, and validation from her before her tragic death. Ralph’s descent into an all-encompassing depression drives him towards unemployment while Abby desperately wants a child with him. Amidst all of the madness within their house the ghost of his deceased mother returns to haunt their residence.
Upon reading the intriguing synopsis and witnessing the beautiful campy cover reminiscent of vintage horror movies, I was very drawn to this story. Unfortunately, right off the bat I really disliked the forced “overly quirky” writing style. I really wanted to like this novel more than I did based on its description, but it truly just fell flat for me. I felt bored by the story at times and deeply struggled to connect to any of the characters, which is a big issue in a story for me personally.
I took issue with the inclusion of parts that seemed to only be weird for shock value, rather than to add any value or relevance to the overarching storyline itself. I felt at times that the book was trying to be something it’s not and was attempting to do so many things it sadly failed to accomplish. One thing in particular that I disliked was that the book is marketed as a “horror novel” but in attempts to pay homage to the genre, it reads more as a ‘half-baked horror story’ in my opinion. It features some vaguely ‘spooky’ parts but felt as if it were missing some key elements to truly qualify it as a horror novel. Although I did find some of the humor funny, there are only so many poop jokes one can handle until it’s just overdone.
I found this book to be unhinged, depraved, and disgusting at times. It really left me wondering “what am I even reading right now?” at certain scenes. One scene particularly that had me thinking this, was a part where a character was sexually assaulted and absolutely no consequences came of it. It felt problematic for the character to just accept it and do nothing about it and that message feels troubling to me. It also didn’t really seem like it needed to be included as a part of the storyline.
In my opinion, Motherthing was a book I most likely would have passed on. I do think that taste in writing style and diction varying in different authors is extremely subjective though, so readers could have vastly different takeaways from this book. I think that many people would absolutely love this book if the writing style was for them, but some people could dislike it as well. In my personal opinion, I wanted a bit more from this book, but I think readers looking for a festive Halloween book who enjoy this type of writing could potentially enjoy it.

This book is not my typical genre, but it's also not anyones typical genre because it's so out there. I don't know what I just read but it was certainly never boring.

This book was.... crazyyyyyyyyy.....

That is the only accurate word to describe this word vomit of a book...

Ralph and Abby move to Ralph's mothers house in order to take care of her and she suddenly commits suicide. We only get to see the perspective of Abby, who did NOT get along with her mother in law in the traditional sense. This meaning that she strives to make a relationship with her, but in the mother's eyes, only a mother can give Ralph the love he needs and Abby just isn't good enough.

At first it feels like the standard situation, but then as the story goes on, you see that Abby isn't the most sane person at the party. She is dealing with a LOT of childhood trauma that makes Ralph's mother rejection even more devastating. However, its not only that Ralph is not handling the situation all too well either.

This wakadoo world that the author has created lends to a deeply messed up plot that made me question my sanity and reread parts again and again.

The only reason I gave this book a four instead of a five was the ending.... I felt stupid because I didn't understand how we could go from that dinner tooooo that ending.

Mind is confused...

I tried so hard to finish this book but I just couldn’t do it and ended up DNFing at 57%. I love horror so I thought this would be a book that I really enjoyed but unfortunately it wasn’t very interesting and didn’t really feel like horror to me. I also didn’t care for Abby or Ralph and because of that, found it difficult to get invested in their lives and the story.

our jellied salmon loving protagonist Abby is my favorite kind of woman - unhinged! Hogarth is an author I definitely need to read more from, this gave me similar vibes to like Moshfegh (especially with all the bodily function descriptions). it took me a moment to get into the story, as its synopsis is quite misleading - the MIL dies at the beginning of the book, and the rest is just about the aftermath and Abby coming to terms with her own mommy issues.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of this year, and it mostly lived up to the hype. I loved the humour Abby wove throughout her narration, although I found her thought processes and and motives really frustrating sometimes.
I thought it was going to be scarier than it was, I guess the current theme of using mental illness as a horror plot line is quite popular but it didn’t really land for me.

Immensely clever and written with such careful detail, Motherthing is an absolute work of art and a standout in a sea of lifeless reads. It is so clear Hogarth has such a keen and observant eye regarding the world and how people operate. The entire story jumps off the page in such an exciting way and I would recommend this to anyone who can handle a little being a little squirmy.

