Mother, Mother: a novel Koren Zailckas Anticipated Publication:9/17/13
“It’s better to be hated than it is to be ignored.” It seems ever character in Zailckas’s novel could find themselves the speaker of this quote, and what characters we have. While this book is, at its heart, a novel about family dynamics Zailckas has created characters that are individually so messed up it’s impossible to figure out how the family has functioned as a unit for so long. This painful novel ends on a twist so disturbing it will keep you up at night. Mother, Mother is told from the alternating perspectives of Violet and Will, siblings from the same family who have chosen different paths to handle their massively messed up family life. Will is the golden boy. He attaches himself to his mother and does whatever it takes to get him to see her as the hero. Even if that means being diagnosed with autism, pulled out of school, and forced to be homeschooled. Violet has chosen to rebel the opposite way, by doing everything her mother hates. But there is one other sibling…Rose, who disappeared months ago and who no one has heard from until strange things start happening in the house. And then Violet starts getting letters… “Her desperate need to come off like a good mother, at the risk of actually being one…”
The most impressive part of Zailckas’s work is how real the mother comes across. This character, if she’s described through traits alone seems unrealistic. Yet somehow our author manages to turn her into a human character. She seems real. Horrible, scary, a monster manipulator yes. But it’s not hard to believe she could exist. The relationship between Will and his mother and Violet and her father is another interesting aspect of the novel. Each of these relationships is told with such detail and so much emotion that its hard to remember you’re reading a book and not watching this family as it unravels.
But Zailckas doesn’t stop with the family relationship. As Rose’s story begins to unfold and Violet starts to sober up and see reality for what it is another layer is added to the story. It’s this mystery that keeps the pages turning and makes this book near impossible to put down. Zailckas has created a thriller of the same pace as Khan’s The Never List or Flynn’s Dark Places without the gore, but a twist that puts this novel in the same category as the others.
Unlike these other two ladies, however, Zailckas’s novel falls short when it comes to the description. Her tendency to use more exposition than necessary creates deep characters but stand still action. Even at the climax of the novel what should have been heart-pounding action just got bogged down with excess narration.
That being said…This novel is still well worth the read for any fan of bizarre families, crazy mothers, or twisted thrillers. You won’t be disappointed.
I received a free review copy from the publisher
