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347th out of 439 books
—
514 voters
Mary Modern
Lucy Morrigan, a young genetic researcher, lives with her boyfriend, Gray, and an odd collection of tenants in her crumbling family mansion. Surrounded by four generations of clothes, photographs, furniture, and other remnants of past lives, Lucy and Gray’s home life is strangely out of touch with the modern world—except for Lucy’s high-tech lab in the basement.
Frustrated...more
Frustrated...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
July 10th 2007
by Shaye Areheart Books
(first published 2007)
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my emotional development stopped at the "tell me a story" phase, and thats all i expect from a book. i dont need it to change my life, i dont need it to answer every one of my questions, i dont need it to teach me about any historical atrocity. this is not a perfect book, but it is a deeply entertaining book. its true that the characters are largely unlikable, but thats also true of wuthering heights and jude the obscure, two of my all time favorites. if its the idea of cloning that is upsetting...more
like most of the people who've reviewed this book, i enjoyed this book because it tackled the issue of cloning so differently. imagine someone cloning for their own, very personal reasons, in their basement, but is still going about their (mostly) usual daily life, with friends and loved ones actually having to help out with this bizarre obsession. well, that's this book.
other reviewers rightly pointed out that the secondary characters are deeper and more enchanting than the primary character....more
other reviewers rightly pointed out that the secondary characters are deeper and more enchanting than the primary character....more
This is really like one and a half star -worthy. The premise was so interesting: a biogenetic researcher who finds out she can't have children clones her own grandmother from blood she finds on an apron in the house her family has lived in for four generations. The grandmother is "born" at age 22, with all her memories intact up to that time.
But the plot gets convoluted, and the characters become whiny and annoying at best. The choppy writing and constant moving through time leaves the reader c...more
But the plot gets convoluted, and the characters become whiny and annoying at best. The choppy writing and constant moving through time leaves the reader c...more
Jan 04, 2008
Jennifer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
someone looking for something different
This book is quite bizarre. It's also surprising, suspenseful, enchanting, and entertaining. It's really hard to categorize, but it definitely has some science fiction elements with a little love thrown in for good measure.
My only complaint: Deangelis breaks up the story into short one page chapters that start with a time and place. This is rather annoying because the story doesn't really flow all that well, but I guess that's the appeal. All of the chunks eventually piece together to form an un...more
My only complaint: Deangelis breaks up the story into short one page chapters that start with a time and place. This is rather annoying because the story doesn't really flow all that well, but I guess that's the appeal. All of the chunks eventually piece together to form an un...more
This modern day version of Frankenstein was a page-turner- the concept of bringing one's own grandmother back into a future that completely bewilders her was well-written. Ultimately I found the book possibly a bit wordier than it needed to be but still interesting.I felt I got to know the character of Gray, Lucy's boyfriend and Mary, her grandmother better than I did Lucy, herself. Her motivations were not entirely clear unless it was just a compulsion to see if she could actually clone someone...more
I really liked the concept of this book - cloning a dead relative, but I think I would have written it differently. It needed more motive, characterization, and better dialog. I knew that the story would come full circle somehow, so the ending wasn't that much of a surprise. I did feel that it needed more of a climax though. I think what I enjoyed the most about the book was the setting, an old, decrepit house with dusty relics of past generations and secret passageways.
This was a very strange and interesting book. Quite different from some of the other choices of our bookclub, this novel had a lot of creepy ideas, like cloning your grandmother and dealing with her as a young woman. I thought the writing was sometime over the top, and she used the novel as a vehicle for spouting her political views, which sometimes got in the way of the narrative. Somebody didn't do a good job in editing this, but all in all, a very different story.
Imgine cloning yor grandmother from a blood stained apron found in your attic.... that is what this book is about. I will admit.... there is a side to this that is freakish and a side that is totally interesting. In the story- the main character- who is a genetic researcher- is dying to have kids as well as gain tenure at her job. As how life often goes.... nothing was falling into place in her time so.... she takes drastic measures. She clones her grandmother by using that blood stained apron s...more
Summary
Living in her crumbling ancestral house and frustrated with impediments to her scientific research and her own infertility, geneticist Lucy Morrigan decides to clone a baby. Using DNA obtained from her grandmother's stained apron in the attic, Lucy thinks she will simultaneously achieve a scientific breakthrough while obtaining a child of her own. Things soon get out of Lucy's control, however, when she discovers that the clone will be "born" at the same age and with the same memories as...more
Living in her crumbling ancestral house and frustrated with impediments to her scientific research and her own infertility, geneticist Lucy Morrigan decides to clone a baby. Using DNA obtained from her grandmother's stained apron in the attic, Lucy thinks she will simultaneously achieve a scientific breakthrough while obtaining a child of her own. Things soon get out of Lucy's control, however, when she discovers that the clone will be "born" at the same age and with the same memories as...more
This book is a modern spin on the 'Frankenstein' story and I felt it worked pretty well. I think I would have enjoyed this book even more if I had read the book rather than listened to it. There were a few things that didn't quite make sense and were hard to imagine such as repeating chromozone names over and over and speaking different science terms in the background. The characters were enjoyable and I especially liked Mary and felt for her in her confusion and struggle to make a new life for...more
I heard about this book on NPR ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st... ) and decided that it was different enough to try.
