Madapple by Christina Meldrum

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
OK. I'm going to admit upfront that this book is confusing as all get out. When I read the reviews and the book jacket, I thought the book was a fantasy book. Girl raised by crazy loner mother is left an orphan and must survive a brutal world and battle good and evil. Seriously. I really thought we were talking fantasy series. IT'S NOT.

It is set in the present day, but written in such a dreamy language to give you the impression of otherworldliness. The conceit of botany (madapple being a key plant in the plot) ties everything together. Or tries to. The chapters go from orphan Aslaug's perception of the world and past events to a chapter from the courtroom where she is on trial for murder and arson. So you go from dreamy, hallucinogenic remembrances, to gritty trial transcripts.

Ultimately I found the book unpleasant, from the mother's brutality (she puts out a cigarette on Aslaug's chest to teach her some bizarre lesson on life)to her rape/dream sex/virgin birth by her first cousin.

The plot is downright hazy. Like whisps of fog, you think you see ahead of you, but no....it's something different. I can't say I enjoyed reading this. I'm not sure I learned anything other than some plant botany.

It was so heavily hyped and promoted that I feel really let down. I expected an amazing read and what I got was an icky feeling and joy when I could put it down and say, I don't ever have to read that again.


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