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earlyandalone's review
4.0
There’s something about reading a book by someone you see on a regular basis—something that makes the book somehow more personal, more complex, more relevant to your own daily life than it would be had it been written by a complete stranger. This is how I felt, at least, when reading Jump at the Sun, the newest novel by Emerson Writer-in-Residence Kim McLarin. With each page, heroine Grace Jefferson’s story seemed entwined with my own.
Except that Grace Jefferson is an affluent, married, African-American mother of two—demographics I know nothing about. Also, though McLarin is a familiar face around Emerson, I have never had her as a professor or really even spoken to her. So why was reading this book such a personal experience? McLarin’s writing is so visceral and her characters so real that we, as readers, are drawn inside the book.
Jump at the Sun tells Grace’s story from her own point of view, with flashbacks woven in throughout telling the stories of her grandmother and mother. As this triumvirate of narratives unfolds, McLarin deftly explores questions of race, marriage, class, and motherhood—questions that span geography and generations.
Though Grace Jefferson is blessed with a beautiful home, healthy children, and a loving husband, she feels like an impostor in her own life. Confronted with her feelings of regret and doubt, she must try to find a happy medium between the two models of motherhood in her life—her mother’s nearly self-destructive degree of devotion to her children and her grandmother’s tendency to cut and run. Grace’s search for answers culminates in a breath-taking climax you won’t soon forget.
Except that Grace Jefferson is an affluent, married, African-American mother of two—demographics I know nothing about. Also, though McLarin is a familiar face around Emerson, I have never had her as a professor or really even spoken to her. So why was reading this book such a personal experience? McLarin’s writing is so visceral and her characters so real that we, as readers, are drawn inside the book.
Jump at the Sun tells Grace’s story from her own point of view, with flashbacks woven in throughout telling the stories of her grandmother and mother. As this triumvirate of narratives unfolds, McLarin deftly explores questions of race, marriage, class, and motherhood—questions that span geography and generations.
Though Grace Jefferson is blessed with a beautiful home, healthy children, and a loving husband, she feels like an impostor in her own life. Confronted with her feelings of regret and doubt, she must try to find a happy medium between the two models of motherhood in her life—her mother’s nearly self-destructive degree of devotion to her children and her grandmother’s tendency to cut and run. Grace’s search for answers culminates in a breath-taking climax you won’t soon forget.
kristinana's review against another edition
I am not rating this book (which I would give a three) because I don't want to affect the overall rating, since I suspect some people are giving it a low rating because they don't like the idea of a woman talking about not enjoying motherhood. This is not why I did not love this novel. I think, actually, that most mothers are probably annoyed with their children, lose their temper, feel overwhelmed, and fantasize about leaving. Even those who do not do the latter certainly long for days or even just hours to themselves and feel unencumbered when they are able to go somewhere without them. Every working mother I've ever known feels at least a little bit of relief going to work and having someone else watch the kids for a while. None of this seems unusual or groundbreaking. Maybe it's just because I never had children, but the downsides to it seem really obvious to me, and every mother I've ever known had complained about being a parent at some point. So the fact that this book, in stating these feelings outright, is considered "brave" says perhaps more about our society and its attitude toward women and mothers than it does about the author or anything else. It's not like the protagonist ever did anything to her kids; in fact, all she is seen doing (other than, ok, yelling at one of the kids once and grabbing her too tight) is taking care of them: rushing them to the doctor when they have a fever, playing with them, feeding them, caring for them, holding them when they get upset.
So this is my problem with the book: I never for one little minute believed this woman would ever leave her kids. It seemed so obvious she was not going to, yet we are supposed to believe this is the main conflict? Will she or won't she leave her children behind? It just never seemed like a real question. And thus, it was so incredibly obvious from the beginning that the book was going to be an exercise in rehabilitating motherhood for this woman. Which might be ok, if they didn't try to pretend that her leaving was a real possibility. The book never once surprised me.
Maybe another reason why I was unconvinced by the book is that it's not like Grace's grandmother (who provides that precedent for leaving) had some type of enviable life, or was free in any real sense of the word. Another reason is that it didn't seem like Grace was giving up some kind of amazing career for these kids. Her lack of employment seemed temporary, and plus, she didn't seem to like academia -- so... what was she missing out on? Other than the very understandable desire to get out of the house?
Her husband was a dick, though. He sort of bullied her into having children, and then and tried to convince her to have more kids even after she said two was the limit. And was mad at her for using contraception. Why? So he could have a son? Great reason. Especially when you're not the one who has to stay home and take care of them, buddy. If the book was about leaving *him,* I would totally believe it.
What I did like about the book was the switching perspectives, and the commentary on how race complicates motherhood for Grace and her mother and grandmother. Overall, I did like the book, I was just annoyed that the main stakes felt like a straw-man plot.
So this is my problem with the book: I never for one little minute believed this woman would ever leave her kids. It seemed so obvious she was not going to, yet we are supposed to believe this is the main conflict? Will she or won't she leave her children behind? It just never seemed like a real question. And thus, it was so incredibly obvious from the beginning that the book was going to be an exercise in rehabilitating motherhood for this woman. Which might be ok, if they didn't try to pretend that her leaving was a real possibility. The book never once surprised me.
Maybe another reason why I was unconvinced by the book is that it's not like Grace's grandmother (who provides that precedent for leaving) had some type of enviable life, or was free in any real sense of the word. Another reason is that it didn't seem like Grace was giving up some kind of amazing career for these kids. Her lack of employment seemed temporary, and plus, she didn't seem to like academia -- so... what was she missing out on? Other than the very understandable desire to get out of the house?
