The Mothers follows the lives of three teenagers, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey, as they go through their last years of high school and their subsequent lives as young adults. I'm conflicted on how I feel about this book. On the one hand, it's beautifully written and contains some incredibly poignant passages on love, loss, loneliness, and longing.
However, a few things detracted from this book for me. One, I just don't buy Nadia's hangup over her old boyfriend and vice versa, and their inability to let each other go. Not only that, but then they proceed to deny this truth to themselves, which sets off a chain of unfortunate events. It's hard for me to relate to them at all on this.
Second, I don't see why there is a focus on "the mothers", both as the title of this book and as a cast of characters. They don't add anything to this story. They are just peripheral characters and giving them such prominence seems forced and unnatural, as if the book is trying to be deeper than it really is.
In addition, the writing sometimes contains ambiguous pronouns and is unclear when it switches from reminiscing about the past to talking about the present. This takes me out of the story when I have to go back and reread parts to figure out who it's about and when things are taking place.
Still, even with the shortcomings, I enjoyed reading this book. It has deeply moving passages and evokes such strong emotions. And it deftly tackles some difficult subjects with nuance and understanding.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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