A review by abbie_
My Mother's House by Francesca Momplaisir

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
My Mother's House is an utterly wild ride, a literary thriller exploring the dark side of immigration, featuring one of the most despicable characters I've ever come across: Lucien. Lucien and his younger wife Marie-Ange have fled Haiti and settled in South Ozone Park, New York. Their house, La Kay, becomes a spot for newly arrived immigrants to enjoy some home-cooked Haitian food and receive legal advice. But La Kay is also the scene of unspeakable horrors, driven by Lucien's lascivious urges.
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The most common critique I've seen of this book is that not much explanation is given as to why Lucien is the way that he is, and I get that. Some people are just evil I guess, and honestly no amount of backstory could make the reader feel sympathetic to Lucien! Some of the story is told from his perspective, and those were admittedly my least favourite parts. It felt a little disjointed at times, as listening to it I couldn't work out if there was a pattern to the alternating chapters and also flashbacks to Lucien's life in Haiti.
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But one of the other narrators is La Kay itself - the house! I liked this technique, it's not every day you get to hear a story from the POV of a house! I found it interesting that La Kay was unaware of certain parts of itself - it sort of reminded me of the way people can repress certain memories. The third perspective is that of Sol, a young woman whose part in the story I shall not reveal. But it's through her that Momplaisir delivers more social commentary surrounding immigration in the US. She explores it elsewhere too, especially the tensions between Black immigrants and American-born Black folk.
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I liked the use of the three narrators on audio, they were very theatrical! I felt more like I was watching a movie play out. I've listened to a few books narrated by Dion Graham now and he's excellent as the voice of La Kay.
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I used to read a fair amount of grisly crime thrillers pre-bookstagram, and I'd say that this book is darker than many of those! So I wouldn't recommend it universally as it's a lot to handle. Check the content warnings first!
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