I didn’t enjoy this book, and despite the hallucinatory moments and the descriptions of Mrs March’s loss of her grip on reality, I found the writing really pedestrian. It didn’t have the thrilling aspects of Ottessa Moshfeg, Shirley Jackson or Patricia Highsmith’s writing (all of whom this writer has been compared to). We get glimpses of Mrs March’s financially privileged yet emotionally starved upbringing that almost bring some humanity to the story, but mostly, I felt little for her.
I kept thinking that in the hands of a good actress and filmmaker, the story could really work with some heart and empathy injected into the story and the central character. I have since read that Elizabeth Moss will be starring in an adaptation, so that will be interesting! I also felt that there was some real hatred towards women’s bodies that aren’t young and slim. (Sagging breasts are mentioned countless times to the point of tedium). I looked up Virginia Feito upon finishing and it was no surprise that she is young and very slim. I felt this book was striving to be a black comedy (which I believe could come across on screen), but this novel wasn’t funny. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing the film adaptation.

Why has this not been shortlisted for any literary awards!?

Moshfegh meets Hitchcock in this dark, funny, literary thriller . I loved this book and simply cannot wait for the screen adaptation .
It's a dark exploration of someone's mind and we follow Mrs March on a journey of paranoia and a descent into madness and hysteria. . It's one of those books where you don't really know where the story is going and I can see why it isn't for everyone . I loved the writing style and wry description of New York society, although i am still left wondering what decade we were in , the book reads like 1950s NY yet we have references to the modern day. The tension builds slowly throughout and peaks at the end and will leave you thinking what was that !

A great read

3.5 stars
A clever look at the human frailties of insecurity and the need for identity. Mrs March looks at society’s pressures and ramps this up to a powerful and raw state. It’s hard sometimes to know what is fiction and what is real for Mrs March as we follow her through her anxieties and delusions.

A really powerful portrayal of one woman's unravelling mind. Mrs March is married to George, a successful novelist. A throwaway comment about the main character of his book being inspired by her, triggers a reaction that sees her become increasingly paranoid and anxious.

She experiences delusions, and begins to believe her husband is an imposter, or a murderer.

I think this book may well divide opinion. It was complex and dark, but with the only voice we hear being that of Mrs March, it was very intense and I would perhaps have liked to have heard from George as he observes his wife become more and more unwell.

Well written and thought provoking this is a brilliant read and quite unlike anything I've read before.

I requested this book because of all the hype surrounding it unfortunately it was not for me at all. It was beautifully written with both dark and funny elements throughout. I did not like the main protagonist however it left me wanting and expecting more.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I can see why more academic readers are raving about the book. There are a lot of layers and, if you have the time, much to deconstruct and analyse. I'm an avid reader but I read for entertainment and while I appreciate the emotional complexity and character creation, the book was too slow for me and I kept waiting for the story arc.

The selfish, shallow, self-absorbed, narrow-minded narcissistic Mrs. March lives a privileged sheltered life married to a well known author, until she finds out that the controversial, unlikable main character in his new novel is inspired by her. This discovery leads to paranoia and an emotional tailspin.

Mrs March is both unlikable and entirely fascinating. She has complex or maybe non-existent relationships with those closest to her - her mother, sister, husband and son - which nobody seems to challenge. The book captures her beautifully. I can appreciate the quality of writing and thought involved in creating Mrs. March but not a story Id be jumping to read again.

Although the premise seemed promising, Feito's "Mrs March" did not meet my expectations; the writing was gripping, the main character, sadly, not.

I just could not get into this book. It was well written but just did not motivate me to keep reading. It may be one best suited to other readers

Virginia Feito's debut is a disturbingly chilling, twisted literary psychological drama, with the complex eponymous Mrs March, whose first name we learn only at the end, set in New York's Upper East Side. Mrs March is married to George, a well known writer, whose latest novel has attracted a great deal of interest. Proud of his success, she supports him, has a stepdaughter who lives in London and a 8 year old son, Jonathan. There is a celebratory party organised for George, but Mrs March's life is thrown into disarray when she goes to a purchase black olive bread at a bakery, where on paying, Patricia praises her husband's book, but horrifies her when she suggests the main character, a highly unlikeable prostitute, Johanna, is based on her, given the similarities between them. Burning with humiliation, Mrs March leaves the store.

Mrs March is an uptight and dutiful woman, living a life of privilege, close to no-one, whose life revolves around her routines and rituals, she is wedded to how things appear. She is determined to find out the background to just how the novel came into being, and what led George to the creation of Johanna as she worries about the state of her marriage. There are numerous ambiguities and a strange dreamlike atmosphere as the world of the unreliable and emotionally damaged Mrs March begins to unravel into a nightmare of horror and paranoia. Elements of her traumatic past are revealed, including her childhood, her suspicions escalating, her moods shifting from one end of the spectrum to the other, Mrs March descends into the depths of insanity. Where will it all end?

This is a beautifully written, well plotted, and a keenly observed character driven study of the deterioriation of Mrs March and her mental health. The prose is richly descriptive and vivid, in this deep unsetttling, darkly humorous and totally compulsive novel. There is the symbolic mention and reference to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and there are echoes of Patricia Highsmith and the iconic films of Hitchcock in Feito's storytelling. Indeed, I am not surprised to learn there will be a film of this book, with Elizabeth Moss to star as the flawed Mrs March, which I look forward to with great anticipation. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Dark and unsettling but with great humour this is a brilliant read.

It is clear why there is such a hype about it. Gorgeous writing. Accomplished characterisation and a masterful plot.

