Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Synopsis:

Cackle

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?

Edition:

Hardcover

Awards/Nominations:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Horror (2021)
• Ladies of Horror Fiction Award Nominee for Novel (2021)

A Quick Note:

Well, I’m officially ready for the Spooky Season. Not that this is going to be much different than my normal content (if at all, really), but I’m going to try extra hard to make sure all of my upcoming content is in keeping with creepy vibes. 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🦇

My Thoughts:

I know at one point, every reader has found a fictional world they wanted to live inside. For me, Cackle is that world. I love Annie and Sophie so much. Even knowing about the spider infestation –

I just want to be their friend. I too want to drink whiskey straight from the bottle and eat an entire cake with nothing but my bare hands. These women are living the dream (even when Annie doesn’t know it yet).

To me, Cackle reads like a more contemporized, light-hearted take on Practical Magic. It has that same undercurrent of female empowerment, but without all the messy drama. I mean, Annie does come with a bit of baggage, but it’s not quite so life-or-death, you know?

If you like stories about women discovering their own worth and stepping into their power, you’re probably gonna love this one.

“I conjure it. The feeling. The feeling of watching Dan spit bones from his wretched mouth. The feeling of dancing on the grass, in the moonlight. Of being seen by Lynn and not caring. Not caring at all.
I wasn’t myself. I’m not myself.
Or maybe…maybe I’m more myself than I’ve ever been.”

Reading Annie’s story, and watching her discover that she is so much more than she thinks of herself felt, to me, a lot like growing up. It made me remember what it was like to be in my 20s. How I thought of myself as nothing more than the sum of what other people thought of me. And you know what? It made me grateful that I made it through that part of my life unscathed enough that now, from the lofty perch of my mid-30s, I can look back at that version of me and just be grateful for the hard-earned lessons I had to learn to make me the (slightly) more self-assured person that I am today.

Back in the olden days I was worried that I would always hate myself. Now I know it’s only a sometimes thing (thanks depression and anxiety!). Anyway, Cackle recreated those feelings for me. Annie definitely goes on a similar journey – from the woman who is willing to live a very meh life just to feel loved/needed, to someone who wants to grab the world by the balls and live the way she wants – it’s a beautiful thing.

Rating:

I really enjoyed Cackle. It left me feeling lighter, and maybe even slightly empowered myself. I actually ordered this twice – the first copy UPS, in their infinite wisdom decided that dumping it off in front of the burned out shell of my former home was a solid plan (they did this with several books – unfortunately the fire happened right before my birthday last year). But no regrets. I’d have bought it 3 times if that’s what it took. It was totally worth it.

Cackle
By Rachel Harrison
Berkley Books
ISBN: 9780593202029
Published: October 5, 2021
Hardcover, Paperback, Audio, E-book
293 Pages