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mirandadarrow 's review for:
The Mothers
by Brit Bennett
This is the best book about abortion and the long lasting effects of that decision I’ve ever read. Ok, that seems to be a rather narrow category of books, and being the best in that field does not really sound like much of an accomplishment. It’s like being the best book about a lone astronaut being stranded on Mars who needs to survive until a ship can be sent back to rescue him, or the best book about a girl who “steals” books while living in Nazi Germany. These rather specific complements should not take away from the fact that all the books I’m referencing are objectively good, and not just among these really small categories. But unlike The Martian and The Book Thief, abortion and reproductive choices isn’t really a discrete issue that hardly anyone will ever face. The fact that there aren’t a ton of books on the subject, except for those with a very specific political or religious or moral axe to grind, well, that is a shame. Not everyone has to read this, but there is definitely a lot that people could think about and learn in this topic, and The Mothers does a nuanced job of it.
Who are “The Mothers” in this book? It isn’t the main character, Nadia, who decides at age 17 that she is not ready to be a mother. I also don’t think it is the respective mothers of Nadia and her best friend Aubrey, both of whom are absent from their daughters’ lives, for different reasons. The Mothers are the older women of the church which is central in this story. The serve as a type of Greek Chorus, giving us backstory and the community view and narrating the transitions of time, as this book takes place over about a decade. There are individual members of The Mothers, but they act mostly as a group.
What does this book have to say about abortion? Well, what doesn’t it say? Pretty much every view point has its champion, from Aubrey’s sister, who cautions the girls against using black market “remedies” to the horrified reaction to some characters and the more complex feelings of Nadia and Luke, for many years. And what does this book have to say about motherhood, and family in general? There are plenty of viewpoints expressed in here about those vast subjects as well. It was a very well written and compelling book. It made me think, and it wasn’t awful. Really, that is what I'm ending with "not awful"? If you think about the main subject matter, that is an accomplishment.
Who are “The Mothers” in this book? It isn’t the main character, Nadia, who decides at age 17 that she is not ready to be a mother. I also don’t think it is the respective mothers of Nadia and her best friend Aubrey, both of whom are absent from their daughters’ lives, for different reasons. The Mothers are the older women of the church which is central in this story. The serve as a type of Greek Chorus, giving us backstory and the community view and narrating the transitions of time, as this book takes place over about a decade. There are individual members of The Mothers, but they act mostly as a group.
What does this book have to say about abortion? Well, what doesn’t it say? Pretty much every view point has its champion, from Aubrey’s sister, who cautions the girls against using black market “remedies” to the horrified reaction to some characters and the more complex feelings of Nadia and Luke, for many years. And what does this book have to say about motherhood, and family in general? There are plenty of viewpoints expressed in here about those vast subjects as well. It was a very well written and compelling book. It made me think, and it wasn’t awful. Really, that is what I'm ending with "not awful"? If you think about the main subject matter, that is an accomplishment.