Her husband was a dick, though. He sort of bullied her into having children, and then and tried to convince her to have more kids even after she said two was the limit. And was mad at her for using contraception. Why? So he could have a son? Great reason. Especially when you're not the one who has to stay home and take care of them, buddy. If the book was about leaving *him,* I would totally believe it.
What I did like about the book was the switching perspectives, and the commentary on how race complicates motherhood for Grace and her mother and grandmother. Overall, I did like the book, I was just annoyed that the main stakes felt like a straw-man plot.
kaylin_vandy's review
4.0
This book tackled a topic which is taboo in most circles. It often seems that women are expected to become mothers and to enjoy the act of motherhood. The varying perspectives in this book portrayed three women whose own experiences with being mothers left them unhappy for completely different reasons. The pendulum swings from abandonment to overprotectiveness and back again. In the end though, despite the extreme contrast in their actions and outlooks, all three women were facing the same toxicity. This book questions what it is to be a mother and defies the myth of the suburban dream.
There are far too many questions this book brings up than can be answered in only 300 pages. I was left unsure by the conclusion, wondering as Grace does if the pendulum can be stopped “dead in its tracks.”
There are far too many questions this book brings up than can be answered in only 300 pages. I was left unsure by the conclusion, wondering as Grace does if the pendulum can be stopped “dead in its tracks.”
unabridgedchick's review against another edition
3.0
Really ambivalent about this one. Required read for my novel writing class so not sure I'd have kept on otherwise but glad I did. As I commented previously, a claustrophobic take on motherhood, very reminiscent of Doris Lessing. Our heroines so unsympathetic and yet so very tender. Do I feel "eh" about this novel because I'm"eh" on them?
nikki55's review against another edition
5.0
A book that touches me or makes me think about my life always gets five starts..
lanner's review against another edition
3.0
Rather weak characterization. I read this with my book club, and we had to fill in a back story for the main character to make sense of her. The author does have a talent for writing a page-turning story however, and I enjoyed her dips into the history of her family. She may have been a victim of fierce editing. There seemed to be gaps in the story.
mochagirl's review against another edition
5.0
Kim McLarin has penned a wonderfully introspective novel that examines the innermost thoughts of a young, BUPPIE woman facing the pressures of marriage, motherhood, and a stalled career in academia. Grace Jefferson is a highly educated, driven wife and mother of two toddlers who has recently moved to the Boston suburbs. In between jobs, she finds her life as a stay-at-home mom to be stifling and demanding. Loving her children but hating the demands and sacrifices of motherhood, she finds herself torn between the freedom and bravado embraced by her absentee grandmother, Royal Rae, and the security and comfort bestowed by her mother, Mattie Mae.
Through carefully laid flashbacks, the author paints a vivid picture of Royal Rae's impoverished beginnings as a Mississippi sharecropper and her thirst for the lush life that causes her to leave her children in the care of "Aunt" Eba as she gallivants from town to town and man to man. Mattie Mae, Royal Rae's oldest child, seemingly suffers the deepest from her wayward mother's abandonment and strives to earn her mother's love and attention for the rest of her life. Vowing not to be like her mother, Mattie Mae sacrifices love, education, career, and ultimately her life for her own children only to smother them with laments of martyrdom. The parenting techniques of these two very different women leave Grace in emotional turmoil filled with anxiety and confusion. She searches to find a balance amid plots of escape from marriage and motherhood. Leaning on her background in psychology, her latest attempt to cope is to find her long lost free-spirited grandmother, Royal Rae, to get some answers to long avoided questions and closure on hidden family secrets.
Amid the backdrop of the eras they were born, McLarin uses these three women to illustrate how the social constraints (gender, race, economics, education, etc.) and psychological stresses could affect their offspring and the subsequent generations that follow. She obviously has done her homework because she layers complex factors such as the effects of slavery, labor laws, civil rights, segregation, legalization of abortion, birth control, etc. along with apt sociological observations and pertinent psychological theories to weave a compelling and timely novel. Her writing and characters are intelligent, poignant, and real; their emotions are raw and believable. This is a mature and moving work of literary fiction. I loved this book and look forward to the author's next release! Well done!
Through carefully laid flashbacks, the author paints a vivid picture of Royal Rae's impoverished beginnings as a Mississippi sharecropper and her thirst for the lush life that causes her to leave her children in the care of "Aunt" Eba as she gallivants from town to town and man to man. Mattie Mae, Royal Rae's oldest child, seemingly suffers the deepest from her wayward mother's abandonment and strives to earn her mother's love and attention for the rest of her life. Vowing not to be like her mother, Mattie Mae sacrifices love, education, career, and ultimately her life for her own children only to smother them with laments of martyrdom. The parenting techniques of these two very different women leave Grace in emotional turmoil filled with anxiety and confusion. She searches to find a balance amid plots of escape from marriage and motherhood. Leaning on her background in psychology, her latest attempt to cope is to find her long lost free-spirited grandmother, Royal Rae, to get some answers to long avoided questions and closure on hidden family secrets.
Amid the backdrop of the eras they were born, McLarin uses these three women to illustrate how the social constraints (gender, race, economics, education, etc.) and psychological stresses could affect their offspring and the subsequent generations that follow. She obviously has done her homework because she layers complex factors such as the effects of slavery, labor laws, civil rights, segregation, legalization of abortion, birth control, etc. along with apt sociological observations and pertinent psychological theories to weave a compelling and timely novel. Her writing and characters are intelligent, poignant, and real; their emotions are raw and believable. This is a mature and moving work of literary fiction. I loved this book and look forward to the author's next release! Well done!
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