This Family Is Cursed!: A Review of Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Happy Pride, Book Nerds! In the immortal words of Emily Dickinson: Gay Rights!

I’ll keep the intro short today. We’re continuing on with another Pride Month review this week. And what am I reviewing today? Please give a warm welcome to Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you’ll know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a quick content and trigger warning for this read. Death at Morning House has discussions of child death. There is no avoiding this topic, it's part of the main plot, so if you aren’t in the right headspace for it then I suggest skipping this one. With that, let’s get to the synopsis.

Our story today follows Marlowe Wexler during one of the lowest points of her life. She took her super cute co-worker out on a date to The Cheesecake Factory and then to a secluded lakeside cabin. The date was going perfectly. Dinner was fun, Marlowe and Akilah were feeling flirty, then the cabin catches on fire and it’s Marlowe’s fault. She didn’t set the cabin on fire on purpose, it truly was an accident, the fire was started by a candle which exploded. But Marlowe wasn’t supposed to be at the cabin, let alone have a date over.

Ooops

It’s fine. No one got physically hurt. But Marlowe is now struggling with anxiety and depression. On top of that, she loses her summer job and Akilah seemingly distances herself from Marlowe. Thankfully one of Marlowe’s teachers comes to her rescue and recommends her for a new job giving tours of Morning House over on Ralston Island.

The island and manor were once owned by the illustrious Ralston Family. Dr. Phillip Ralston and his wife Faye had six older adoptive children–Clara, Unity, Victory, Benjamin, William, and Edward–and one young biological son named Max. In 1932, tragedy struck. Clara and Max died within hours of each other. The remaining family promptly left the manor house and never returned to the island.

In the present day, the home is opened to the public for the first time ever. Dr. Belinda Henson has been researching and writing a book about the Ralston Family for years. She finally got permission to conduct her research in Morning House on the caveat the community could run tours of the island. Enter Marlowe. The tour guide job seems easy enough. At least at first. The vibes are off over on Ralston Island. The other tours guides and the gift shop clerk have a lot of history together, like serious history, and something doesn’t add up about the deaths of the Ralston children. Then Dr. Henson goes missing. Marlowe’s shitty summer has officially become a nightmare.

Looks like we have many mysteries on our hands.

I have to be honest with you, Book Nerds, nothing happens in this book! I read well over 100 pages before any sort of major event happened. I actually forgot what the plot of the book was because nothing was happening. I had to go back and reread the back of book synopsis because nothing occurred. Apparently there’s a mystery afoot, but I don’t know her. She doesn’t exist for half the book. The inciting incident and mystery taking well over 100 pages to appear is a major problem. I know I bought this book because it promised a mystery, but most of the book is about the drama going on with the other tour guides. Which I wasn’t invested in. Listen, I enjoy a good drama/gossip session, but their's didn’t interest me. I had no stake in the drama surrounding their deceased friend and could have went the whole book without it; even though it’s a major factor in the ending of the story.

I am a big fan of the 1932 events though. Truly the only reason I kept reading Death at Morning House was to discover what actually happened to the Ralston Family in 1932. I knew what was going to happen, that being the deaths of Max and Clara, but I needed to know the reason why. I needed to know who killed Max. I needed to know if Clara actually took her own life or if something more nefarious was afoot. It was a far more interesting story!

Now back to things I didn’t like. I’m not a huge fan of Marlowe. She is supposed to be an anxiety riddled teen who finally got to go on a date with her crush; meaning she should be an incredibly relatable character for teenaged readers. But! Marlowe’s emotions are dialed up to eleven and she comes across as creepy when she talks about her crushes. For instance, she learns the schedule of the co-worker she has a crush on and makes it so she and her crush always work the exact same shifts. I’m sorry, that’s a red flag. And readers learn that little tidbit in the very first chapter. Marlowe is the main character and narrator of this novel, after seeing her obsessiveness I really didn’t want to continue on with her story.

Marlowe gives me a lot of red flags.

Also, after the fire Marlowe inadvertently starts, she blames herself and struggles with depression. Due to her depression, she ends up going through the motions of life. Events tend to happen around her. She becomes incredibly passive. While that’s certainly accurate to how depression can manifest in some people, it makes for a boring read. Marlowe does nothing. She solves the mystery by being in the right place at the right time. A passive character is not a good main character; especially not in a mystery novel.

Death at Morning House bored me. I read the book quickly but I didn’t have that much fun. Honestly, I would give this book a pass if you’re thinking about reading it.

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Book Nerds, I hope you enjoyed your time here at RHRML today. I will see you all again next week with another new review for Pride Month. If you can’t wait that long then you can always follow RHRML over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily. If you want something not related to books then I highly recommend you check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. It stars me and two of my dearest friends and we talk about anything and everything. Seriously, we have episodes about people like Rasputin, Emperor Wu Zetian, and Stede Bonnet. We also talk about bad 90s wrestling. And those are only the episodes my friend Frankie leads. There’s bound to be something you’ll find interesting.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!