Recent Reviews
The Good Mother by Sue Miller
Thirty years ago my four gal friends and I read Sue Miller’s gripping novel, The Good Mother. Not only did we read The Good Mother, we went to hear fellow Cambridgian Sue Miller speak at our local bookstore. Just out of grad school and starting new jobs, none of us were married and the idea of having kids barely discussed. Yet for a couple of weeks in the late 1980s, this book about a young divorced woman raising her daughter, dominated our conversations. We felt “grown-up” as we parsed Miller’s words and opined on the novel’s dramatic outcome.
Three months ago we decided to reread the novel. We have all been married to our husbands for close to thirty years and have ten kids between us. Rereading the book was like visiting our younger selves. This engaging and well-written novel hadn’t changed, but our views about the book had evolved. We all arrived at a more nuanced understanding and appreciation for the complexity of the story.
The Good Mother is about a young thirty-something woman named Anna Dunlap. She and her ex-husband, Brian, marry young and divorce young. Anna seems passive and unemotional about both her marriage and divorce. In an amicable process, Anna is awarded custody of their three-year old daughter Molly. Brian moves to Washington D.C. and marries a woman named Brenda.
Soon Anna falls for an aspiring artist named Leo Cutter whom she meets at a Porter Square laundry mat. Leo’s energy and intellect captivate Anna and they begin an intense relationship. With Leo, Anna discovers parts of herself that were previously unknown to her. Her sexual relationship with Leo is physically and emotionally fulfilling.
The book follows Anna‘s life as she attempts to balance her desire for her boyfriend Leo, her devotion to her daughter Molly and her work as a piano teacher and lab assistant. Anna, Leo and Molly settle into a sweet routine together in Cambridge. Anna says toward the end of the book, “We were all – Molly too-we were all happy. It was part of the new world he, my lover, opened up to me, where I was beautiful, sex together was beautiful, and Molly was part of our love, our life.”
When Molly tells her father Brian of an unusual encounter with Leo, chaos ensues. Before long, Anna needs to hire a lawyer as Brian will not listen or understand. Soon, a heartbreaking court battle for custody of Molly begins. The court scenes convey the harsh scrutiny and double standard women face in front of male judges
Miller’s book reveals the multi-faceted layers of feelings that exist in relationships and the extra burden placed on women who seek to fully embrace their dual roles as wives and mothers - lovers and caretakers.
Miller’s psychological insight is impressive. She details the most formative emotional events of Anna’s first twenty years as the only child of two distant parents. We comprehend how Anna arrives at this point in her life and how she responds to this tumultuous turn of events. Miller’s beautiful writing captures the intricacy and complexity of Anna’s encounters with Brain, Leo and Molly.
Now that I am in my mid-50s with three grown kids, I can better comprehend the complicated family dynamics. In addition, my strong opinion about Molly’s fate has softened.
Even still, I believe Anna Dunlap was a good mother.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
I had watched Where the Crawdads Sing stay steady on the New York Times bestseller list and I had heard the chorus of compliments from my friends and colleagues. So when my book club chose to read this debut novel by Delia Owens, my expectations were high. Owens did not disappoint. I read Where the Crawdads Sing in one weekend and felt transported to the lush marshes of the North Carolina coast.
The novel touches on many engaging themes, but fundamentally, the story is about a young girl’s resilience in the face of abandonment and loneliness. When Catherine Danielle Clark “Kya” is six years old, her Ma walks down the “sandy lane in high heels, her only going out pair.” Ma never returns to the family’s shack hidden in the marsh. One by one Kya’s siblings leave. They too want to escape dire poverty and their violent alcoholic father. Finally, when Kya is ten, her father goes fishing and does not return. Realizing that she is alone, she experiences shock and depression. Yet she perseveres. (Yes, this strains credulity. Didn’t Kya’s mom or siblings think to take her with them? And could Kya really live by herself? But keep going!)
Kya is smart and resourceful. She avoids the authorities and survives by cooking grits, catching fish and paying close attention to the rhythms of the marsh. A kind African-American man named Jumpin’ and his wife Mabel help Kya whenever she docks her boat at their bait and gas shop. From their own encounters with discrimination, they know the Barkley Cove locals either ignore or ostracize those who are different. The residents call Kya “swamp trash”.
The marsh serves as both the setting and a character in the novel. Kya watches eagles soar, herons fish, butterflies glide and fish spawn. She comes to view the seagulls as her friends and the marsh as a surrogate mother. She studies the tides, the stars and the animal and plant life that surround her. “Nature seemed the only stone that would not slip midstream.”
