Book Review – Marrow by Tarryn Fisher

Marrow
*blink blink*

*stares*

*blink*…

*bl…iiiinnnk*

That’s right. Me. Up there. That was how I felt upon finishing this mind f…  er…. delightfully convoluted story.  HOLY MOLY… I got it. No I didn’t. But I GET it… now. And yet I totally didn’t. But I did. But I wasn’t sure if it was me? Or her? Or had my mind just… cracked after all of that?  I don’t even care, ’cause IT. WAS. AWESOME!!

Maryse: HOLY MOLY I just finished Marrow. Whoa.  My fragile little mind… and yet I enjoyed every bit of it cracking. LOL!!! 😉

Jackie: Me too me too!!!

Jill: I finished Sunday afternoon and I still can’t describe what I read or how I feel about it. That Tarryn Fisher sure knows how to make us think we’re crazy.

But OMG, going back over it… it makes SO much sense. It does. And now… knowing… more things, I can’t stop thinking about it. Backtracking. Re-living. Re-visualizing. How? When? Where? Why? Oh. No. I KNOW why.

JenC: OMGGGG. I’ve been reading Marrow for about half an hour now and oh my godddd, I can already tell: a) that Tarryn has done it again and b) this is a 5 star (and probably fave book of 2015).

Maryse: I’m loving it too… dark but so meaningful.

Amy: By the way, where are you both at in Marrow? I am seriously consumed with this book right now…

Maryse: I’m at 30% too…. am sitting down and ready for the long haul. So far though it’s PURE Tarryn Fisher.

Amy: I’m at 60% of Marrow and I’m going to sit down shortly and read the rest of it straight through ’til I’m finished. It has me pretty twisted up right now in the most delicious way!

Elizabeth: Loving marrow so far! very powerful. You feel every word she writes.

Clever lady, that Tarryn Fisher. Weaving us in and out of a nightmare. A few nightmares in fact. Tripping us right into a few surprises that totally threw me for a loop. Suddenly I was sure everything I had been thinking or knowing, up to that point, was WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG because, come on…  *that* reveal? And the circumstances where the reveal was… revealed? GAH!!!! What was I to believe? Who? How? What? Where? Yes… it’s one of those. But I thought… ? Wasn’t he…? She…? WHAT?!!! What about that… ? Never mind. I’ll let you go through your own erratic through processes, yourself.

And the fact that this one somehow ties into Mud Vein…

Maryse: oooooh it’s a series!!!! Supposedly the books eventually “tie in” together… I can’t wait to see how.

Cheryl: MARROW, whaaat?! I’m confused, is this a continuation of Mud Vein? How?? :0 Maryse, “it’s a series?” Dear God if it is anything like Mud Vein; you know with Tarryn Fisher it’s going to be fu@%ked up story!!! Ugh!! I see drinking in the near future for me today. Please just let me know if it ends in a cliffhanger!

Amy: Amy: Cheryl, so far it’s typical Tarryn Fisher…which is a *great* thing.  Whether the “invisible thread” is that the stories are interwoven or just that they have a common theme and have “easter eggs” (like the Zippo) thrown in, I’m fine with it either way. Maryse, you did notice the Zippo, right? No overthinking allowed for me though with this one…just enjoying it for what it is right now! *happy dance* … Okay…because I’m paranoid about spoilers, I just wanted to add that the Zippo comment is not (I don’t believe, at least) spoilery. It’s just something I noticed, which is why I said it may just be an “easter egg.”

Maryse: Amy… why am I not remembering the Zippo reference? It’s right on the edge of my memory…

Amy: Maryse, let’s see if I can keep from being spoilery here…pink Zippo was a sort of trigger for her in Mud Vein and there were pink Zippos at that house, remember?

I love Tarryn Fisher’s writing style. LOVE it. She can make things dark and dismal without being depressing. I’m staying up tonight as late as I need to so I can finish Marrow ’cause I’m loving this book!

Cheryl: I was wondering about the Pink Zippo too. Although still don’t quite remember that detail.

Amy: if any – ties Marrow has to Mud Vein other than it being another psy-thriller sort of story, and that little message from TF is kinda cryptic…at least to me it is. I’m only about halfway through it though … so we’ll see what happens. All I can say is this one has some pretty dark elements to it…and I’m loving it! 