It is about a woman who, after having trouble conceiving, clones her grandmother as her child. The grandmother is born as a 22-year-old from 1929, with all of her memories & expectations from that time. The grandmother adjusts to modern life (and even hits on her granddaughter's boyfriend!), and the main character gets to know her grandmother as someone younger than he...more
It is about a woman who, after having trouble conceiving, clones her grandmother as her child. The grandmother is born as a 22-year-old from 1929, with all of her memories & expectations from that time. The grandmother adjusts to modern life (and even hits on her granddaughter's boyfriend!), and the main character gets to know her grandmother as someone younger than he...more
I actually did not finish this book but after 160 pages or so I just figured there were better books on my list than this. I really wanted to like it. The idea was interesting. A scientist clones her dead grandmother who comes to life as a 20 year old. I guess this is the reason I don't read science fiction. I just could not get over the fact that it was so improbable. And the characters who roomed with the main character were just creepy and unbelievable. I would never have let them live in my...more
Truthfully I don't know which of my shelves to put this on, it has elements of science fiction, historical fiction, romance and fantasy. But I think I'll stick with sci-fi since it is mostly about a clone of a long dead woman. It started out interesting with odd characters and a new romance but quickly changed lanes for a while with a science experiment and some tech-y stuff that made it a bit slow, the action picked up again fairly quickly though and I couldn't put it down right through until I...more
DeAngelis created a first novel that made me think. Now, it wasn't the best adult novel I've read, but it was fairly interesting. Basically, Lucy can't have a child and wants one. Since she is a genetic researcher, she clones DNA from her grandmother's apron and creates a child. But the child comes out of the incubator as a 22 year old woman with her memories intact. Instead of living in the 1920s, she's in modern America and has to adjust. This book is a combination of sc-fi, romance, family dr...more
Mary Modern by Camille Deangelis is one of those books that's been making the rounds at our Tri-Valley BookCrossing group. I've been going through a Gothic phase in my reading and thought it was time to pull this book off myself. I'm glad I did.
Dr. Lucy Morgan is a geneticist living in her family home now owned by the local university. She and her lover Gray want to have a child but are unable so she resorts to starting up her father's research to clone her grandmother, Mary. What she doesn't ex...more
Dr. Lucy Morgan is a geneticist living in her family home now owned by the local university. She and her lover Gray want to have a child but are unable so she resorts to starting up her father's research to clone her grandmother, Mary. What she doesn't ex...more
I wanted to love this book. The concept was great - a biologist who can't conceive clones her grandmother, who suddenly turns into a 20 year old woman with vague memories of who she was.
Then I started reading. The book is written in present tense. And is completely non-sequitor. Conversations don't flow naturally, and when they do, I have no idea what they're talking about. The author obviously knows a lot about art history and history in general, but since none of it was actually relevant to th...more
Then I started reading. The book is written in present tense. And is completely non-sequitor. Conversations don't flow naturally, and when they do, I have no idea what they're talking about. The author obviously knows a lot about art history and history in general, but since none of it was actually relevant to th...more
Mar 13, 2008
Krista
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of Mary Shelley
Recommended to Krista by:
library
Shelves:
fiction
I liked this book-a new twist on the Frankenstein story complete with Dr. Frankenstein (Ambrose) and his cat hair attracting henchwoman (Megan). Camille's prose is beautiful and refreshing but there are a few logic flaws in the plot and it reads like an unfinished third or fourth draft.
Unfortunately the spell Camille weaves is broken by some unnecessary political diatribes (she is not a lover of republicans or the conservative party). Her Christian villains are so one note, underdeveloped, and r...more
Unfortunately the spell Camille weaves is broken by some unnecessary political diatribes (she is not a lover of republicans or the conservative party). Her Christian villains are so one note, underdeveloped, and r...more
A review of the audio recording:
I listened to the unabridged audio recording of this book. The primary reader did a passable job with the text, but seemed to have trouble differentiating the characters. Both Lucy and her boyfriend Gray seemed to have the same voice, so much so that I even felt confused about which one was speaking during a couple of dialogue scenes. The reader also read all five of Lucy's boarders with the same (whiney) voice, which made them indistinguishable from one another....more
I listened to the unabridged audio recording of this book. The primary reader did a passable job with the text, but seemed to have trouble differentiating the characters. Both Lucy and her boyfriend Gray seemed to have the same voice, so much so that I even felt confused about which one was speaking during a couple of dialogue scenes. The reader also read all five of Lucy's boarders with the same (whiney) voice, which made them indistinguishable from one another....more
I liked the time travel stuff and felt that the "fish out of water" parts were pretty well done but the big twist was not a surprise and felt like a laborious trek to get there. I just couldn't actually care about any of the characters, which made it difficult to follow their stories with any real focus. It felt like the prequel to a book I would really like (namely the author of the book). I think I just don't like gothic novels very much, they always feel so distant and disengaged.
