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readingwhilemommying's review
5.0
I loved this story. I seem to gravitate toward the ones that speak to the mundaness and social aspects of middle-aged mom life and this one does that in spades.
In almost all dialogue, a group of moms discuss seeing a woman walking into the woods at their kids’ soccer game and she never comes back out. The setting is a birthday party for one of the kids. Through realistic and at turns funny, angry, sad, and scary dialogue the discussion or gossip by these women is terrific. It really gets you into the question of where this woman went, while also making you feel like you’re there, listening to the conversation. No one even has a name (they’re all referred to by letters), which makes it even more interesting. Each woman’s personality is not tied to a name, it’s instead related exclusively by turns of phrase, language, and the comments of the main character "J." They talk of Netflix, spoiling TV shows, the soccer dad who’s a loud bully, they all get quiet when one of the moms curses (worried the kids will hear). It’s very relatable and true-to-life.
The meat of the story comes from J, who shares that she went into the woods looking for the woman and ended up lying on the ground, overcome with an odd feeling of being alive and dead at the same time. Kind of like becoming one with nature. The women are, at turns, appalled, intrigued, and annoyed. There’s also the undercurrent theme of overworked, harried moms wanting at some point to say “screw it all” and walking into the woods and never coming back. That image...a woman walking away from her kids, life, husband...the prescribed roles she has to play in life for freedom...is compelling. And the way the author explores it here is so well done. Definitely check this one out!
In almost all dialogue, a group of moms discuss seeing a woman walking into the woods at their kids’ soccer game and she never comes back out. The setting is a birthday party for one of the kids. Through realistic and at turns funny, angry, sad, and scary dialogue the discussion or gossip by these women is terrific. It really gets you into the question of where this woman went, while also making you feel like you’re there, listening to the conversation. No one even has a name (they’re all referred to by letters), which makes it even more interesting. Each woman’s personality is not tied to a name, it’s instead related exclusively by turns of phrase, language, and the comments of the main character "J." They talk of Netflix, spoiling TV shows, the soccer dad who’s a loud bully, they all get quiet when one of the moms curses (worried the kids will hear). It’s very relatable and true-to-life.
The meat of the story comes from J, who shares that she went into the woods looking for the woman and ended up lying on the ground, overcome with an odd feeling of being alive and dead at the same time. Kind of like becoming one with nature. The women are, at turns, appalled, intrigued, and annoyed. There’s also the undercurrent theme of overworked, harried moms wanting at some point to say “screw it all” and walking into the woods and never coming back. That image...a woman walking away from her kids, life, husband...the prescribed roles she has to play in life for freedom...is compelling. And the way the author explores it here is so well done. Definitely check this one out!
jgwc54e5's review
4.0
Excellent! A group of mothers sit around chatting at a kids birthday party. So normal, yet the chatter moves from TV shows to the meaning of life almost. I read an interview with the author afterward where she talked about the “tyranny of normalcy” and how mothers are expected to be the most normal of all. A commentary on “normal” and how everyone has their own issues.
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