In her late teens, Kya comes to love Tate Walker, a gentle young man who was friends with her brother Jodie. With tenderness, he teaches Kya to read and listens to her feelings. “For the first time since Ma and Jodie left, she breathed without pain.” Yet Tate leaves for college and once again Kya is left alone. Seeking solace, she spends time with a vulnerable, yet unreliable young man named Chase Andrews. Kya wonders, “How much do you trade to defeat loneliness?”When Chase is found dead, the townspeople suspect Kya. A major strand of the novel follows the investigation into Chase’s death.
Owens’ novel captivates because she shows the evolution of Kya’s inner life. We see Kya’s intellect grow and her emotions expand. She finds solace in poetry, art and books. As I turned the pages, I found myself rooting for Kya and hoping that she might experience some peace and even a little happiness.
With lyricism and reverence, Owens’love of the natural world enriches every page. She creates a spiritual atmosphere with her rich descriptions of the moon, tides, sky, lagoons, sand and mosses of the marsh. Kya’s development is shaped by the trauma of her youth and softened by the rhythms of the marsh. Despite her loneliness and isolation, Kya perseveres. Owen’ insight and sensitivity allow us to witness the subtle and not so subtle adaptations to Kya’s personality and emotional life.
Where The Crawdads Singtouched my heart despite my mind’s doubts. Maybe the novel has resonated with millions of readers (including me) because it illuminates that we are all shaped by the children we once were.
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
This review was published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 4, 2019
https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/disappearing-earth-reveals-life-in-russias-remote-east/
Few Americans have traveled to Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East. A nine-hour flight from Moscow, this volcanic peninsula juts out into the Pacific Ocean. In 2011, Julia Phillips journeyed there to study at Kamchatka State University as a Fulbright scholar. Clearly, the people and place inspired her. The result is ‘Disappearing Earth’, her intense, evocative and haunting debut novel. It is a captivating book that conveys the unique ethos of this remote region.
As the story begins, two sisters Alyona and Sophia Golosovskaya, 11 and 8, are walking on the beach near their home in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Their mother writes for a Russian newspaper and is away at work. When the girls accept a ride from a seemingly friendly young man, they are kidnapped instead. The police search, posters appear, but the girls are not found.
The plot then shifts. Each subsequent chapter explores the ripple effects of the girls’ disappearance on the Kamchatka community. Clues appear about the identity of the kidnapper and the fate of the girls, but the outcome is not revealed until the final pages. The bigger mystery here is Kamchatka and the character of its people.
The peninsula itself has a distinct presence in the story. Phillips writes, “Air and sea were the sole options for leaving. Though Kamchatka was no longer a closed territory by law, the region was cut off from the rest of the world by geography. To the south, east and west was only ocean. To the north, walling off the Russian mainland, were hundreds of kilometers of mountains and tundra.” Though the residents appreciate the natural beauty, living on this peninsula requires resilience and fortitude.
Into this terrain, Phillips introduces a rich mosaic of interconnected characters whose lives are touched by the kidnapping. The Kamchatkan people we meet all have their own struggles.
Valentina Nikolaevna is an administrator at the girls’ school with a health crisis and strong opinions: “This never could have taken place in Soviet times. You girls can’t imagine how safe it used to be. No foreigners. No outsiders. Opening the peninsula was the biggest mistake our authorities ever made.”
We learn about Oksana, a researcher at the volcanological institute. She is the only person who witnessed the girls getting into the car. Her attempt to help the investigation only compounds her sense of isolation. Her unfaithful husband has left and her beloved dog has vanished.
We meet Alla Innokentevna, the head of a cultural center in the northern village of Esso. She is not Russian, but Native. Four years earlier her daughter Lilia had disappeared. The police investigation was perfunctory and the police assumed that Lilia ran away.
Finally, we encounter Marina Alexandrovna, the mother of Alyona and Sophia. Her life consists of constant grief and persistent panic attacks. “She pled and sobbed on the evening news in an attempt to bring a breakthrough in the case. She was a fish ripped open for the reporting. Her wet gut spilled out.” Both Alla and Marina’s lives have been turned upside down by the loss of their daughters. Their earths have disappeared.
Phillips gives voice to the struggles of women navigating their daily lives in Kamchatka, lives that become more challenging after the kidnappings. Women seek love and loyalty from their boyfriends and husbands, but often experience disappointment or abandonment. Some fantasize about leaving the peninsula and establishing a new life in mainland Russia or Europe. Yet the bonds of family ultimately keep them in Kamchatka.
The relationships among the characters become clearer as the plot advances and the tension accumulates. We do learn the fate of all three girls in the story’s stunning conclusion. However, the novel’s power derives from the slow unveiling of these characters. They are isolated yet connected, like Kamchatka itself. Phillips’ great achievement in ‘Disappearing Earth’ is that she convincingly transports us into their world.
