“If God gives yoyu meaning, if God makes you good, if God makes you real and worthy and powerful, then that’s my Ralph. Ralph made my suffering better, healthy and righteous. He made my suffering want only good things: make the pain stop and I’ll be the best wife in the world,” (Hogarth).
After Abby’s mother-in-law Laura dies by suicide, her husband Ralph falls into a deep depression. Abby was afraid that this would happen. Laura, who hated Abby, suffered from mental illness and Abby can’t stand seeing her beloved Ralph in the depths of despair. Ralph is Abby’s whole world, after a traumatic childhood he’s the one that makes her whole, that makes things good and if Abby can’t make Ralph happy then she can’t be the best wife she knows she can be. When she learns that Laura’s ghost is haunting them, and that her favorite patient Mrs. Bondy might be leaving the nursing home Abby works at, Abby feels alone and is desperate to make things right. And Abby has a plan that will fix Ralph, get rid of Laura, and keep Mrs. Bondy at the home and all she needs is a special recipe for chicken à la king.
Motherthing has been on my list for a while and I’m so happy I finally read it because it’s AMAZING! I won’t lie that it lost me for a bit in the beginning. I couldn’t wrap my head around Abby’s naively bright narrative with her dark thoughts and even darker things happening around her. A lot of the horror that happens in the novel is spoken so casually, like a conversation, which just works to make the situation all that more gruesome.
Abby is such an interesting protagonist to follow. After surviving a truly horrific childhood with a neglectful mother, Abby has become to embodiment of a caregiver. From her career in a nursing home to doing everything for her husband Ralph to keep him happy and satisfied, Abby only knows who she is in relation to other people. There is no Abby, only Abby who is a wife, Abby who takes care of Mrs. Bondy, Abby trying to be a mother, but no Abby just as Abby herself. Ralph similarly comes from a troubled upbringing, his mother suffered from severe mental illness and he was expected to do whatever she asked with threats from her that she would kill himself if he didn’t stay with her. Hogarth does an excellent job examining the ways that childhood adversity bleeds into and shapes adulthood. Both Ralph and Abby comes from different troubled upbringings and both deeply love each other, but their trauma also effects each other in ways they can’t properly communicate, in ways neither can see will affect the child they hope to bring into the world.
Hogarth also does an excellent job balancing humour in her novel, using dark comedy in a way few can actually achieve. She skirts easily from describing the blood-soaked carpet in the basement where Laura died to Abby’s own frantically humourous thoughts. Though it’s weird to say, it was a fun novel that slowly brought readers down into the gruesome aspects before they could see what was coming.
Funny at times, sickening at others, but completely addictive, Motherthing is a brilliant novel that you need to add to your shelves. I was shocked with how the novel turned, I didn’t see it coming even though it fit with the plot so perfectly. I’m excited to see what else Hogarth has in store for her readers!
Publication: September 27 2022
Publisher: Vintage
Pages: 288 (Libby)
Source: Owned
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Contemporary, Dark Comedy
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
When Ralph and Abby Lamb move in with Ralph’s mother, Laura, Abby hopes it’s just what she and her mother-in-law need to finally connect. After a traumatic childhood, Abby is desperate for a mother figure, especially now that she and Ralph are trying to become parents themselves. Abby just has so much love to give—to Ralph, to Laura, and to Mrs. Bondy, her favorite resident at the long-term care home where she works. But Laura isn’t interested in bonding with her daughter-in-law. She’s venomous and cruel, especially to Abby, and life with her is hellish.
When Laura takes her own life, her ghost haunts Abby and Ralph in very different ways: Ralph is plunged into depression, and Abby is terrorized by a force intent on destroying everything she loves. To make matters worse, Mrs. Bondy’s daughter is threatening to move Mrs. Bondy from the home, leaving Abby totally alone. With everything on the line, Abby comes up with a chilling plan that will allow her to keep Mrs. Bondy, rescue Ralph from his tortured mind, and break Laura’s hold on the family for good. All it requires is a little ingenuity, a lot of determination, and a unique recipe for chicken à la king…
Sarah O'Connor 