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Jan. 3rd, 2023 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI was intrigued by the sound of Tade Thompson's Molly Southborne novella trilogy when I read rachelmanija's post about it, and then happydork also read them and made a specific point of reminding me that my clone feelings are constant and inescapable, much indeed like Molly Southborne's molly clones.
The first book in the trilogy, The Murders of Molly Southborne, introduces the titular Molly as she grows up constantly attacked by the identical copies of herself that spring up whenever she bleeds and inevitably attack her shortly thereafter. Molly's parents try to protect her both by killing every new molly that springs up, and by teaching Molly to defend herself against her mollies likewise. Unsurprisingly this makes for a complicated and moderately traumatic childhood!
The first novella is a tight personal focus on Molly and her attempts to create some kind of fulfilling life for herself despite the constant extremely literalized self-destruction; the next two books are broader in scope and provide some more of the big picture around why this is happening and what is going on in the world. All of the books in the trilogy are extremely readable but I agree withrachelmanija that the first is the most propulsive just by virtue of being so intense and weird and thoroughly committed to its premise; that said, the part that is of course most wildly compelling to me is when Molly starts figuring out how to befriend the other mollies and they all begin to develop independent identities of their own and figuring out how to live together and love each other/themselves despite the anger and murderous instincts that gave birth to them. This is clearly very important thematically but still does not have as much page space as I would like! All of book three IMO should have been this and less perhaps should have been the return of Molly's mean mom, who goes from an interesting and ambiguous character in Book 1 to a more or less straight-up villain in Book 3.
As a sidenote, my library had books 1 & 2 but not 3, for unknowable and irritating reasons, which meant that there was a much larger gap than ideal between when I read the second and third book and as a result I spent much of the third book trying desperately to remember which Mysteries had been unfolded in the second. I wish I had read them all closer together! Perhaps someday there will be an omnibus release and I'll be able to zip through a reread of the whole thing.
rachelmanija's post about it, and then happydork also read them and made a specific point of reminding me that my clone feelings are constant and inescapable, much indeed like Molly Southborne's molly clones. The first book in the trilogy, The Murders of Molly Southborne, introduces the titular Molly as she grows up constantly attacked by the identical copies of herself that spring up whenever she bleeds and inevitably attack her shortly thereafter. Molly's parents try to protect her both by killing every new molly that springs up, and by teaching Molly to defend herself against her mollies likewise. Unsurprisingly this makes for a complicated and moderately traumatic childhood!
The first novella is a tight personal focus on Molly and her attempts to create some kind of fulfilling life for herself despite the constant extremely literalized self-destruction; the next two books are broader in scope and provide some more of the big picture around why this is happening and what is going on in the world. All of the books in the trilogy are extremely readable but I agree with
rachelmanija that the first is the most propulsive just by virtue of being so intense and weird and thoroughly committed to its premise; that said, the part that is of course most wildly compelling to me is when Molly starts figuring out how to befriend the other mollies and they all begin to develop independent identities of their own and figuring out how to live together and love each other/themselves despite the anger and murderous instincts that gave birth to them. This is clearly very important thematically but still does not have as much page space as I would like! All of book three IMO should have been this and less perhaps should have been the return of Molly's mean mom, who goes from an interesting and ambiguous character in Book 1 to a more or less straight-up villain in Book 3. As a sidenote, my library had books 1 & 2 but not 3, for unknowable and irritating reasons, which meant that there was a much larger gap than ideal between when I read the second and third book and as a result I spent much of the third book trying desperately to remember which Mysteries had been unfolded in the second. I wish I had read them all closer together! Perhaps someday there will be an omnibus release and I'll be able to zip through a reread of the whole thing.
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Date: 2023-01-04 04:55 am (UTC)I'd also like an omnibus.
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Date: 2023-01-06 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-04 05:57 am (UTC)Definitely something to ponder when I eventually reread them one day!
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Date: 2023-01-06 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2023-01-06 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2023-01-09 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-02 07:44 am (UTC)Molly's sexual escapades with some very scumbag men also put me off in the first book, though I like Thompson's writing and am willing to go along with some eye-rolly elements. It was just incomprehensible what drew Molly to... specifically the asshole who trawled for college girls? lol.