Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

109 reviews

bites_of_books's review against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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

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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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namii's review against another edition

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1.5

i hated reading about luke i hated all the men in this book i hated how they talked about abortion.  
Nadia made awful choices that i don’t understand but i get that i’m not really supposed to understand most of those choices that just felt harmful to everyone including herself. 
It’s like instead of choosing something easy she decided to torture herself. 

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jaja_1212's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The characters felt realistically flawed in their own ways and I enjoyed the writing metaphorical and intimate writing style, which kept me going even although the narrative voice took a while for me to get used to.

After getting such a deep, intimate look into the lives and minds of these characters the ending felt a little too abrupt,  I can see why the author might want to end it at that point in their lives though.

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abbie_'s review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

I was heading for a bit of a slump, luckily Brit Bennett’s debut sailed in and saved the day! I read The Vanishing Half when it came out, loved it, then in classic fashion, didn’t get round to the author’s debut for 3 years. But The Mothers is definitely worth the wait, I may even have enjoyed it more than The Vanishing Half, can’t quite decide!

It’s only 280 pages or so, but it has the richness of a novel twice that length. It follows the impact of a decision made by a 17 year old girl that reverberates through her life and the lives of those around her. It includes a perspective we don’t often hear from when it comes to abortion, and to me it felt thoughtfully done. Bennett navigates the ups and downs of a teenage friendship through to adulthood, and I think everyone did genuinely feel like they’d grown up - so often characters in their twenties are written to behave like 16 year olds.

There are quite a few questionable decisions made throughout this book, which honestly I always love lol. Can’t be dealing with drama in real life but I love my books with plenty of messiness. If you enjoy a good drama centred on friendship rather than family, I’d def recommend giving this one a go!

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sparklefarm's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I don't know how to review this book. I've been sitting with it two days after I finished. I read Bennett's The Vanishing Half first, and found it arresting and unputdownable, which was not necessarily the case for The Mothers, although I truly enjoyed it. I think when reading books I tend to want them to have "a point," or a true conclusion. The Mothers didn't; it had the literary equivalent of a song fading out. No less effective, but it left me wanting. I wanted to know the details about whether our characters were okay, did they heal, did they find what they were looking for? But I suppose that's also the hallmark of a good book. I've kept thinking about Aubrey and Nadia and Luke, because Bennett made them feel real. She's so good.

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yajairat's review

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emotional reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

Brit Bennett's novels read like a movie to me, they would be great for the screen! This book had me hooked from beginning to end. I really liked seeing the effects that different types of mothering (or lack of) had on the characters throughout the book. It's a little easier to understand why Nadia and Aubrey are the way they are. With that being said, they (along with Luke) were pretty frustrating characters, I found myself scowling a lot at my kindle when they made decisions that I found... stupid? But I understand that it's in the name of showing us their complex personalities. I kind of felt sad for the characters, for their relationships and where we left them. I wish we had a little more closure, a look into what they were feeling, if they found peace within themselves. 

I appreciated the way the author approached the topic of abortion, with all of its nuances, what ifs, and effects on both parents. Also really liked its commentary on motherhood and the Black church (shoutout to the mothers). 

Loved loved loved Brit Bennett's writing, using terms like unpregnant and unloved in the context of this story were very powerful, and a reason why I was so engrossed.

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arminam's review

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emotional 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

4.25


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