“There is much to ponder in this enthralling achievement from a debut author.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

Oh boy. I finished this book several days ago and I’ve been thinking about the review ever since. I’ve come to the conclusion that this will be the hardest review I’ve ever written. Why? Because I don’t know if I liked it or not. Strange right? I was back and forth so many times throughout the book. I liked it. I hated it. It brought up emotions about my Mother’s death that were difficult to deal with and left me depressed. Uggggg…it was like a roller coaster ride.

Aslaug was brought up by a single mother. She was home schooled and they rarely went into town. But when her mother dies and the nosey neighbor sees her drag what looked like it could be a body to the back yard and start digging a hole, her life is turned upside down.

After the memorial service for her mother Aslaug finds her aunt and cousins a few towns over. It is there, at a Pentecostal Church that she learns more about her mother and the deep seeded problems and mental issues within her family. But for someone that was brought up having very limited interaction with anyone save for her mother Aslaug demonstrates great socialization skills. I didn’t get that. One would think she would be shy, awkward and without the social skills required to function in society. But at times it seemed as if the author forgot this point and had Aslaug interacting with people better than I do.

My favorite parts of this book were the bits of herbology sprinkled throughout. It was very interesting learning about the different flora.

Then there are the religious theories. First let me say that I LOVED Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code. For me the different takes on the bible were interesting and while I may not totally agree with them I can see how the other side has a valid argument. But this book was different. Different religious groups (and way too many different groups) and views were brought into the mix on what seemed to me the flimsiest basis. All centering around one thing…a virgin birth.

There’s a lot of back and forth in this book. Back and forth in time. From what happened (revealed in court) to what Aslaug thought happened. But there was back and forth in what she thought also. One minute she sees things one way and the next she does a 180 and thinks it happened another way.

I’ll wrap it up here. This book was more disturbing than anything I think I‘ve ever read. So I guess I’d have to say I didn’t like it. I definitely will not reread it. It was too unsettling. If pressed to put a bookometer rating on it I would have to say no higher than a 2 and that’s a stretch. I saw another review where the critic said after she read Madapple she felt contaminated. I have to agree.

WARNING!!!!
This book contains portions of mental and verbal abuse, teenage pregnancy, incest, drugs, and kidnapping

 

Reviewed by:

Teresa M

Added 4th June 2015

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Teresa M