Author: Katie Sise
Publication Information: Little A. 2018. 352 pages.
ISBN: 1503903621 / 978-1503903623
Book Source: I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.
Opening Sentence: "Swooning over a man who wasn't her husband made Cora feel terribly guilty, but how could anyone not swoon over Jeremy?"
Favorite Quote: "... having a child is a tremendous act of optimism bordering on magical thinking. It was the biggest chance you could ever take."
We Were Mothers would probably better be titled ... We were wives. We were significant others. The book is much more about the relationships these women are in than their roles as mothers. The "drama" is about the children, but the story is really the marital, ex-marital, and extra-marital relationships. All these variations are present in this book, and then some.
The book is written in alternating chapters through four different points of view - Cora, Sarah, Jade, and Laurel. Cora is at the heart of the story. She is married to Sam and mother to twins. Sarah is Cora's mother. Her husband, Cora's father, left her for another woman, and her younger daughter Maggie died at age 22. These two facts have forever altered Sarah's life and have repercussions throughout this group. Jade was Maggie's best friend; she is married to Jeremy, whose main characteristic seems to be his physical appearance. Laurel is Cora's neighbor and is married to a surgeon named Dash (yes, Dash). Yes, they have children or are planning of having children. The plot of the book is about some of these offspring, but the story is about these marriages.
Confused yet? A little bit. It takes work to follow the alternating points of view and to keep track of who's who. The book, however, is a very quick read. Although marketed for its "suspense," the book is more like a soap opera. All the women are victims although some do eventually find their voice. All the men are ... well, to put in one word ... dirt. None of them seem to have any redeeming qualities. The marital relationships in the book range from sad to truly disturbing (reader, beware!). That imbalance of virtuous mothers and terrible husbands is a little too simplistic and too one-sided for me. It keeps the book from achieving greater depth, or, for me, a sense of reality.
The plot of the book is that Cora finds a journal belonging to Laurel's daughter in her house. Of course, she reads it. Perhaps, it is left there with that intent. Perhaps not. Of course, she learns a shocking secret. Then, Laurel's daughter disappears. Of course, one secret leads to a whole host of other secrets surrounding these women. Hence, while the question of what happened to Laurel is not all that mysterious at the end, it is also not truly central to the book. The marriages, relationships, and the secrets of the past are.
The story takes place over the course of the weekend, but the secrets cover a lifetime. The book is a very quick read, but it begins slow as a lot of time is spent on describing the setup & relationships of the lives of these women. Unfortunately, the setup does not successfully establish these women as characters I empathize with. They are in sad situations but unfortunately not particularly likable characters. That is perhaps because the secrets of this book are situational, and that is where the book stays. The characters do not seem to round out into individuals beyond the secret that defines their relationships. At the end, I am left with what appears to be a soap opera of a relatively affluent set of people in a quiet suburban community.
We Were Mothers would probably better be titled ... We were wives. We were significant others. The book is much more about the relationships these women are in than their roles as mothers. The "drama" is about the children, but the story is really the marital, ex-marital, and extra-marital relationships. All these variations are present in this book, and then some.
The book is written in alternating chapters through four different points of view - Cora, Sarah, Jade, and Laurel. Cora is at the heart of the story. She is married to Sam and mother to twins. Sarah is Cora's mother. Her husband, Cora's father, left her for another woman, and her younger daughter Maggie died at age 22. These two facts have forever altered Sarah's life and have repercussions throughout this group. Jade was Maggie's best friend; she is married to Jeremy, whose main characteristic seems to be his physical appearance. Laurel is Cora's neighbor and is married to a surgeon named Dash (yes, Dash). Yes, they have children or are planning of having children. The plot of the book is about some of these offspring, but the story is about these marriages.
Confused yet? A little bit. It takes work to follow the alternating points of view and to keep track of who's who. The book, however, is a very quick read. Although marketed for its "suspense," the book is more like a soap opera. All the women are victims although some do eventually find their voice. All the men are ... well, to put in one word ... dirt. None of them seem to have any redeeming qualities. The marital relationships in the book range from sad to truly disturbing (reader, beware!). That imbalance of virtuous mothers and terrible husbands is a little too simplistic and too one-sided for me. It keeps the book from achieving greater depth, or, for me, a sense of reality.
The plot of the book is that Cora finds a journal belonging to Laurel's daughter in her house. Of course, she reads it. Perhaps, it is left there with that intent. Perhaps not. Of course, she learns a shocking secret. Then, Laurel's daughter disappears. Of course, one secret leads to a whole host of other secrets surrounding these women. Hence, while the question of what happened to Laurel is not all that mysterious at the end, it is also not truly central to the book. The marriages, relationships, and the secrets of the past are.
The story takes place over the course of the weekend, but the secrets cover a lifetime. The book is a very quick read, but it begins slow as a lot of time is spent on describing the setup & relationships of the lives of these women. Unfortunately, the setup does not successfully establish these women as characters I empathize with. They are in sad situations but unfortunately not particularly likable characters. That is perhaps because the secrets of this book are situational, and that is where the book stays. The characters do not seem to round out into individuals beyond the secret that defines their relationships. At the end, I am left with what appears to be a soap opera of a relatively affluent set of people in a quiet suburban community.
Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment