A review by mamalemma
Mothers and Sons by Colm Tóibín

3.0

I don’t know if short stories are just not ideally suited to audiobooks, but this didn’t move me. There were a couple of stories that were really interesting. For example, one was a really moving story about a pedophile priest and his mother; another about a boy whose alcoholic mother leaves the family only to meet a tragic demise that is also very good. However, overall the collection didn’t impress me. It’s possible that I didn’t pay close enough attention to the stories because I was driving while listening and I’m normally able to get away with less careful listening with a novel because there is so much more time to catch up. Or maybe I’m just not a short story fan; I have often found them uneven and frequently unsatisfyingly ended. Too often, they feel like a description of a moment in time rather than a character growth story. So, not horrible, but not one I’ll be talking up.