normally i like books like this, but i hated the characters in this too much to actually enjoy it :/ i do appreciate what this book does, showing the way childhood abuse shapes who we are as we move into adulthood, the pitfalls women often fall into when they get married and become a wife, how mother/son relationships can sometimes blur the line between healthy and not healthy...truly, it does all those things well; that being said, every character is so painfully unlikeable this book almost felt like a chore.

abby's upbringing doesn't make up for the fact that she

literally murders someone, dismembers her body, and then feeds her to her unsuspecting husband.

like...im sorry??? she needs to be put UNDER the prison for that, good lord.

ralph is better than abby, but hes just not delved into enough to feel much more than bad for him. for the whole book hes just grieving a mother he had an unhealthy relationship with, and theres not much more to him.

the rest of the characters are bland and forgettable; even laura, ralph's mother, is nothing more than just there.

this book is also predictable, which i think takes the enjoyment out of it. abby's unhinged the entire time, obvious from the first chapter, so her 'decent' into the last part of the book is easy to see happening. overall, this book is just a weird, gross let down.