Brother

a novel

by Ania Ahlborn

322 pages

English language

Published Feb. 13, 2015

ISBN:: 978-1-4767-8373-4
OCLC Number:: 894747206

(9 reviews)

"Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it's served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don't knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what's buried in the Morrows' backyard. But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn't like the rest of his family. He doesn't take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he's sure that someday he'll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he's immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he's become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place" --

3 editions

AdamMoe2023 reviewed Brother by Ania Ahlborn

Right up my alley!

5 stars

Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Oldboy as written by Flannery O’Connor. Loved it.

Scrumbles P. Abernathy reviewed Brother by Ania Ahlborn

This isn't the splatter your friends said it was

3 stars

Everything I'd heard about this book said that it was brutal and gory. Not really. It was set in Appalachia but I don't think the author has ever been there. The basic geography was wrong, (they talked about going "up" to Charleston and NC from WV), the specific geography was wrong too. How are there no hills in Appalachia?

The big machinations are obvious from half way through the book. The main character was completely unsympathetic, which I don't think was intended. I feel like what she was going for was the story of putting chains on a baby elephant. They can't break them. once they're grown they can, but never try. It didn't work for me.

I did 3 stars because it was a page turner and well written, it just didn't live up to the hype.

WellWorthARead reviewed Brother by Ania Ahlborn

Review of 'Brother' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The Morrows "don't have much" according to Michael, and when asked what he does he replies that he "catches things." Yes he sure does. He catches things for his momma. Things that cry and beg for their lives but are shown no mercy. Momma Claudine definitely wears the pants in this deranged psychotic family and if you don't want to be on the wrong end of her knife you'll do what she says.
Big brother Reb has his own ideas of who should be the boss. He also has a murderous plan for revenge that he's been plotting for years and it's all starting to come together. Part of me wished it could end differently, and yet I must acknowledge that the ending was truly perfect.