Purchase Price: $2.99 on Amazon.ca
Mother: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Genre: Literature & Fiction, Family Life
Book Description: When her husband abandons them for another woman, Jane Winston is left to raise their teen-aged daughter as a single mother. She loves Emma more than anything in the world and would do anything for her—no matter how high the cost. Emma, on the other hand, hates her mother and goes out of her way to make her life miserable. What will it take to restore the loving relationship they once had and can it be mended before it’s too late?
This story will take you on a tearful journey as you explore a volatile mother-daughter relationship. Sometimes things aren’t better left unsaid…sometimes love doesn’t conquer all…and sometimes you don’t get a second chance at a happy ending….
Review:
I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I had a lot of trouble liking and developing a connection to the characters and some of the story points, although I do appreciate what the author was trying to do here. <b>Mother</b> is the story of an adult parent, Jane, and her soon to be 16 year-old daughter Emma. After the break-up of Jane's marriage due to infidelity on the part of the now absent Gregory, her self-esteem takes a beating and her relationship with her daughter becomes at first contentious, and then outright combative on the part of Emma. As the relationship between the two fractures further, we see both Jane and Emma fall apart in their own respects, and the wear and tear of the emotional climate takes it's toll on both.
First, let's look at Jane, the around-forty-ish mother of Emma, an only child. Sometime during the marriage, Jane discovers her husband in bed with another woman, in her own bed no less. For some reason, Jane decides immediately that her marriage is over, and while agreeing to co-habitate with Gregory for the sake of their daughter, does not pursue any counselling (for herself or as a couple), and does not pursue a divorce, nor do they share any of their difficulties with their daughter. When Gregory eventually leaves, no explanation is forthcoming from him as to his reasons for leaving, and Emma is not given any information by her mother. This is my first real issue with the story. A child of 14 is old enough to understand divorce and separation without having to hear explicit details about infidelity. In any case, Jane doesn't offer any explanations, and in the void, Emma comes to the belief that it is her mother's weight problem that has driven her father from the home. Despite several allusions to this belief, Jane makes no attempt to clear up the misconception, and receives a great deal of verbal abuse from her daughter alluding to her being 'fat' and 'gross'.
This is where my biggest issue with the character of Jane. She is an adult, and while we all suffer from low self esteem, the way Jane deals with this is entirely puzzling. She accepts the abuse in increasing frequency, from her daughter, and there is no rational thinking at any point. She cries, she feels bad, she still caters to her daughters every whim, she never indicates that she does not wish to be spoken to in this manner, and she becomes a victim. I found her whole person to be oriented to very little introspection, and entirely in the mode of rationalization of her behaviour and her daughter's. She really seemed to be another teenager in a relationship with her own teenage daughter. She sets no boundaries, no restrictions, and no consequences. We also are given frequent allusions to Jane's health status, her fainting and feeling frequent pain, yet she at no time seeks medical attention for herself. Lack of self-care is common in 'battered-woman's syndrome', so on one level, I can see this as a possibility. However, as the sole caretaker for her daughter, financially and physically, I would have thought her health was of more importance than to be rationalized away as indigestion over and over and over despite failure to respond to antacids.
While we watch Jane flounder about, reeling from her daughter's abuse, we also find Emma in her own turmoil. She is one angry girl, and she is clearly suffering from a body-dismorphic disorder, particularly anorexia. She internalizes the belief that her father has abandoned the family as a result of her 'fat gross mother', and has adopted a pattern of starving herself in an attempt to prevent herself from getting fat. She takes out her anger on her mother, physically, and by destroying her mother's property, and by heaping verbal abuse on her mother in full view of others. She is never disciplined for this, never meant to face any consequences. Rather Jane seems to think she is a good mother by simply patiently awaiting her daughter's outgrowing of this stage, and stands by ready to cater to her daughter's needs - be it chauffeuring her about, making meals for her, buying her special gifts, planning elaborate surprise parties, etc. - this desire on Jane's part to be a "Good Mother" seems to miss the point entirely. She notices her daughter is getting dangerously thin, yet never actually addresses the issue with Emma, or even speaks to a doctor until it may be too late.
I hate to say that the most mature character in the entire novel, the only one who seems to see the problem, is on of Emma's teenage friends, Sarah. She is the only character who has any grasp on reality, on a normal mother-daughter relationship, and that her friend is in trouble. By the time I reached the point of the novel where I could no longer tolerate the unreal relationship between Jane and Emma, and on the sidelines, Emma's father Gregory, I decided to just push through to the end to see if there was any redemption coming for any of the adults, or anyone clued in enough to reach Emma before it was too late. I just found myself rolling my eyes again and again, I was so glad to be done with the story.
I am not a mother, but I am a 40 year-old woman who has a mother who is far from perfect but has always loved me. My parents were separated when I was 16 years old, and though I was angry at both of them at various times, I did not get a free pass to treat them badly. I still had rules to follow, I still had a curfew, and I still respected my parents enough to call them, even when I was breaking the rules, just to let them know where I was, and that I was safe. I find the relationship dynamics between the mother-daughter pair to be absolutely broken, that does not happen overnight, somewhere along the line Emma was given the impression that her vote was equal in the running of her life, and that she drove the boat, so to speak. While parents going through divorce are almost certain to make mistakes, to err on the side of wanting to be liked, of reducing conflict with their children, they do not take leave of their senses. If we are to believe that Jane was a college educated woman who works and supports herself and her daughter, there is no explanation for this altogether juvenile view of the parenting role, unless there is some back-story that might indicate that.
As a nurse, I can say that at best, this novel works wonderfully as a psychological case study for a dysfunctional family dynamic, but that is about all I can say to it's credit. I hate to provide any negative reviews, particularly to a first novel, but I really found that there was so much more that could have been done with this story. Most of the writing is solid, it is just the character flaws that are hard to get around as believable in any way. There were a few editing issues, mispelled words and such, that were missed, this is a pet-peeve of mine, but perhaps my novel was a preview copy and that can be remedied.
Fired Up Rating: 2/5 Flames
Bottom Line: I cannot in good faith recommend this novel, based on a thorough reading, for the reasons stated above.
** Note: This novel was provided as a review copy through a Goodreads, First Reads giveaway. The opinions expressed are my own, and have been in no way influenced by Goodreads, the publisher of the novel, or it's author. **
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