Like everyone else in this delicious little niche book community, I have been seeing Mary circulating on all of my socials. When I originally had put it into my cart, I had fully assumed that this book (focusing on the damage of misogyny, the unrelenting weight of the patriarchy, & the bile taste of aging that society has put in our mouths) was written by a woman. When I found out that Nat Cassidy was a cis man (“a white man!? No!!!“), I was pretty disappointed. I had to really marinade on how willing I was to give yet another man the platform to talk about things he has not experienced. Before reading, my conclusion was this: Cassidy has had to watch the women in his life experience the grotesque ways of which they are treated time and time again. After reading the authors note, I think it’s safe to say that rings true. And although I found there were ways in which Nat had shortcomings, I think he did a wonderful job putting the effort in to deeply understanding and learned from watching those he loves so deeply go through the unimaginable. He also gave the women in his life a platform to talk about their experiences in an unfiltered way. For much of the elements of this book did not come directly from Cassidy - because of this, the credit lies in those individuals, not Nat himself. He was just able to put those experiences into a cohesive story.

I’m not going to give a synopsis, because I think everyone should go into this read as blind as possible. This novel was so fever dream-esque. I enjoyed all the characters, even the nasty ones. The buried scene with the “globe” was so claustrophobic & unhinged. One of the many aspects that were so unique.

So many things Mary said to herself are things, as a woman, I say to myself all the time. The inner voice that I’ve grown up to think was normal because how we are raised has established all of these things about me to be “true.” I found myself thinking why the fuck would I ever say these things to myself? Why am I allowing such hateful, nasty things to be influencing my being? Mary does a great job of encapsulating this in its 400 pages.

I can’t wait to read Nestlings next. In my top 3 favorite reads of 2023 if not #1.

100/5