The Good Mother : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: so involving
Review: This was my first book I read in English. Being a mother, a woman, I felt very involved in the whole situation. It makes you think so much about how lives can be changed.

Rating:
Summary: Sue Miller needs to give readers some credit
Review: Who is her editor? The main character self-analyzes to the point of nausea. We got it. We do not need the author to explain to us what she is trying to say. I felt, as the reader, that the author did not trust me to "get" her own work. It would have been a much better novel had she given her readers more credit.
Not to mention, if she grew up in a cold family, with no experiences to open up her sexuality and sensuality, I did not buy that one boyfriend would all of a sudden be a panacea to a lifetime of suppression.


Rating:
Summary: Achieves complexity, well-crafted writing
Review: _The Good Mother_ manages to tell a painful story without losing its moral complexity. On the one hand, we can sympathize with Anna for wanting a relationship that feels real to her. On the other hand, she is not made to be a hero and I expect that more than one reader had mixed feelings about the consequences of her actions with Leo. It's a book about a woman's desire to be swept away by love, and what happens when she gets her wish in the context of being the custodian of a small child. The writing is clear and the book is a quick read.