Malorie vs. Laurie Strode - A Review
“But what is madness,” Olympia asks, “if not something out of the ordinary?”
Josh Malerman has done it again – and by that I mean, published an incredible story. And better yet? It’s a freakin’ sequel. And he pulled it off beautifully.
Premise:
We open on the school for the blind where Malorie and her two children have been living for two years. But something has gone wrong. A blind woman has seemingly gone mad from the creatures. But you have to see them to go mad…so how did a blind woman succumb? Malorie fears the worst – the creatures can now touch you. She grabs her two children and runs.
Ten years later, Olympia and Tom are 17 years old and living with Malorie in a summer camp. They’ve spent the past decade turning it into a fully functioning home where they can walk around blindfolded without problems, have areas where they can open their eyes, and a basement filled with preserves to keep them going for years to come.
Olympia and Tom having been raised in this world are more adaptable than Malorie. Their hearing is incredible and they can actually hear the creatures, or sense them, unlike Malorie. They’ve been able to work together to stay safe for a long time and are a perfectly functioning unit.
Of course, the two kids are also now teenagers and Tom has turned into an inventor. He strives to find a way for humans to see again without being turned mad. Olympia has become an avid reader – learning all about the world before she was born.
One day a stranger comes to visit, leaving behind a census. On that list Malorie finds some names from her past and now everything has changed. The family must decide if they are to leave camp and try and find these people, or stay where they are, sheltered in place for the rest of their lives.
“How can I be a mother in this world, your world? How am I supposed to feel, ever, in a world where my kids aren’t allowed to look? They don’t know me. My kids. They know a weathered, paranoid woman who cringes at every suggestion they make. They know a woman who says ‘no’ so many more times than she says ‘yes’. A thousand times no.”
book mood board, original images from weheartit
Here’s what I loved: FULL SPOILERS
SERIOUSLY
I’M SPOILING EVERYTHING
First up – I loved Bird Box so much, but ya know what? I loved this more. You may be worried that now we’ve encountered the creatures and been through hell and back that the sequel can’t be anything new or frightening. But YA WRONG. Malerman has done the almost impossible by creating a sequel that is stronger than the original, moving a story along effectively and necessarily. When you read the ‘afterword’ Malerman actually explains most of this story was originally written into the first. So, it makes sense that it fits so damn well.
Why so much love from me? Let’s talk about the creatures. In the first book we know virtually nothing about them and that is terrifying. In the sequel, we know more. The characters have had to live with them for what? Almost 20 years? But the more we know, the more terrifying it all is. And there’s so many scenes in this book where Olympia and Tom sense the creatures around them, while Malorie senses nothing and is relying solely on her children’s word, and it’s really creepy. The idea of walking around blindfolded while possibly hundreds of creatures stand watching you is so unnerving.
When Olympia reveals that she has been seeing the creatures her whole life, not letting anyone know, and not going mad, Malerman does an incredible job of explaining the creatures without really describing them. So, it’s still mostly up to your imagination. And the idea of this poor girl growing up in a world being one of the only people who can gaze upon these creatures, seeing them surrounding her and her family, and not being able to tell anyone….fuck.
I also want to credit Malerman for effectively and realistically having Malorie evolve emotionally and physically. There’s this phenomenal, tear jerking scene where Malorie believes she’s trapped in a pit with one of the creatures. She believes she’s on death’s door and has this soliloquy moment that brought me to tears. And it reminded me SO much of Laurie Strode in Halloween (2018). Malorie is a woman who has had to adapt and grow and raise a family with a unfathomable amount of trauma and fear on her shoulders. This Malorie is much like 2018 Laurie Strode with her safe house and constant bossing around of her children to ensure their safety. Everything is done for safety. There’s also a boogeyman. Gary from Bird Box, as you’ll remember, he escaped. Malorie has spent almost two decades in fear of Gary returning. He is her boogeyman. No one believes Malorie that Gary is coming back, much like no one believed Laurie that Michael would come back. But we know how both those stories end.
Laurie Strode has turned her family against her with her rigid rules and training. But ultimately, at the end of Halloween (2018), Laurie is proven right. Her military training of her family saves herself, her daughter, and her granddaughter. Her entire life filled with trauma and PTSD and pulling herself away from society has meant something. Because ultimately she protected her family which was her only goal. And Malorie, in almost the exact same position, starts this book with her kids turning away from her, rebelling against the strict regiment she insists on them following - they don’t know true fear so they can never truly understand how Malorie feels. But when push comes to shove, her instincts have always been right, and that’s why her and her family are alive at the end. The parallels are fascinating here and I can see Laurie Strode acting exactly like Malorie in the same situation, down to the smacking of her babies when they accidentally open their eyes. A horrifying type of child rearing, but necessary nonetheless.
Which makes the scene where Malorie breaks down to the creature explaining how this isn’t who she was, and her kids will never really know the real her so beautifully important. It’s easy to see Laurie and Malorie as these machine type mothers, but they both are hurting, both terrified of their boogeymen and Malerman does a jaw droppingly good job of showing this.
Now lastly, the ending. Malorie is proven right, much like with Laurie Strode, her boogeyman has indeed been stalking her. He throws her off the train and convinces Tom to join him. There’s a satisfaction there as we watch a major plot point from Bird Box get wrapped up. We also see Malorie gain some much needed peace when she finally kills Gary and ends a long struggle. At the very end, Tom’s invention does indeed grant humans the ability to see the world again without going mad. It takes Malorie a long time to try the glasses he invented. And there’s a small part of you that thinks perhaps Malorie will never be able to fully trust again, and ‘live by the fold’ her whole life. But on the final page, Malorie puts on the glasses and sees the outside world for the first time in almost two decades. A beautiful and perfect ending to a duology that is so unique and horrific.
Malerman has once again knocked it out of the park and done the unbelievable. Malorie is a fast paced read that you’ll not be able to put down until you reach the ending, breathless and with tear stained cheeks.
Outstanding.
“…she has bridged some gap, she is losing no more, nothing more is taken. And something has been returned.”
Scared to miss a post? Subscribe to our newsletter HERE
Want more spooky reads? Just search below:
