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A review by saylaurmoon
Mothered by Zoje Stage
3.0
↠ 3.5 stars ⭐️
Amazon First Reads Pick February 2023
Seeing this novel as an option for this month’s First Reads is the sole reason I ended up reading Baby Teeth before making my selection. After enjoying Stage’s Baby Teeth so much, I knew I needed to choose Mothered.
It’s the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grace just bought her first house, but then lockdown happened and she lost her job. Her recently-widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in, citing that she could help with the mortgage. They have always had a tense, precarious relationship, but this might be a good opportunity to repair their relationship. What could go wrong? Soon after Jackie moves in, Grace begins to have disturbing, disorienting nightmares about her deceased twin, Hope, who had cerebral palsy and died when they were young. After being exposed to the virus, Grace and Jackie are holed up in the house for two weeks together. As Grace’s dreams intensify, the line between reality and delusion begins to blur. Then her mother accuses her of the unthinkable, and Grace begins to question everything she ever knew. Had she really been responsible for her sister’s death? As Grace’s madness spins out of control, she’s driven to a final breaking point.
While I did finish this book within 24 hours of starting it, I was still a bit of a slow burn. It was like a game of Jenga, each disturbing event a piece that was slowly pulling apart reality and stacking onto each other until the tower collapsed, leaving a mess in its wake. Throughout the story, Stage paints such an unnerving and claustrophobic atmosphere, and between the dream sequences and the unreliable narrator, I was even questioning what was real vs a hallucination. The story concludes with a bang, but I felt it still left me confused and questioning what the actual truth is.
Character-wise, no one was particularly likable, other than Miguel maybe. They were complicated… and often annoyed me. At some points, I wanted to step into the book and shake Grace and scream “girl, get your shit together,” but at others, I really felt for her. Growing up and having to care for her disabled twin definitely took a toll on her, and it becomes clear why. Hope was kind of a mean-spirited, selfish bitch, in my opinion. And Jackie, I still don’t know how to feel about her or even what the real version of her is. Is she actually kind and caring, but just holds a degree of resentment? Or is the kindness just a mask she wears when it benefits her? I have no idea.
If the pandemic was at all traumatizing for you at any point, this might be a good one to skip, as COVID plays a central role in the plot.
Overall, I liked Mothered. It was an enjoyable read, but I feel like I’ve been left desiring a bit more out of it. I would still recommend it to a horror/psychological thriller lover, as it does check all the boxes.
Amazon First Reads Pick February 2023
Seeing this novel as an option for this month’s First Reads is the sole reason I ended up reading Baby Teeth before making my selection. After enjoying Stage’s Baby Teeth so much, I knew I needed to choose Mothered.
It’s the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grace just bought her first house, but then lockdown happened and she lost her job. Her recently-widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in, citing that she could help with the mortgage. They have always had a tense, precarious relationship, but this might be a good opportunity to repair their relationship. What could go wrong? Soon after Jackie moves in, Grace begins to have disturbing, disorienting nightmares about her deceased twin, Hope, who had cerebral palsy and died when they were young. After being exposed to the virus, Grace and Jackie are holed up in the house for two weeks together. As Grace’s dreams intensify, the line between reality and delusion begins to blur. Then her mother accuses her of the unthinkable, and Grace begins to question everything she ever knew. Had she really been responsible for her sister’s death? As Grace’s madness spins out of control, she’s driven to a final breaking point.
While I did finish this book within 24 hours of starting it, I was still a bit of a slow burn. It was like a game of Jenga, each disturbing event a piece that was slowly pulling apart reality and stacking onto each other until the tower collapsed, leaving a mess in its wake. Throughout the story, Stage paints such an unnerving and claustrophobic atmosphere, and between the dream sequences and the unreliable narrator, I was even questioning what was real vs a hallucination. The story concludes with a bang, but I felt it still left me confused and questioning what the actual truth is.
Character-wise, no one was particularly likable, other than Miguel maybe. They were complicated… and often annoyed me. At some points, I wanted to step into the book and shake Grace and scream “girl, get your shit together,” but at others, I really felt for her. Growing up and having to care for her disabled twin definitely took a toll on her, and it becomes clear why. Hope was kind of a mean-spirited, selfish bitch, in my opinion. And Jackie, I still don’t know how to feel about her or even what the real version of her is. Is she actually kind and caring, but just holds a degree of resentment? Or is the kindness just a mask she wears when it benefits her? I have no idea.
If the pandemic was at all traumatizing for you at any point, this might be a good one to skip, as COVID plays a central role in the plot.
Overall, I liked Mothered. It was an enjoyable read, but I feel like I’ve been left desiring a bit more out of it. I would still recommend it to a horror/psychological thriller lover, as it does check all the boxes.