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A review by thebobsphere
Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth
5.0
This year’s International Booker Longlist is an interesting one. So far the books chosen are not necessarily ones I would read but, at this point, I am glad I am read them. Is Mother Dead being an example.
After leaving her husband and her country for another man, artist, Johanna finally returns to her town after a thirty year absence, She is now a grandmother in her sixties and she has one aim. To reconcile with her mother, and to a certain extent, her sister, Ruth. Johanna is conscious that she has not been the best daughter, never contacting her parents and even skipping out on her dad’s funeral. Even her paintings have depicted her childhood in a less flattering light.
When Johanna’s mother does not contact her, she begins to worry and thinks up of scenarios on why there is zero communication. Some of the musings border on paranoia but then Johanna starts delving into her past and some startling secrets emerge and what we get is a story about someone who was loved by a parent but then diminished.
Not all of it is Joahanna’s fault. She recalls instances where her mother acted cowardly, in one cause even betrays hers, which leads to Johanna rebelling against her mother’s wishes and receiving no support for her decisions. In fact when she does ‘obey’ them: getting married and taking up law she finds out that she can’t follow her mother’s wants and breaks away by having an affair and moving to the States. To be blunt, this book is a tale of psychological abuse and warfare.
The spirit of Beckett looms large in Is Mother Dead: there is very little progression in Johanna’s attempts to make a bigger effort to contact her mother, instead she is stuck on the painful memories instead. One can feel the rot and decay in this relationship. When there is some actual movement, it just accentuates how dour this relationship has developed.
The book is full of many symbolic moments most of them quite poignant, my favourite one being a scene where Johanna goes to her neighbour’s yard and digs up a cigar box which contains some elements of her past, which incite her to make her final moves in rekindling her mother’s love. This signifies that the past has to be exposed in order to proceed with the present and future. Another scene involves an elk who is shedding it’s antlers, which Johanna compares herself to.
Is Mother Dead struck me. Johanna’s desperation, the pain of her memories are tangible. Although my relationship with my parents is different, I could still feel her paranoia and her stress at being cut off. Being rejected by one’s parents is not easy to cope with and the book exposes that feeling of helplessness. The only way I can conclude it to quote Philip Larkin’s famous opening lines in This Be The Verse, which mirror Is Mother’s Dead’s themes perfectly:
They f*** you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
After leaving her husband and her country for another man, artist, Johanna finally returns to her town after a thirty year absence, She is now a grandmother in her sixties and she has one aim. To reconcile with her mother, and to a certain extent, her sister, Ruth. Johanna is conscious that she has not been the best daughter, never contacting her parents and even skipping out on her dad’s funeral. Even her paintings have depicted her childhood in a less flattering light.
When Johanna’s mother does not contact her, she begins to worry and thinks up of scenarios on why there is zero communication. Some of the musings border on paranoia but then Johanna starts delving into her past and some startling secrets emerge and what we get is a story about someone who was loved by a parent but then diminished.
Not all of it is Joahanna’s fault. She recalls instances where her mother acted cowardly, in one cause even betrays hers, which leads to Johanna rebelling against her mother’s wishes and receiving no support for her decisions. In fact when she does ‘obey’ them: getting married and taking up law she finds out that she can’t follow her mother’s wants and breaks away by having an affair and moving to the States. To be blunt, this book is a tale of psychological abuse and warfare.
The spirit of Beckett looms large in Is Mother Dead: there is very little progression in Johanna’s attempts to make a bigger effort to contact her mother, instead she is stuck on the painful memories instead. One can feel the rot and decay in this relationship. When there is some actual movement, it just accentuates how dour this relationship has developed.
The book is full of many symbolic moments most of them quite poignant, my favourite one being a scene where Johanna goes to her neighbour’s yard and digs up a cigar box which contains some elements of her past, which incite her to make her final moves in rekindling her mother’s love. This signifies that the past has to be exposed in order to proceed with the present and future. Another scene involves an elk who is shedding it’s antlers, which Johanna compares herself to.
Is Mother Dead struck me. Johanna’s desperation, the pain of her memories are tangible. Although my relationship with my parents is different, I could still feel her paranoia and her stress at being cut off. Being rejected by one’s parents is not easy to cope with and the book exposes that feeling of helplessness. The only way I can conclude it to quote Philip Larkin’s famous opening lines in This Be The Verse, which mirror Is Mother’s Dead’s themes perfectly:
They f*** you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.