C. E. McGill

Our Hideous Progeny

Clara Gauthier

How utterly, reprehensibly unfair it was that after all this time I still bore the marks, his fingerprints pressed into me like candle wax, while he went on unburnt. 

Pride - what a tricky word that was. It was pride that had turned the angels into demons, pride that had doomed Babel, pride that had tempted Eve; it was the sin of believing oneself capable of great things, worthy of better. It was the worst sin a woman could commit. 

Cris

What must it be like, do you think, to run about saying whatever one likes, as so many gentlemen do? To have one's flaws and mis- deeds attributed not to one's sex, or the manner of one's birth, but to one's character alone? I should like that, I think; to make an utter fool of myself; and be regarded not as a bad example of womanhood, but merely a bad example.

Ok, admittedly I was on a Frankenstein kick, but I liked this one A LOT. It’s weird… It’s gross… It’s got the right amount of pettiness to make it believable… I found it to be a really solid story about what might lead the granddaughter of Frankenstein to dabble in building some kind of hideous beast of her own, and how she could come to feel about it vs the men around her. Give it a spin if you, like myself, love a new twist on an old story. 

Apiecalypse Jen

palaeontology & monster making & feminism?!? oh my! 

aggressively in love with this book, it has everything i want in a gothic, monster story;

mary, a rightfully angry female character obsessed with palaeontology, in 1850’s london at the height of scientific discovery surrounded by mediocre white men.

her whiny husband henry, who ends up being the cause of most of the drama of the plot, and trying to blame it on mary every chance he gets.

maisie my beloved chronic illness girly, honestly a legend.

the creature, a plesiosaur, still to this day my favourite jurassic period marine reptile so i may have been bias to this whole story because of that.. 🖤

palaeontology & monster making & feminism?!? oh my! 

aggressively in love with this book, it has everything i want in a gothic, monster story;

mary, a rightfully angry female character obsessed with palaeontology, in 1850’s london at the height of scientific discovery surrounded by mediocre white men.

her whiny husband henry, who ends up being the cause of most of the drama of the plot, and trying to blame it on mary every chance he gets.

maisie my beloved chronic illness girly, honestly a legend.

the creature, a plesiosaur, still to this day my favourite jurassic period marine reptile so i may have been bias to this whole story because of that.. 🖤

mary should have let the creature eat finlay as a treat 

Alexis Manore 

very interesting, read very slow a la frankenstein and other lit of the time, but very good! I liked the style and the characters a lot

fris🐝

This was such an interesting take on Frankenstein, and I liked it a lot. McGill's writing was so atmospheric. I usually find more Gothic-leaning stories slow and drawn out, but that wasn't the case here. Admittedly, it takes a while for anything of substance to occur, but I never found myself bored. A lot of that has to do with Mary. I enjoyed her as a character. She was intelligent, driven, and focused. There was also a little romance between her and Maisie that I liked as well. If you're looking for an eerie read for the fall, I recommend checking it out.

Heather Harrington

A Novel

Lara Engle

Wow, pretty much everyone (except maybe one person) in this book is immature and terrible. But I still liked the explorations of creation, attachment, affection, societal expectations, and hope.

a frankenstein retelling that actually brings something new to the table. i was filled with rage while reading this on mary’s behalf. was long winded and slow to build up to a plot, but i think the exposition works and makes the rest of the book better. 

Our Hideous Progeny

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