Ainslie Hogarth's Motherthing is one wonderfully odd little book. On the surface, it's about Abby and Ralph, a happily married couple going through the unthinkable - the suicide of Ralph's mum.⁠

But nothing in this book is so simple. Even a tiny bit below the surface is ugly and twisted, steeped with hints of gothic horror on every page. ⁠
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Abby and Ralph bear the trauma of truly awful mothers. They come together and bond because of that shared experience. Abby feels they can do anything together - she saved him and he saved her. She doesn't see what the reader sees, that both of them are repeating the dysfunctional patterns they learned from their mothers.⁠
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Ralph is convinced his mother's spirit is still in the house and Abby can hear him having whispered conversations in the dark basement. There's a lot of creepy foreshadowing and the palpable tension grows increasingly unbearable as the story continues. You have no idea if Abby and Ralph are being haunted by Ralph's mother or if Ralph is slipping into mental illness. Abby, desperate to rescue him, begins to unravel as well. ⁠
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Abby is very much like a Barbara Comyns' heroine - naïve, matter-of-fact with an unflinchingly brutal honesty in her account of what's happening. I thought of Comyns' Who Was Changed Who Was Dead when reading Motherthing. It's filled with frightening and disgusting bits that are probably not for the squeamish.⁠
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But Hogarth interjects quirky humour throughout the horror with Abby's odd take on the world. I loved Hogarth's writing - a little Pomeranian hangs "like a colostomy bag" off the owner, and the funeral director "wears his flesh, hoisting and adjusting it like a child in his father's suit jacket."⁠
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I'm very thankful to NetGalley and Vintage Books for the advanced review copy of Motherthing. I loved this horrifying little book and would definitely read more of Hogarth's work. If you are a Comyns' fan or a lover of quirky horror, I highly recommend Motherthing.

This book starts off with a no nonsense attitude and triggering content up front. The writing style is relatable and the use of imagery takes the reader on the chaotic events with the characters.
I enjoyed the humor and the supernatural elements in the story. The characters were well written and unique.

Bizarre, hilarious at times, and *almost* what it needed to be.

This one got my attention from the start because the writing is so good. Acerbic, wry, and sharp, Hogarth has a biting wit and a commanding tone. The voice she achieves is perfect for that particular breed of literary fiction where you spend a lot of time cringing at the content and hating the characters, yet are enthralled by their thoughts and the way the author expresses them.

Plot wise, this isn’t necessarily to my taste, but the writing made up for it all the way up until the end when the whole thing went too far off the rails for me to truly say I thought it was an exceptionally good book.

It’s worth reading for the dark humor and clever turns of phrase, but be advised, it’s dark, kind of gross, and I don’t think I’d recommend it for anyone who has, let’s say, unresolved mother issues.

This one started off so well for me and then just took a nosedive into a weirdness that I just couldn't understand or connect with. I got to the 65% mark, stopped, and debated if I should DNF. Ultimately I picked it back up because I was curious about the ending. No, just no. I'm so sad because this was one of my most anticipated reads this year and we just were not made for each other.

Look. There's a reason that I've never gotten married and it's not because I 'haven't found someone'.

I already have a mom of my own. Just the idea of a 'mother-in-law' put the fear of death in me. This book might be the most terrifying, most hilarious story I've read all year.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

4.5*

“We’re supposed to want to die. A little bit.”

Abby Lamb is wife to Ralph, and lives an ordinary life with wants of a nuclear family, except for one problem: her mother-in-law.

Laura Lamb is everything Abby doesn’t want to be when she becomes a mother—she has mental health problems that have in turn given Ralph mental health problems. He reads self-help books entitled “The Borderline Parent” and has an uncomfortable relationship with his mother, but his relationship with Abby seems solid.

I was worried for about half of this book that it would just be another book slandering people with borderline personality disorder. While it does come up, it’s not really the case in the end, and without spoiling anything, it’s a very satisfying ending.

