Burn Our Bodies Down

May 15, 2020
A 17-year-old Nebraska girl's desperate search for her roots takes her down a path more twisted than she could have imagined. Margot Nielsen has lived her whole life under the thumb of her emotionally distant, manipulative mother and her strange set of rules. They have no connections to any family that Margot is aware of, but when a clue about their family history surfaces, Margot follows it. She finds the grandmother her mother never wanted her to know living on the family homestead in an economically depressed town where the Nielsen name seems to be shrouded in a cloud of suspicion that inspires trepidation among locals. Despite ominous foreshadowing, Margot still longs to find in her stoic grandmother, Vera, the love and connection that have been withheld from her. Their relationship is quickly complicated by a fire on the farm that results in the death of a girl with an uncanny physical resemblance to Margot--and whose existence her grandmother refuses to explain. Tension builds as the questions pile up, though the clues do not keep pace with the gaping concerns that readers are forced to grapple with. What could have been a tightly paced thriller suffers from pacing issues and plot holes along with thin character development and repetitive language. All major characters are white. A sinister story about the vicious cycle of generational abuse that falters under the weight of an unwieldy plot. (Fiction. 14-18)

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Starred review from May 25, 2020
For Margot Nielsen, 17, it’s always just been her and her mother, Jo. Nearly identical down to the gray streaks in their hair, the two share a cramped one-bedroom apartment. Margot’s mother insists that she follow very specific rules: keeping a candle lit, and never asking about her father or her mother’s family. After a fight with Jo, Margot heads to the pawn shop to repurchase one of her mother’s trinkets as a means to apologize; there,
she finds her
mother’s childhood Bible and, tucked inside, a photo of a woman who looks remarkably similar to both her and her mother, with a phone number scrawled on the back. Armed with this information, Margot runs away to find her grandmother, Vera, at a farm called Fairhaven. Once there, Margot begins to uncover deep family secrets and realizes that Jo may have had good reason for her strange behavior. Power (Wilder Girls) creates a vivid world with a gothic horror–like setting, where mutant corn stalks produce double helix cobs with pink flesh and where grandmothers are not exactly what they seem. Through Margot, Jo, and Vera, Powers examines the sometimes claustrophobic relationships of mothers and daughters with a genre twist that makes for a riveting, often frightening read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo, InkWell Management.

Starred review from May 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Margot Nielsen has grown up with no family but her mother, and that has not made for an easy childhood. Margot has had to learn to navigate her mother's strange quirks ("Keep a fire burning; a fire is what saves you") and quicksilver temper changes, and she understands the signs of a good day and a bad one. She knows nothing at all about her mother's past. When a chance discovery leads her to a town called Phalene and a grandmother she never knew existed, Margot seizes the opportunity, returning to her mother's hometown just as a fire?not, the locals say, the first?tears across her grandmother's land. As she tries to get to know Gram, who is as much an enigma as Margot's mother, Margot's confusion and suspicions about her family history grow. There's something strange and troubled about Nielsen women?they hide things from the world and from each other?and Margot is determined to uncover the darkest of family secrets, no matter the cost. Power follows her hit debut Wilder Girls (2019) with a thriller that digs into generational wounds. A late sf twist folds seamlessly into the character-driven story, and Margot's narration, laced with the anxieties she learned during childhood, is a raw nerve. Gritty and strange, this sophomore novel is utterly compelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

June 19, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Power's second novel is an unsettling mystery, slowly unfurling from a haunting tale of mothers and daughters to a stranger, more violent conclusion. Margot has only ever known life with her mother-just the two of them alone together with the rituals that her mother says will keep them safe. Margot thinks she has no family until a photo leads her to a town called Phalene, where she finds her grandmother living in an eerie house amidst dying cornfields. Margot knows she has to find some answers when her Gram's property catches fire and Margot finds the dead body of a girl who could be her twin sister. This book is effective in its pacing as it builds from a slow beginning, focusing on the small interactions between characters to a grander, more frenetic end. There is a slow seep of creepy details throughout-each seemingly disjointed but ultimately significant to the conclusion, which speaks of the complex love and dysfunction passed down from mothers to daughters one generation after the other. This novel is reminiscent of stories like Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" in that it masterfully plays with imagery and setting to show the internal anguish of a character seeking to escape old patterns. VERDICT A creepy mystery recommended for readers who enjoy character-driven stories with elements of horror.-Talea Anderson, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA.

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