Book Review: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

‘Burn Our Bodies Down’ by Rory Power was published in YEAR. It is a YA horror novel which depicts generational trauma as a creature that is festering underground.

This book follows Margot, a seventeen-year-old girl who lives with her single mother, estranged from the rest of her family. Margot’s mother is not a good role model for her daughter, she is bad at managing money, and is constantly pawning and repurchasing her belongings from the pawn shop down the street. She is curt, sharp and emotionally abusive, acknowledging that Margot is some kind of burden that she could have done without instead of her own flesh and blood.

After finding a means to contact one of her estranged relatives, Margot calls her Gram, and flees from her home in her dingy flat with the clothes on her back to connect with her roots. Gram owns a farm, and farms corn, but the Neilson family is wrought by financial shortfalls, and horror, and the longer that Margot stays at her Gram’s house, the more she understands why her mother left in the first place.

I really enjoyed this book, the description, particularly of the bizarre unnatural fruit growing in the farm was visceral and harrowing to behold. The imagery of what was brewing under the surface was grotesque and disturbing. I loved the metaphor, it was fantastic!

There was a strong supernatural element to this book, merging what a human body can grow within itself and what it can grow in the soil. I found the way Power toed the line of reality and horror was fantastic, and compelling for the narrative, as it all made sense without throwing the reader out of the immersion. It retained the suspension of disbelief until the end of the narrative. and there was a true sense of catharsis through Margot’s actions.