Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sarah Gailey has written a bit of a slog (as in crazy slow burn). The kind of book that Stephen King would write, if you will. A bit too detailed and over written, in my opinion. A novel that takes forever to get through, and yet one you can’t quite give up on or put down as you must know how it ends. I both hated this, and was entranced by it. It was both tame in its horror and yet chillingly awful in the end.
Make Me Better is a number of movies I have seen put together into a novel with unreliable narrators, timelines that swap randomly, and a puzzle that eventually you see and yet wish you hadn’t. It is Midsommar meets The Island (Leo version) meets Mother (with Jennifer Lawrence). Taking all the creepy, disturbing indoctrination and mixing it together to give you a community that seems like the right answer, even when you know it isn’t. Gailey convinces the reader that what our MC is experiencing and thinking is perfectly normal, because in a way it is… even when we know in our gut there’s nothing normal about it.
If you ever wanted to understand why or how people are lured into a cult then this is the book to read. Perhaps you’ll even find yourself agreeing in the end that the horrific price of staying is worth it… or maybe you’ll shiver at how easy it was to follow along and nod. Even knowing you’re reading a horror novel that lacks the gore, jump scares, traditional monsters, or savage slasher moments the genre is known for; yet still has obviously horrific events.
I don’t want to say too much as I think this one is best experienced as it is without much foreknowledge except that it’s a cult and nothing is as it seems. However, I do want you to know that I really struggled to get through almost 65% of it. I had to convince myself to keep reading even when it seemed dull and obvious what was happening. A bit ironic given that our MC is at times feeling so disconnected from the experience as well.
The question, is the pay off worth the work?
For some it will be. For me it was just enough to eke out 4 stars right now. Maybe in a couple days I’ll return and drop it. We will see.
While I’m glad to have completed the book; I’m also glad to return my print copy to the library and not come back to it. I might recommend it for the right person who desires a study of cults or to understand how people become so blind to what is truly around them. Mostly, I think I’ll tell folks to stay away as it is not an enjoyable read per se. However, Make Me Better is a read, I suspect, I will think of in the future when I’m asking myself why I care, why I feel motivated, or why I’m reacting in certain ways. If only to ensure it’s not just because someone told me I should be a certain way.
There’s a mantra somewhere in it all, but it’s too creepy to write or say as that is much too close to assimilation for comfort. If there was something to take away it might go like this: May I always be turned off by the idea of ‘forced’ community and ensure I’m evaluating what’s happening through my own morales and eyes, not by what someone else told me is ‘right’.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sarah Gailey has written a bit of a slog (as in crazy slow burn). The kind of book that Stephen King would write, if you will. A bit too detailed and over written, in my opinion. A novel that takes forever to get through, and yet one you can’t quite give up on or put down as you must know how it ends. I both hated this, and was entranced by it. It was both tame in its horror and yet chillingly awful in the end.
Make Me Better is a number of movies I have seen put together into a novel with unreliable narrators, timelines that swap randomly, and a puzzle that eventually you see and yet wish you hadn’t. It is Midsommar meets The Island (Leo version) meets Mother (with Jennifer Lawrence). Taking all the creepy, disturbing indoctrination and mixing it together to give you a community that seems like the right answer, even when you know it isn’t. Gailey convinces the reader that what our MC is experiencing and thinking is perfectly normal, because in a way it is… even when we know in our gut there’s nothing normal about it.
If you ever wanted to understand why or how people are lured into a cult then this is the book to read. Perhaps you’ll even find yourself agreeing in the end that the horrific price of staying is worth it… or maybe you’ll shiver at how easy it was to follow along and nod. Even knowing you’re reading a horror novel that lacks the gore, jump scares, traditional monsters, or savage slasher moments the genre is known for; yet still has obviously horrific events.
I don’t want to say too much as I think this one is best experienced as it is without much foreknowledge except that it’s a cult and nothing is as it seems. However, I do want you to know that I really struggled to get through almost 65% of it. I had to convince myself to keep reading even when it seemed dull and obvious what was happening. A bit ironic given that our MC is at times feeling so disconnected from the experience as well.
The question, is the pay off worth the work?
For some it will be. For me it was just enough to eke out 4 stars right now. Maybe in a couple days I’ll return and drop it. We will see.
While I’m glad to have completed the book; I’m also glad to return my print copy to the library and not come back to it. I might recommend it for the right person who desires a study of cults or to understand how people become so blind to what is truly around them. Mostly, I think I’ll tell folks to stay away as it is not an enjoyable read per se. However, Make Me Better is a read, I suspect, I will think of in the future when I’m asking myself why I care, why I feel motivated, or why I’m reacting in certain ways. If only to ensure it’s not just because someone told me I should be a certain way.
There’s a mantra somewhere in it all, but it’s too creepy to write or say as that is much too close to assimilation for comfort. If there was something to take away it might go like this: May I always be turned off by the idea of ‘forced’ community and ensure I’m evaluating what’s happening through my own morales and eyes, not by what someone else told me is ‘right’.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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