After her father dies violently, young Mara is surprised to find her mother welcoming a new guest into their home, claiming that he will protect them from the world of devastation and destruction outside their door.

The thing is – the new guest is a spider. Eight-legged, huge and seeming to talk in human speech and thoroughly amuse Mara’s grieving mother. And there’s squalor and burst pipes and water on the floor and hate – so much hate.

Mara’s mother is grieving and pregnant – her missing husband had been found dead and she’s all alone with her daughter. The problem is, she despises her daughter and blames her for her father’s leaving. And as we later found out, there’s a bit of jealousy in there too, as ever since she was born, her daugher has been the recipient of her father’s love, leaving the mother begging for more.

After the spider moves in, a weird tale of seduction happens as the mother falls more and more in love with the strange creature.

Then the ceiling collapses and a massive snake falls in who can talk as well. Then a lizzard and a cockroach move in, an entire circus, feeding on the remains of Mara’s father and staying there with the complicit agreement of her mother.

From baby teeth to virginity, to live is to regularly suffer loss.

And I think this is what the book is about – grief, loss and moving on.

“What are you afraid of?” he asked. “Letting go, or being left with nothing to hold?”

While the odd characters appearing are nothing like the kind orangutan or the fierce tiger in Life of Pi, they are still human as later revealed in the last chapter. They’re vile, hungry and unstoppable in achieving their own satisfaction, not stopping at dismemberment, cannibalism and murder.

“CUT. IT. OFF.”
Finally, I did.
My mother’s head severed, rolling forward in my lap. My hands buttered with blood, I loosened my grip about the thread of webbing corkscrewed like a pig’s tail. I stared at my mother’s headless body, my eyes unblinking and my mouth open in horror at the skill of my craftsmanship.
The horde of vermin flocked around the bodies, tearing the remains apart. They descended on my father’s corpse mouths pressing against his skin and ripping the gristle from the bone.
I screamed, swatting at them until one of the animals bit me.

I think this book does well for body horror and gore, and it’s a good read for Halloween. Where it fell short was the decision making that kept the girl bound to her abusive mother when she was offered a way out early on. Did she stay for her unborn sibling?

I don’t know. The book left me squeamish and desperate for some hot chocolate.