And boy did it ever! BUT you don’t have to read Mud Vein to enjoy this one… it’s just so much cooler if you do, due to a few of the “tie ins”. 😉

But no matter what, let go and enjoy the ride because it takes you through… about 4 different modes (and moods) as the story builds, fluctuates, and presents itself in it’s warped (and yet logical) reality. Because that is what a lot of reality is, isn’t it? Not all is fair in the world, and certain people process and handle things differently than the “norm”.

“People— our dads, our moms, our friends— they are so broken they don’t even know that most of what they do reflects that brokenness. They just hurt whoever is in their wake. They don’t sit and think about what their hurt is doing to us. Pain makes humans selfish. Blocked off. Focused inward instead of outward.“

While the story starts us off with a broken and practically abandoned little girl growing up in tragic circumstances (mode/mood #1),

“You are worth loving. They just don’t have any love to give. Forgive them, Margo.”

…we move into mood #2 when she grows up into someone pretty wonderful. Finally finding herself, her independence, a few friends and an almost hopeful outlook on life. Caring for others, compassionate, and freer. Despite her desolate start, she’s not completely broken. And she’s hoping to help those that might be.

“Margo…” his voice cracks. His chin dips to his chest, and I’m not sure if he’s crying until I hear the sniff. He grabs me, before I can grab him, and he holds me tight. “Margo,” he says into my hair. “I’ll save you, if you save me.”

I nod , the words caught in my throat, sticky with emotion. That’s the best deal life has ever offered me.

But things (mood #3) change, as her compassion and love for others grows into an outright need to protect, and force balance. A calm fury. She becomes a vigilante, of sorts.

I’m not proud. I’m not anything. An eye for an eye, I tell myself. A beating for a beating.

I’ll let you discover mood #4 (and maybe there’s even a mood #5) on your own. Lots of personal apprehension, while you battle with yourself over the rights and wrongs of the world and how they should be dealt with. You’ll both cheer her on, and cringe. Stress. Knowing something big is about to happen.

And all the while… your mind feels like it’s cracking. Because… you know. Things.

Amy: *GASP* What the… *blink blink* *shakes head goes back to Marrow*

Like the very THINGS that tie this story to Mud Vein. And now I feel a little… perplexed. Almost betrayed by my own certainty… ’cause what I thought I should *think* and thought… was maybe… not quite right? GAH! I dunno. Kind of. *sigh* I know. This review is NOT helping you is it?

Jean: Just finished Marrow…… can barely process! My mind is in jumbles! OK, I need to evaluate…. Maryse, I need your review like right now! I know you will be able to help sort out the “craziness” for me!!

Amy: Finished Marrow.  Yeah, no words right now. I gotta digest this.

Cheryl: Amy, that scares me and Maryse “pure Tarryn Fisher, not good. *shakes head, Nope not ready to start Marrow*

Amy: Cheryl, if you read Mud Vein and liked it then you should give Marrow a try. Nothing to be scared of…there is just some stuff in it that I’m still trying to process. But I loved it. So different and soooo what I was looking for. 

Yep Amy and Jean… right there with you. I was a mess in the end of this one, but I think I got it. We need a spoiler forum to release this one properly.

For all of you getting ready to read it. Don’t let our perplexed states scare you off. That should make you even MORE excited!! It was fantastic. Left me sitting there staring …. I love that. It’s just so exciting to finish a book on a high.

So… just go with it. It all comes together, and yet will still leave you contemplating and second guessing yourself… and her, in the end. But I now feel very certain as to what this one was about and why, and I LOVE IT EVEN MORE!!!

“You have to be willing to be happy. Despite the mess of your life— just accept what’s happened, throw away your ideals, and create a new map of happiness to follow.”

It’s the best thing anyone has ever said to me. The best advice.

*conspiratorial grin*  That quote right there says SO much.

4.5 stars!!

P.S. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. Er… well. Sorta. *waggles eyebrows* I guess it depends on how you look at it. *snort* 😛

P.P.S. The note from the author at the end made me cry. Broke my heart. And mended it again. In her weird, sweet… kinda tortured way. What a message. <3

P.P.P.S. Thank you to the author for sending me this fantastic book! I knew what I was in for, and I couldn’t wait for the personal shake up!

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