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micareads123's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a book for moms with feminine rage.Â
When Harry Lime, a wife and mom of three, gets fed up with the mistreatment and underappreciation of women in her community, her rage transforms her into something terrifying and unrecognizable: a beast.
This was an overall enjoyable read. I liked the idea of the premise, and the story ended up taking a direction I was not expecting, which near the end of the book had me reading compulsively to find out what happened. However, with its premise of a mom who is so overcome with feminine rage that she literally turns into a giant beast, I was hoping that the plot would take me to weirder places than it did.Â
The book also tackles some important societal issues that are evidently very close to home for the author. Imas’s own rage comes through very clearly in her writing, making the book feel as though it was created as a form of catharsis for the writer.Â
One aspect that didn’t add up was that the book was written in the format of a memorandum to a (male) special agent. This gave the author reason to speak directly to a male audience, and she seemed to take pleasure in forcing this male audience to confront the female experience. This did not work for me for two reasons: first, the book contained far more detail than one would expect to see in a memorandum outlining a series of events, and second, this format makes it feel as though the book was written for the wrong audience. This is a book that will be enjoyed by moms seeking the catharsis of unleashing their inner feminine rage and, unfortunately, less so by men or other people who do not already understand the complex struggle of motherhood/womanhood.
The pacing of the book also felt, for the most part, quite slow, and the book probably could have done with some cuts to shorten it. But it really picked up in the final quarter and had me captivated until the end.
I would recommend this book to moms or other women who are feeling fed up with the burden of taking on extra responsibility or being overlooked because of their gender.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
When Harry Lime, a wife and mom of three, gets fed up with the mistreatment and underappreciation of women in her community, her rage transforms her into something terrifying and unrecognizable: a beast.
This was an overall enjoyable read. I liked the idea of the premise, and the story ended up taking a direction I was not expecting, which near the end of the book had me reading compulsively to find out what happened. However, with its premise of a mom who is so overcome with feminine rage that she literally turns into a giant beast, I was hoping that the plot would take me to weirder places than it did.Â
The book also tackles some important societal issues that are evidently very close to home for the author. Imas’s own rage comes through very clearly in her writing, making the book feel as though it was created as a form of catharsis for the writer.Â
One aspect that didn’t add up was that the book was written in the format of a memorandum to a (male) special agent. This gave the author reason to speak directly to a male audience, and she seemed to take pleasure in forcing this male audience to confront the female experience. This did not work for me for two reasons: first, the book contained far more detail than one would expect to see in a memorandum outlining a series of events, and second, this format makes it feel as though the book was written for the wrong audience. This is a book that will be enjoyed by moms seeking the catharsis of unleashing their inner feminine rage and, unfortunately, less so by men or other people who do not already understand the complex struggle of motherhood/womanhood.
The pacing of the book also felt, for the most part, quite slow, and the book probably could have done with some cuts to shorten it. But it really picked up in the final quarter and had me captivated until the end.
I would recommend this book to moms or other women who are feeling fed up with the burden of taking on extra responsibility or being overlooked because of their gender.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
_readwithash's review
3.0
Beast Mom is a book that tries to do a lot. The protagonist Harry is an overworked, under appreciated, mom who is struggling. As things begin to enrage her, she notices incredible physical changes, until eventually she becomes a literal beast romping around her town.
This book never went quite where I expected it to, and there are certainly enough open ends to make a compelling sequel. Ultimately it was a fun look at some very very real problems within our society. Harriet was relatable and interesting.
Ultimately, there were two major concerns for me. The first is that the science fiction aspects of this book were very weak. My most notable complaint is that Harry as the monster goes through a series of inconsistent ideas about what her thoughts are capable of..? Like sometimes its beast mind, a really instinctive response to the world, that human Harriet is unable to control, and other times she considering moral dilemmas as the beast? Like the "rules" of her abilities felt all over the place. <spoiler? Also, there was every implication that Soob could read minds, and then she ended up just being able to multiply?
Additionally, this book was written as a case file, and like almost every book meant to be written this way, it doesn't work. No body puts their internal thoughts into case files, they're not diaries. This book would have been so much stronger without that structure. (As an aside, Sleeping Giants is the best case file type of book that I've read, even if that one isn't perfect either).
Additionally, I think Imas was extremely concerned about her character being canceled. At every opportunity, and I mean every opportunity the protagonist would correct her thoughts to make sure the reader knew that she acknowledges the systemic oppression of POC. I think I was fewer than 50 pages into the book before I started predicting her inner turmoil about whether she was addressing Black women's problems with enough seriousness. This isn't necessarily a problem, and it is certainly infinitely better than the opposite, but it did just feel weird.Â
Overall, if you like contemporary fiction about mom's and their problems, and aren't super into SFF (so you won't be as distracted by the discrepancies as I was) this was a good, fun book.Â
Thank you to the author and the publisher for sending me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book never went quite where I expected it to, and there are certainly enough open ends to make a compelling sequel. Ultimately it was a fun look at some very very real problems within our society. Harriet was relatable and interesting.
Ultimately, there were two major concerns for me. The first is that the science fiction aspects of this book were very weak. My most notable complaint is that Harry as the monster goes through a series of inconsistent ideas about what her thoughts are capable of..? Like sometimes its beast mind, a really instinctive response to the world, that human Harriet is unable to control, and other times she considering moral dilemmas as the beast? Like the "rules" of her abilities felt all over the place. <spoiler? Also, there was every implication that Soob could read minds, and then she ended up just being able to multiply?
Additionally, this book was written as a case file, and like almost every book meant to be written this way, it doesn't work. No body puts their internal thoughts into case files, they're not diaries. This book would have been so much stronger without that structure. (As an aside, Sleeping Giants is the best case file type of book that I've read, even if that one isn't perfect either).
Additionally, I think Imas was extremely concerned about her character being canceled. At every opportunity, and I mean every opportunity the protagonist would correct her thoughts to make sure the reader knew that she acknowledges the systemic oppression of POC. I think I was fewer than 50 pages into the book before I started predicting her inner turmoil about whether she was addressing Black women's problems with enough seriousness. This isn't necessarily a problem, and it is certainly infinitely better than the opposite, but it did just feel weird.Â
Overall, if you like contemporary fiction about mom's and their problems, and aren't super into SFF (so you won't be as distracted by the discrepancies as I was) this was a good, fun book.Â
Thank you to the author and the publisher for sending me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
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