Motherthing is listed as a domestic horror/thriller book, but it really transcends genre. It picks and chooses from multiple genres to make an amalgamation of fiction. Although it’s a short book, this allows for many topics to be covered and leaves you satisfied by the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage Books for the advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

CW for suicide, murder, blood, gore, self-harm, suicide attempt, sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, mental illness, toxic relationship, domestic abuse, and some mental illness stigma

Oh.. MY GOD. Okay… okay.. Motherthing, I SEE YOU. This was incredible. Motherthing grabs you by the neck and holds on until you're gasping for air and unable to take your gaze away from the page, watching as the madness unfolds. Abby's gradual descent into madness was both unhinged and iconic in every way. I could feel her inside my head. In my ear, whispering. This book satisfied an itch that hadn't been scratched since reading Bunny by Mona Awad. This was both brilliant and messed up in so many ways. It made me nervously laugh, and there were times when I had to almost literally pry my jaw from the floor. This book is not for everyone. It's gory. It's disgusting.

It's very, very disturbing, but not without some dark humour peppered in for good measure. Perfect!! For the start of a particularly spooky month. I will, however, avoid eating chicken for the time being. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Thank you thank you thank to the publisher and netgalley for my ARC!

[Paused book at 45%; review posted on Goodreads on 9/25/22] Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher Vintage I received an advanced digital copy of this book. The synopsis and cover looked highly promising to request a copy. My goal was to provide a review before the publishing date (September 27), and I have been steadily chipping away at the book over the past few weeks, but so far the story just isn’t grabbing me enough. 45% in, and nothing significantly really has happened yet. I’m not giving up quite yet, as there is still great potential, and I will update my rating on Goodreads when I do finish it. But for now, this rating has to do before the book releases. I’m a big mood reader, and there are several other books on my TBR that have a bigger draw for me at this time.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read advance copy. Initially, I was intrigued by the book's description and cover. I thought the feel of the book would be in the same vein as Bunny by Mona Awad. Instead, Motherthing offered a new level of bleak and grotesque that I could not stomach. Once I got accustomed to the writing style, I thought surely the story would turn a corner and would live up to all of the stellar reviews. I think one of the biggest issues is that we are thrown into Abby's narration after her mother-in-law's suicide with only her narration as a basis of truth. I understand that this was purposeful to center Abby as an unreliable narrator, but it made the plot feel disordered and chaotic. Maybe this is meant to illustrate mental illness, who knows? I found myself skipping many parts that felt unnecessary and then running from the parts that felt like they were there purely for shock value. As shocking and grotesque as Motherthing was, I think placing this in the horror genre is a stretch. However, reading this book did leave me with a pit in my stomach. Not a fun read at all.

This was dark and chock full of even darker humor. It was so fun for me. And the cover? I will be physically buying this to add to my collection.

Strangest book I've ever read! Very unnerving - kinda like a car wreck you just can't turn away from!

I didn't enjoy reading this book - but kept on trying to get to the part that would make it all make sense - make the language and imagery have a purpose. It never happened.

While I didn't enjoy this book - I'm sure it's one I'll remember and think about for a long time!

3.5 stars but rounded up to 4 stars for originality. Motherthing is at times hilarious and often disturbing. Mostly told from Abby's point of view with a few omniscient narratives interspersed.
Abby recently moves in to her mother-in-law, Laura's, house with her husband Ralph because Laura who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder needs help however, in the very first chapter Laura commits suicide and their lives are upended. Ralph sinks into a depression of his own which may or may not include hallucinations that his dead mother still wanders in the home, or are they hallucinations? Abby, desperate to help her husband and banish the spirit of a mother-in-law who does not like her goes to great and macabre lengths to heal her husband and their marriage. Abby is an interesting character who lacks nurturing and guidance from her own mother and attributes maternal comfort to people and things around her, the same way baby monkeys in a classic experiment do with inanimate objects when taken from their mothers. These objects become the "motherthing", the substitute for warmth and comfort. If you enjoy spending your time in someone else's head, someone who is deeply disturbed, but also at times sweet, then this is the book for you. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this ARC.

I absolutely hated the first chapter of this book. While Ralph's mother is dying in the hospital, he and his wife are sitting in the waiting room speculating about "brown hot tubs" filled with ethically sourced diarrhea. I'd picked the book up looking for a ghost story, not whatever THAT was... but it was a review copy so I forced myself to keep reading. It did get better. The idea of the "motherthing" and Abbty's desperation for a loving mother were sadly fascinating, but I never got past all of the distasteful imagery. How much fecal matter do we need in a book where no one is sick (physically, at least) and no one is dealing with the aliens from that Stephen King novel?