Well done! I was intrigued by the premise of the novel, and not sure what to expect from other reviews. But I was very satisfied. The book tackles not only biology and ethical issues, but politics, history, family, belonging, and the list goes on. It could be construed as a "mishmash" of styles and tones, but I found the mixture to be brilliantly and carefully executed. There are parts that could be slightly horror-style (see the comparisons to Frankenstein); some are distinctly quirky and just...more
The premise of this book was extremely entertaining, but I was distracted by the heavy anti-religion, anti-Bush, anti-conservative, anti-anything against cloning language. The story would have flowed much more smoothly if it weren't for the jarring rants against the government; I think the book would have been much better as just a story, not an attempt at politically bashing the other side of the debate. I liked the story itself, and thought that the characters were fairly well-developed. There...more
Aug 11, 2011
Ginny Tata-Phillips
added it
So this geneticist can't have a baby so she clones her GRANDMOTHER but she is born 22 years old becuz the DNA used from blood on an apron was from when she was 22 and then she is lonely so they exhume the GRANDFATHER to get hs DNA to clone him too. The geneticist carried the clone in her womb for 90 days at which time she was the size of a 4 year old and the rest of the time she cooked in a Sim-Womb. Gotta read it!
I had high hopes for this one, because I liked a different book by the author, and I LOVED the premise for this one. It sounded so perfect for me.
And it did start out perfect, because I do like how this author writes. She opens with the most lovely description of a house - and it could be my dream house. Unfortunately, she then peoples it with the most annoying, trivial lot of characters I've ever read grouped into one book. I hated everyone. (And it didn't help that she used them as mouthpieces...more
And it did start out perfect, because I do like how this author writes. She opens with the most lovely description of a house - and it could be my dream house. Unfortunately, she then peoples it with the most annoying, trivial lot of characters I've ever read grouped into one book. I hated everyone. (And it didn't help that she used them as mouthpieces...more
My mom recommended this to me because she said it was written in the style of The Time Traveller's Wife, which I enjoyed.
The plot is really different. A woman really wants to have a baby, so she clones and gives birth to her grandmother. It just gets crazier from there.
Most of the technical details aren't explained, but the imagination of the story makes up for it.
The plot is really different. A woman really wants to have a baby, so she clones and gives birth to her grandmother. It just gets crazier from there.
Most of the technical details aren't explained, but the imagination of the story makes up for it.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Re-telling of Frankenstein -- with mad-scientist father who clones people and his daughter who clones her grandmother... Odd twists, like the people cloned are resurrected to the age they were when the DNA was taken (with all their memories to that time intact). The father wasn't as scary as the guy who wants to recreate Jesus Christ, though...
Interesting read. I liked parts of it, but got annoyed with the time/place stamps that started each small section. I don't think that was necessary. Really liked the character of Mary, although Teddy seemed an afterthought and not as real. Lucy was completely annoying and the whole Rev. Fuller plot was laughable.
I was torn about what sort of rating to give this book - I really wanted to give it 3 stars because the idea was so intriguing, but unfortunately the the author wasn't quite up to the task. The characters weren't fully realized and came off as one-dimensional and mostly unlikeable, the way in which time and place was communicated to the reader became distracting (and frankly seemed a bit lazy to me...), and too many bits and pieces where exactly that - picked up, talked about a bit, and then lef...more
This was an interesting look at cloning, but it also had themes that delved into family and loss.
I loved the way the author portrayed Mary and her acclimation to the modern world. There were twists to the plot that I found really interesting.
I really liked that it explored the humanity of the characters. Each character was flawed and a variety of relationships were explored. Lucy and Gray had to deal with their problems and the baby that was not meant to be. Mary had to come to terms with her...more
I loved the way the author portrayed Mary and her acclimation to the modern world. There were twists to the plot that I found really interesting.
I really liked that it explored the humanity of the characters. Each character was flawed and a variety of relationships were explored. Lucy and Gray had to deal with their problems and the baby that was not meant to be. Mary had to come to terms with her...more
Unusual SciFi/Romance crossover. Very nicely done, especially as I sympathized most strongly with the emergent clones! Nice twist at the end, although I thought I saw it coming. Gotta love a book that keeps me guessing until the end! Definite page turner.
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Camille DeAngelis was born in November 1980 in New Jersey, where she still lives (most of the time). She received a B.A. in Art History from New York University in 2002. During her time at NYU she wrote and worked for the Washington Square News and spent an idyllic semester at La Pietra in Florence. After graduating, she worked as an editorial assistant in a nonfiction imprint at HarperCollins.
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