Review: The Day My Mother Murdered Herself by Aishah Macgill

A teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood discovers her mother's dead body in Aishah Macgill's novella, The Day My Mother Murdered Herself. From there, we watch as nineteen-year-old Amber, a sheltered young woman from a wealthy Melbourne family, questions why her seemingly perfect and happy mother would decide not only to shoot herself, but to video the act. Amber's journey is quite a dark one, as she discovers various truths about adulthood, sexuality and the harm that broken people can inflict--on themselves and on the people who they are supposed to care about. It's certainly a darker, albeit less explicit, look at the world of BDSM which has become quite popular within the realms of erotic fiction in the past few years thanks mostly to the phenomenal success of one particular trilogy. Amber's journey is quite heart wrenching to follow.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading this one and it's certainly an indie novel worth giving a chance, despite the surprising lack of publicity that this one has received through via the usual promotional channels. As I said, it's a bit dark in places, but a worthwhile read.

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