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A review by vegantrav
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
4.0
Brit Bennett, with this debut novel, shows that she is an incredibly gifted writer. The Mothers is a story of love, lovers, friendship, and family that focuses on three young people--Nadia, Aubrey, and Luke--whom we watch grow and change as they are all moving from adolescence into adulthood.
Bennett shows us her characters as they face challenges that are not too different than those faced by many young people, but Bennett excavates far below the surface level. We come to know these characters intimately. The characterization is superb. While they may be fictional characters, they are completely realistic.
Bennett's talents are further on display as she strikes not a single false note in setting or tone. We readers are immersed in a suburban San Diego world that becomes our world as we are reading, and the mood and the emotions of the characters become our mood and our emotional state as we read. Bennnett has filled an ocean with her prose, and we swim easily and contentedly in it.
Now, this is a work of literary fiction. The novel is about the characters, not about the plot. We are here, in The Mothers, to experience the world of her characters. We're not here to be titillated or entertained. If you are looking for a plot-driven novel with a lot of action and suspense, this novel will not deliver. But it will deliver the fascinating stories of three people whose lives are average, not really abnormal at all. And in telling us such a good story about such ordinary people, Bennett announces herself as an extraordinary writer.
Bennett shows us her characters as they face challenges that are not too different than those faced by many young people, but Bennett excavates far below the surface level. We come to know these characters intimately. The characterization is superb. While they may be fictional characters, they are completely realistic.
Bennett's talents are further on display as she strikes not a single false note in setting or tone. We readers are immersed in a suburban San Diego world that becomes our world as we are reading, and the mood and the emotions of the characters become our mood and our emotional state as we read. Bennnett has filled an ocean with her prose, and we swim easily and contentedly in it.
Now, this is a work of literary fiction. The novel is about the characters, not about the plot. We are here, in The Mothers, to experience the world of her characters. We're not here to be titillated or entertained. If you are looking for a plot-driven novel with a lot of action and suspense, this novel will not deliver. But it will deliver the fascinating stories of three people whose lives are average, not really abnormal at all. And in telling us such a good story about such ordinary people, Bennett announces herself as an extraordinary writer.