It depends on how you look at it.
This is my first time to read a Tarryn Fisher novel and I was lured. It was like someone was calling me from a dark alley. I know it's not safe but I can't help but heed the call. I was drawn into the dark...a world which in some way makes sense but is still utterly wrong.
The Marrow is the story of Margo, a girl who lives in The Eating House in a place called Bone. The Eating House is located in a very decrepit neighborhood where the drug addicts, whores and other shady characters live. Margo has to take care of herself by working in a second-hand store because her mom is undependable.
Then, Margo found a friend in the person of Judah Grant, a crippled neighbor who she often saw but never talked to. Judah in a way gives color to the bleak existence of Margo.
When a little girl got missing, Margo feels she had to do something. She needs to find out who abducted the little girl. From here on, the boring and sad existence of Margo is changed and she liked the change. She found it exciting and it makes her braver but the same change is drawing her nearer to a place of no return.
This book is totally unexpected. I thought this was a horror story but it wasn't. Darker. This is a psycho thriller that makes me question my sense of justice. Am I allowed to punish a person because he has harmed someone I know? Am I allowed to extract payment for the injustice done to me? Is it alright to take one's life because he hurt someone who can't fight back? And if I don't get caught because I am so clever, is it okay to do it again, just like Margo?
I actually applaud her for her guts to plan and carry out the deed without suspicion. A twisted sense of justice but not without merits or reason. A tooth for a tooth and if you must, take the gums too. Make it painful.
Don't get me wrong, I don't promote vengeance. I am all for karma taking it's own route and for the judicial system to punish the guilty. But there are just times that the injustice is too much to take. Sometimes we wish we could do something. And just like the author, Tarryn Fisher, who got tired of hearing of all the mishaps and bad things in the world, she did what she could do. She wrote this novel. A harrowing and dark tale of a person trying to right the wrongs done to the people she cared about who can't fight for themselves anymore. For helpless and hapless victims of crimes who are too afraid to even run. I totally understand why she wrote this novel. I feel her.
I seemed to be enveloped in a dark fog while I was reading this novel even though the sun is still out. It felt like the air became heavy and I felt like gasping for breath. This was how my Marrow-experience was like. But please, don't forget to get out of the fog and take deep breaths. Don't take this to heart too much or else you'll think that it is perfectly fine to be like Margo.
I give this book 4 stars and I recommend that you all read this. I would like to read more of Taryn Fisher. I like that she's using her talents to create awareness and to let people know that there are a lot of voices that are unheard and are suffering from the injustices of the cruel people of this world. We may always strive to be good. To do good and fight for those who can't protect themselves. To be kind and compassionate.
I long for the day when people will no longer say Thank You or please because kindness will no longer be a novelty. Kindness will be so common and easy like breathing.
Sadness is an emotion you can trust. It is stronger than all other emotions. It makes happiness look fickle and untrustworthy. It pervades, lasts longer, and replaces the good feelings with such an eloquent ease you don't even feel the shift until you are suddenly wrapped in its chains.- Tarryn Fisher, Marrow -
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