Offered Books:
The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Still Lives by Maria Hummel
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Small Country by Gaël Faye
Selected:
The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
Others Purchased:
None - yet
I didn't like this book.
It's been hard for me to write a review for it specifically because I don't like it. It's not that what I have to say about it is hard to articulate, it's just that I struggle to find a way to write a negative review that is engaging - the novel is too boring to write a 'love to hate' type of review, but my problems with it are numerous enough that I can't do a short breakdown of everything wrong with it. I can summarize it with the one word sentence I started this review with, but that's not much to go on if I am going to make these reviews a regular thing. So really, this book isn't enjoyable AND it is causing me a minor existential crises. Thanks, The Perfect Mother!
The book follows a group of women (and a single man) who have dubbed themselves The May Mothers - all have recently had children and met up online to discuss their experiences, which bled into them meeting in real life. They decide to take a 'night off' for drinks and one of their members - Winnie, a former TV actress - gets home to discover that her baby is missing.
The focus shifts between the various May Mothers and the kidnapper - I have no idea if it being the kidnapper is supposed to be a secret/surprise, but there is no other character that a reader could possibly think it could be, so I won't consider that tidbit a spoiler - as the investigation proceeds and secrets are 'exposed.'
I use 'exposed' in quotes because... nothing ever really comes of the other May Mother's backstories? Setting aside the fact that this group that randomly started gathering had multiple people of semi-fame and notoriety without any of them knowing about the others - and how that stretches one's ability to suspend belief - the reveals never feel impactful. There doesn't appear to be any character growth from them and it doesn't affect the larger story, so why include these barely-interesting-to-who-cares backstories?
While there is one non-famous person in the group - who is probably the most realistic of the characters despite also being one of the more irritating - there is shockingly little reaction from her to the revelations of who she has been meeting with.
Plotwise, there are so many moments where characters behave in ways that are only meant to 'deepen the mystery' or to give chapters cliffhangers that it dilutes the entire narrative. When every chapter ends in such a way, it becomes repetitive and tedious. When none of the characters are interesting enough to warrant such moments, it makes finishing the novel outright work.
Even more frustrating, the climax of the book still happens suddenly, throwing the reader into it without proper buildup. The reveal of the kidnapper has no impact other than a banal 'Oh, okay then,' reaction and all the false stakes throughout the book removes the chance for the reader to think there are any during this part. So it ends not with a bang, nor even a whimper. It just ends. And there is no satisfaction in it.
I would not recommend this book to anyone.
0.5 out of 5
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