Nat Cassidy | pub July 2022 | 405 pp
Im three months into a very chill 2024 and Im feeling super good about it. Ive decided it’s time to diversify Project Relax and get into some body work…no worries, this will not turn into a workout blog ! I will expect y’all to read my reviews and send your girl positive vibes and prayers to stay the course, reducing calories and clocking in ten thousand steps a day on my watch! I pray all is well with y’all – S.
Oh, Mary! This was a cluster of crazy, and maybe not in the best way. 🤦🏾♀️ From what I can figure, our middle aged queen, and story protagonist, is starting to experience menopause. She is having hot flashes, strong emotional shifts, and vivid dreams – or are they reality? On top of that, she has social anxiety and she’s broke. She ‘s just been fired, rent is due and there is no way. Enter her Aunt from her hometown. Auntie needs someone to care for her for a little while and Mary needs a place to stay. Seems like a no brainer, eh?
The thought of returning to her small town, home town dredges up a lot of anxiety and disjointed, unreliable, memories from her past. She travels there anyway, because she doesn’t have a choice. Turns out Auntie is a miserable, mean, drunken smoker, and the house is a dump, inside and out. Yikes, can this get any worse?
Yes, it can. Mary takes the time to clean up the bathroom so that it’s usable, and as soon as she steps into the shower – a bloody ghost appears! Now we are cooking! Mary starts to see bloody horrific images in everyone she looks at longer than 30 seconds! Of course this is making her crazy so she writes it all down in her journal (‘journal’ is what old lady’s call diary’s!)
A bit of truth: This was not the 5 star read I wanted it to be. The author and others have dubbed this book a reimagining of Stephen Kings, Carrie..I don’t see it. Perhaps influenced by Carrie, but no where near as comprehensive. My audio book version included an interview with the author and he mentions other books that influenced his writing as well – mostly all were familiar to me and a great reading list – I could also identify an element of Mary’s plot from each story. It’s like he did a checklist and said let me include one thing from each of my favorite books in order to make a hit! This was not a hit for me.
The core story of a menopausal woman returning to her hometown, and with a little bit of supernatural help, going berserk on the people that may have mistreated her in the past – great! But, in my amateur opinion, the writer got lost somewhere, adding on too many elements and getting lost. Suddenly, Mary had spent time in a mental health institution, possibly related to a serial killer turned cult leader, and half the towns folks and Mary, convince themselves she is the reincarnated serial killer himself and she should be worshipped as some deity! WTF? And the whole thing drags on and on, while the writer tries to convince himself, and us, that any of this makes sense!
Why did I keep reading? There’s so much shit going on, I was just curious to see what would happen next and how all of this would resolve itself. Plus, the Auntie is comedic gold! She’s sarcastic and snarky and more entertaining than Mary. Though Mary isn’t all bad, she’s written a bit too naively for my taste – though it could be described as unyielding optimism. Pick your poison!
This story is literally a fever dream from the hellish pits of some hot and flashy, 55+ woman, that has served the ungrateful patriarchy her entire mediocre life and has had enough. Read this if you want to drive over the ledge with Mary – 3 stars. Enjoy this if you like a slow ramp to complete choas! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
She’s Reading Now 