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A review by whatjamieread
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
⚠️ TW: Suicide, Abortion, Physical Abuse, Rape ⚠️
I finished this book last week and I still haven’t gotten to a place where I’m not thinking about it while reading other books. Miss Bennett wrote a truly relatable and realistic story in The Mothers. The single thought I keep having when I think about it is that any one of the characters could be someone I know. The situations that they find themselves in could happen to absolutely anyone from anywhere which added an element of realness that’s causing me to wonder what Nadia, Aubrey, and Luke are up to right now like they’re real-life people whose stories are still being written.
For me, this story boiled down to how mothers affect our lives and how, as women, becoming mothers affects us even more. Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey have three different types of mothers whose mothering styles have permanently stamped their personalities. Luke’s mom babied him to the point where he didn’t rely fully on himself for his own well being, Nadia’s mother loved her but wasn’t ready for her and was taken from her by suicide, and Aubrey’s mother neglected her and allowed her to be abused by her boyfriend under her own roof. Our mothers shape us in ways we often times don’t realize until we’re much older and each of the three main characters’ fatal flaws are a direct result of treatment by and trauma from their mothers. When motherhood comes for both Nadia and Aubrey, they respond differently in ways that are also clearly influenced by the impact of their mother's various shortcomings.
I feel like I said this exact same thing when I reviewed The Vanishing Half but DAMN, Brit Bennet is truly a master at character development and dialogue. The people in her stories leap off the pages. It’s nearly impossible to quickly move on from her books because she forces your direct investment into the lives of the people on the pages. I’m obsessed with Brit and hope she’s typing away as we speak so that we can get a new book SOON.
Not only was this a 5⭐️ read for me, but I liked it MORE than The Vanishing Half, which I didn’t think was possible. It all comes down to the relevancy and poignancy of the events in this story and the way they’re still on my mind. All hail Brit Bennett.
I finished this book last week and I still haven’t gotten to a place where I’m not thinking about it while reading other books. Miss Bennett wrote a truly relatable and realistic story in The Mothers. The single thought I keep having when I think about it is that any one of the characters could be someone I know. The situations that they find themselves in could happen to absolutely anyone from anywhere which added an element of realness that’s causing me to wonder what Nadia, Aubrey, and Luke are up to right now like they’re real-life people whose stories are still being written.
For me, this story boiled down to how mothers affect our lives and how, as women, becoming mothers affects us even more. Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey have three different types of mothers whose mothering styles have permanently stamped their personalities. Luke’s mom babied him to the point where he didn’t rely fully on himself for his own well being, Nadia’s mother loved her but wasn’t ready for her and was taken from her by suicide, and Aubrey’s mother neglected her and allowed her to be abused by her boyfriend under her own roof. Our mothers shape us in ways we often times don’t realize until we’re much older and each of the three main characters’ fatal flaws are a direct result of treatment by and trauma from their mothers. When motherhood comes for both Nadia and Aubrey, they respond differently in ways that are also clearly influenced by the impact of their mother's various shortcomings.
I feel like I said this exact same thing when I reviewed The Vanishing Half but DAMN, Brit Bennet is truly a master at character development and dialogue. The people in her stories leap off the pages. It’s nearly impossible to quickly move on from her books because she forces your direct investment into the lives of the people on the pages. I’m obsessed with Brit and hope she’s typing away as we speak so that we can get a new book SOON.
Not only was this a 5⭐️ read for me, but I liked it MORE than The Vanishing Half, which I didn’t think was possible. It all comes down to the relevancy and poignancy of the events in this story and the way they’re still on my mind. All hail Brit Bennett.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Rape, and Child abuse