Believe the hype

What. A. Book. I mean, I have no idea what was going on through half of this novel, I'm not 100% sure I fully want to know exactly what was going on. We have a woman with obvious identity issues, the whole Mrs March thing and not actually knowing her name until the end. It's almost like her identity is solely related to that of her husband and his rising star. There were times when I had to pause and then reread what has happened because of a WTAF moment. She suffers a breakdown throughout the novel and the book degenerates at the same pace she does. The lines blur between reality and her deterioration. It's domestically shocking in every way, I couldn't put it down.

Thank you @netgalley for this copy in return for an honest review.

Everyone who has read it has recommended this book to me and I can understand why. I think it will have a cult following - it is original, funny, and brilliantly written.

Not for me this one

I did finish it though as I wanted to know what happened but it was very sad and emotional . Mrs March seems to be going insane and we watch her spiral downwards. There wasn't anything redeeming about it for me and I struggled to read it.

But that's the beauty of books as others will think very differently!

I’d usually have more to say than this, but all I have for this book is this: it’s really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really good.

Brilliantly written psychological thriller packed with dark humour and with an amazing central character. I loved the echoes of Mrs Dalloway, but this is no imitation. Mrs March’s descent into paranoia and its final outcome is unrelenting and completely gripping throughout. Hihgly recommended!

What a dark, unsettling yet totally engaging read. I found myself unable to put this book down.

Written in the third person, (you don’t know her first name until the very end), but reads in a way you feel totally inside her head, Mrs March tells the story of it’s character and her spiral towards a breakdown. Convince her husband’s new book’s main character, a sex worker, is based on her, we read as her daily interactions become smaller and smaller as she ‘imagines’ (or does she?) that people are talking about her.

Crippled by status, appearances and an already deep need to appear just so, her life and mental state start to fall apart. Along side this are her suspicions of her husband and his possible cheating, flash backs to her younger self and her ‘relationship’ with her young son all make for a read that is a mix of an intermit look at a women’s mental health, phycological thriller, and an engaging mystery. Sprinkled with dark humour, an utterly unreliable main character and an ambiguous time setting, I found it a totally absorbing read.

Mrs March leads the classic life of a New York upper class housewife and mother. Her husband George is a successful writer whose latest novel has catapulted him to the top of the bestseller list. Mrs March was raised to this life, from her childhood on, she has learnt how to behave in society and how to present herself and her family in an adequate way. Yet, her whole life has somehow become only a scenery of a life and she has lost herself. When a young woman’s body is found, she is intrigued and soon she finds more and more evidence that her husband’s inspiration might not just come out of himself and his imagination but might actually stem from actual experience. Is she sharing her bed with a murderer?

Virginia Feito’s debut novel “Mrs March” is an intense psychological study of a woman who has lost connection to reality and is gradually plummeting into an abyss. Brilliantly the author shows how a strongly self-controlled character more and more loses power over her life and in the end can hardly distinguish between what is real and what is only imagined.

It is quite clever how the protagonist is presented to the reader, she is only ever referred to as “Mrs March” thus defined by her status as a married woman and without a first name. She is not given anything that she brings into the marriage from her childhood. From her flashbacks you learn that her parents treated her rather coolly and that she has always felt like not doing anything right, not being the daughter they had hoped for, not fulfilling the expectations, until, finally, they can hand her over to her husband. The only persons she could bond with was her – rather malicious – imagined friend Kiki and a household help, yet, she couldn’t cope with positive feelings since this concept was totally alien to her.

Behind the facade of the impeccable woman is a troubled mind. First, it is just the assumption that people talk behind her back, compare her to her husband’s latest novel’s protagonist – not very flattering since this is a prostitute who is paid out of pity instead of for good service rendered – then she sees cockroaches and finds more and more signs which link George with the murder of the young woman the whole country is talking about. From her point of view, it a fits together perfectly, but she does not see how she herself increasingly fractures. Most of the plot happens behind closed doors, she does not have friends or family she is close to, thus, there is nobody to help her.

As readers, we know exactly where she is headed to and then, Virginia Feito confronts us with an unexpected twist which lets you reassess what you have just read. The distinction between reality and paranoia sometimes isn’t that clear at all.

A wonderfully written, suspenseful kind of gothic novel set in New York’s upper class whose signs of class affiliation are repeatedly mocked while also showing that not all is well just because you live in a posh apartment and can wear expensive clothes.

I loved this book! I found Mrs March to be a delight and I really engaged with how this book was written. Mrs March is married to Mr March (George) who is an author. His latest book has recently been published and even though Mrs March has not read it, many of the people she interacts with on a daily basis have. The problem is that the main character of the book is a sex worker and unfortunately, many people think this is based on Mrs March. Her mind goes into overdrive and she sees things that may or may not be there through how people behave toward her. I love how Mrs March is fastidious in how the hired help have to do things in a certain way and you could say that this applies to her too and see how she behaves as someone with anxiety and OCD tendencies. I loved this book and there are moments of dark humour interspersed with the darker parts. One thing I did find odd was that it is set in te 2020s yet it could be the 1950s or 1960s. Thank you NetGalley forgiving me the chance to review this book.

Ok, I absolutely adored this book and it might be my fave book of this month (and it's barely 10th).
The whole spiraling of Mrs March was so well written, the writing so compelling.
I loved how you can't really pinpoint the time frame. It might have been set in the 50s but it might have been set now. It's very universal and it's one of the biggest strengths of this novel.
The ending was brilliant.
I can't wait for Feito's next book!

I read this book through to the end as I wanted to discover what the outcome would be. I could not say that I enjoyed the read as I found it strange but I am sure that many others will enjoy it. As we read the story Mrs March seems to be falling into total insanity. The story had many funny parts, many sad emotional parts and certainly was unusual. I felt that this was a story set back in time as nothing fitted with society today.
Although I could not relate to Mrs March I did feel that the descriptions let me visualise her.
Well written and developed but not a book that I enjoyed.