jaclynday:What I’ve Read: The Mothers by Jennifer Gilmore My review of this book is completely inf
jaclynday: What I’ve Read: The Mothers by Jennifer Gilmore My review of this book is completely influenced by the fact that I came to read it because I heard an interview on Fresh Air with the author Jennifer Gilmore. Had I read it before hearing the interview, I don’t know if I would have liked it. My impression of the story was colored entirely by having the additional story context that the interview provided. If you’re very spoiler-averse, you may want to stop reading since I do discuss some of the back story from the interview with the author. Anyway—Terry Gross interviewed Jennifer Gilmore on Fresh Air about this book, but here’s the thing: The Mothers, while it’s technically a “novel,” is fully based on Gilmore’s real life experiences trying to adopt a child with her husband. Many of the things that happen to the main characters in The Mothers are precisely what happened to Gilmore. In The Mothers, the main character’s husband is a native Spanish speaker. In real life, Gilmore is married to a native Spanish speaker. And so on and so forth. If I had picked up The Mothers with no background whatsoever, I probably would have noted how little like a novel it seemed. It reads very memoir-ish and that’s probably because, to a large degree, it is. Of course, that begs the question of why Gilmore didn’t just write a memoir about their adoption process, but I’m assuming it’s because it’s easier to write about family in a less than flattering way or discuss marital problems or talk about weighty emotional issues when you can put them off as things a “character” felt instead. All that aside: The Mothers is a well-written book. It’s very raw and emotional and Gilmore translated maternal desire onto the page in an authentic way. (I mean, obviously—considering it’s a memoir. I mean a novel. Whatever.) The portions about how the adoption process affected “Jesse and Ramon’s” relationship/marriage feel the most real. Gilmore writes about Jesse’s maternal yearnings poignantly, but the writing sometimes feels strangely disconnected. I can’t really describe it. Gilmore admitted during her NPR interview that she was experiencing some forgetfulness about how long and arduous their adoption journey was. She compared it to how women forget the pain of childbirth after the baby arrives. While she finished this book before her own adoption process was complete, that may be a hint as to the almost robotic tone the book occasionally takes. Maybe Gilmore had to take her own emotion and experiences out of the equation in order to get words on the page. I don’t feel like I’m describing this well, but if you read the book, perhaps you’ll understand what I’m trying to say. I hesitate to recommend the book too broadly. I think you have two options: first, you can just jump in and read it and take it simply as another novel…but I don’t know how enjoyable it will be. Second, listen to the NPR interview and if it piques your curiosity, well, there you have it. Stick it on your reading list. Have you read this book? What did you think? -- source link