Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Mothers

Oh girl, we have known littlebit love. That littlebit of honey left in an empty jar that traps the sweetness in your mouth long enough to mask your hunger. We have run tongues over teeth to savor that last littlebit as long as we could, and in all our living, nothing has starved us more.

written so nicely. compelling story, and though i never felt attached to any of the characters, i appreciate the way they're written. very human, flawed enough but not so much that they're despicable.

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mollysam's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

intimate yet distant

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m0_x13's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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mary_elizabeth's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bites_of_books's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What I enjoy the most about Bennett's novels is the writing style. The perspective of this book starts from that of a group of older women who attend church and are always keeping tabs on what's happening in their community. A bit of gossip yes, but also that introspective moment when they start to remember what it was like to be a young woman falling in love, making mistakes, and always reacting to what the church would think of those actions.

At its core, this book is about motherhood, all viewed from the perspective of two young women, Nadia and Audrey, who don't have their mothers in their lives anymore. There are also other mother figures, such as Audrey's sister and her partner, the women at the church who try to give guidance in their own way, and even people at clinics who hold hands and give advice when needed.

Nadia, Audrey, and Luke are three young people whose lives are intertwined throughout the book, they will fall in love, be protective of each other, hold resentments, and even hurt each other as they try to find ways to live their own lives. The influence of their parents, the church, and society weighs heavy on them and they really are only trying to find some kind of happiness in the best way they can.

If you like contemporary stories that take a hard look at the influence of a community on young people, this is a great book to read. It's a heavy book with a lot of sadness and loneliness throughout so do read carefully.

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reverie_and_books's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The Mothers by Brit Bennett - Review (🇬🇧 + 🇩🇪)

A group of elderly ladies, the mothers, lend us theirs eyes and ears, framing the start of every chapter. What they share is their wisdom, their morals, and, with it, their judgement. Central in their tellings are Nadia, Luke and Aubrey. We get their perspectives as well.

There is a lot of trauma in this novel, so read with care.

The title isn’t just referring to the wise ladies. Nadia has lost her mother. Aubrey has cut contact with hers. Luke is critically watched under the eyes of his mom. And there is the question about unmothering, as it is described in this book.

Ultimately, the three main characters are spinning their own trip wire. Caught in a love triangle with secrets kept too long, they struggle to move on.

I‘m still not sure if I’m on board with the overall morale of this story. But maybe this is life and what happens to it if we (have to) keep too many secrets. I keep rolling it over in my head. As in »The Vanishing Half« the writing is great and I’d consider the characters quite dynamic.
_____

🇩🇪 Die Mütter von Brit Bennett

Ein paar betagte Damen leihen uns ihre Ohren und Augen während sie jedes Kapitel mit ihren Weisheiten, Moralvorstellungen und Urteilen einleiten. Zentral in ihren Erzählungen sind Nadia, Luke und Aubrey. Ihre Perspektive wird ebenfalls beschrieben.

Hier wird ein großer Batzen Trauma behandelt - bitte mit Vorsicht lesen und ggf. Inhaltswarnungen nachschlagen.

Der Titel referenziert nicht nur auf die weisen Damen. Nadia hat ihre Mutter verloren. Aubrey hat den Kontakt zu ihrer Mutter abgebrochen. Luke wird recht kritisch von seiner Mutter beäugt - auch jede, die ihm nahe kommt. Und es gibt die Frage des nicht-Mutterseins, des Abbruchs, und wie abweisend damit umgegangen wird.

Letztlich spinnen die drei Hauptcharaktere einige der Fäden selbst, über die sie stolpern. Verflochten in einer Dreiecksbeziehung haben sie Schwierigkeiten, loszulassen.

Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, ob ich mit der übergreifenden Moral der Geschichte einverstanden bin. Aber vielleicht ist so das Leben und was daraus wird, wenn wir zu viele Geheimnisse haben (müssen). Die Erzählweise hat mir wie auch bei »Die verschwindende Hälfte« sehr gut gefallen. Das gleiche gilt für die Dynamik der Charaktere.

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sarahholliday's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Bennett is able to tell stories in a way that feels so effortless—you could easily read The Mothers in a single sitting because it feels like an extended conversation, or a story being told to you by a friend over coffee.

Like in any story, things happen and events transpire, but emotions are the main star of this story—the healthy and unhealthy ways we deal with them, how complicated and layered they are, how they evolve over time as we grow.

I wouldn't have minded a little more meat to the final chapters of the book.

To see how Luke and Aubrey put their life back together, what Nadia goes on to do with her law degree.

I would've also liked to have seen some more intentional grappling with religion and its impact on the characters' lives, but I think that may be a desire informed by my own (white) evangelical upbringing. That kind of deconstructing may not be an accurate reflection of the black religious experience, given the ways the church is tied up in community and political activism.

All of those very small issues aside, The Mothers has proven my theory that Brit Bennett is an automatic-read author for me.

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lindseyas's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really love Brit Bennett, but it's particularly her characterization methods that get me going. She has the power to create such incredibly diverse, flawed and deep characters that are perfect for one another and the plot. Each of the people in this novel, whether they play big or small parts, has their own personal history that contributes significant amounts of knowledge to the nature of the book. They each embody the stresses of motherhood or friendship or femininity or life itself — there is no perfect way to be a mother, no perfect way to be a friend, no perfect way to live or love or be yourself. The different ways in which motherhood is described in the novel is paramount to audience understanding — there are bad mothers, there are good mothers, there are absent mothers and there are mothers who just aren't up to the job just yet. It just depends on who you are. Also, Go Blue, baby.

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