Description
Longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize
A New York Times Notable Book
A Library Journal Best Book of 2021
A marveloussuperbly effective The New Yorker debut novel about a young woman coming of age with a dazzling yet damaged mother who lived and loved in extremes
Met by rave reviews in The New Yorker The New York Times and more this stunning translation of Violaine Huismans witty immersive autofiction showcases a Parisian childhood with a charismatic depressed parent Oprah Daily Beautiful and magnetic Catherine aka Maman smokes too much drives too fast laughs too hard and loves too extravagantly and her daughter Violaine wouldnt have it any other way
But when Maman is hospitalized after a third divorce and a breakdown everything changes Even as Violaine and her sister long for their mothers return once shes back Mamans violent mood swings and flagrant disregard for personal boundaries soon turn their home into an emotional landmine As the story of Catherines own traumatic childhood and adolescence unfolds the pieces come together to form an indelible portrait of a mother as irresistible as she is impossible as triumphant as she is transgressive
With spectacular ferocity of language a streak of dark humor and stunning emotional bravery The Book of Mother is an exquisitely wrought story of a mothers dizzying heights and devastating lows and a daughter who must hold her memory close in order to surrender and finally move on
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