Synopsis:
Grace isn’t exactly thrilled when her newly widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in with her. They’ve never had a great relationship, and Grace likes her space—especially now that she’s stuck at home during a pandemic. Then again, she needs help with the mortgage after losing her job. And maybe it’ll be a chance for them to bond—or at least give each other a hand.
But living with Mother isn’t for everyone. Good intentions turn bad soon after Jackie moves in. Old wounds fester; new ones open. Grace starts having nightmares about her disabled twin sister, who died when they were kids. And Jackie discovers that Grace secretly catfishes people online—a hobby Jackie thinks is unforgivable.
When Jackie makes an earth-shattering accusation against her, Grace sees it as an act of revenge, and it sends her spiraling into a sleep-deprived madness. As the walls close in, the ghosts of Grace’s past collide with a new but familiar threat: Mom.
Edition:
ARC via Net Galley
Trigger Warnings:
Hover for Trigger WarningsMy Thoughts:
Picture this: it’s the middle of an ongoing viral pandemic. Not hard, right? Exactly – Mothered is set in present day This Earth reality. It is the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic (aka the pandemic that will probably never fucking end because we’re a planet of morons).
Things have been going pretty well for Grace. She has a job at a salon she loves, she’s just bought a new house, and her mother lives across the country. Everything is as it should be. But of course, the ol’ pandy had to roll in and ruin EVERYTHING. Now Grace’s job has shuttered, she’s struggling to pay bills, and her mom is in the market for a new living situation following the death of her husband.
Now Grace finds herself living with Mom. Hooray (not).
Grace and Jackie have never seemed to get on all that well. Things have always been tense between them. Grace’s disabled twin sister seemingly took up all of Jackie’s time and energy, and after her death years before things have only gotten more strained. But she thinks that maybe having her mother stay with her will give them the opportunity to bond – or at least to begin to heal some old wounds.
But, much like humanity as a whole, it seems that the relationship is set on a potentially irreversible doom spiral. As tensions continue to rise between the two, judgments and accusations begin to fly.
They can’t really escape each other, so they’re forced to bear the weight of each other’s accusations. When repressed emotions meet cabin fever, things start to go horribly awry. Soon, it becomes difficult to tell what is reality, and what is just paranoid, sleep-deprived delusion.
When I started reading this in July of 2022 (I am SO SLOW getting these reviews written/uploaded, I know) I remember thinking to myself, “I wonder if this is going to be difficult to read due to taking place in the current, ongoing pandemic.” Well, it was. It might be less so now that I’m another half-year jaded. So. Unbelievably. Jaded.
But I think it is kind of brilliant the way Stage uses the backdrop of the pandemic to both parallel and ratchet up the mounting tension and borderline insanity of Grace’s home. I love that it prods at the terrible things that extended quarantining has done to those of us who bothered to listen to medical science and do so at any point (or were able to do so due to being deemed “non-essential” – no shade to those who weren’t given the choice. I’m sorry our government/society nominated you to play the part of cannon fodder whether you were willing or not).
Rating:
Mothered is a creepy, very current psychological thriller.
Mothered By Zoje Stage Thomas & Mercer ISBN: 9781662506246 Expected Publication: March 1, 2023 Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audio 318 Pages Author's Website
