'Myrrh has a goblin inside her, a voice in her head that tells her all the things she's done wrong, that berates her and drags her down. Desperately searching for her birth-parents across dilapidated seaside towns in the South coast of England, she finds herself silenced and cut off at every step.
'Cayenne is trapped in a loveless marriage, the distance between her and her husband growing further and further each day. Longing for a child, she has visions promising her a baby.
'As Myrrh's frustrations grow, the goblin in her grows louder and louder, threatening to tear apart the few relationships she holds dear and destroy everything around her. When Cayenne finds her husband growing closer to his daughter, Cayenne's stepdaughter, pushing her further out of his life, she makes a decision that sends her into a terrible spiral. The stories of these women will unlock a past filled with dark secrets, strange connections; all leading to an unforgettable, horrific climax.'
On occasion, when I have strong opinions on a book that I've read I'll head over to the internet to have a look at what others have said about it, curious to see if my love or hate of a book is common, or if it's just me. On occasion, I'll also check out other people's thoughts when I struggle with a book. If I ended up confused, or found the journey something of a chore, I'll go and see if I'm the only one who went through this. Myrrh by Polly Hall kind of falls into this later category. It's a winding, maze-like narrative with some difficult and occasionally dark themes, and was a book that made me uncomfortable to read at times. I needed to see if that was just me or not; and this time it seems like Myrrh is the kind of book that has gotten under a lot of people's skins.
At it's heart, Myrrh is a story about family and belonging. It covers the topic from a range of perspectives, including adoption, step-families, marriage, and parenthood in three interweaving narratives that meet and interact in some unexpected and surprising ways. The two main stories follow Myrrh, a young woman who was adopted as a baby and is now searching for answers to her past by looking for her birth parents; and Cayenne, who has married a man with a teenage daughter, who struggles with her desires to have a child of her own and has to watch as her husband and step-daughter bond in ways she's always wanted for her own child. There's also a smaller plot involving Marian, who has a connection to Myrrh and her birth father.
The novel shifts between the various characters and their narratives often, using fairly shot chapters to keep things moving at a fairly fast pace. Whilst this does move things forward well, it's also done in a way that helps to make the story feel more confusing too. It often feels like the reader is having to play catch-up, that events are moving from one thing to another before we've had a chance to get our heads around the first thing. This kind of feels like it's meant to mirror Myrrh's own sense of confusion, and her somewhat unusual mental state (she has an internal voice called Goblin that doesn't seem healthy at all). It's an interesting choice from Hall, and it does put you in Myrrh's shoes well, though it also does make the book a little bit harder to digest at times too.
One thing that I did enjoy about the book was the complexity of the characters. They're the kinds of characters that seem to have a fairly clearly defined trait, ones that are easy to describe and are great starting out points. However, as the book went on you begin to learn that there's a lot more to Myrrh and Cayenne than you first think. The story changes them, it makes them face some shocking and life changing truths about themselves and the way that they view the world, and watching them go through that journey is a big draw to the book for me.
Something that I saw when looking at other people's thoughts on the book was that some people didn't finish the book. The long, interweaving narratives, and some of the dark content were cited as reasons why, and I can understand that perhaps those things might not be for everyone. However, I also saw several people talk about the books ending. It feels like Myrrh is one of those books where when you discover someone else has read it the first thing you're going to say it 'oh my god, the ending!'. I'm not going to say much on the actual content as I don't want to spoil it, but it's certainly one where you're going to be thinking about it a good while after you've put the book down, and whilst some people might be tempted to not finish the book, those that do are going to find something quite surprising and memorable waiting for them.
Whilst Myrrh has been described as horror, it's definitely more of a psychological thriller with some dark, horror-like elements. It relies heavily on mystery, and complex characters rather than overt horror imagery. If that's the kind of book that appeals to you, then Myrrh is definitely worth your consideration.
Thank you for the well balanced review, the long passages of narrative wouldn't be for me, but there are other parts which do sound interesting.
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