It’s been a while since I’ve posted a review. I’ve read so many books I will be reviewing soon I just haven’t had the time to put them together. You can expect lots of reviews in the next couple of weeks! Today I am sharing my review of The Mothers by Brit Bennett which was the book my IRL book club read last month.
Synopsis
Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett’s mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret.
“All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.”
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.
In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a “what if” can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.
Why Did I Decide to Read this Book
Earlier this year I read Brit Bennett’s most recent book, The Vanishing Half, and I loved it. I recommened this book to my book club so we decided to read it this past month.
Rating
4.5 Stars (An Excellent Book!)
My Thoughts
I loved this book, I think I even liked it more than The Vanishing Half and that’s a lot to say because I loved that one too. I read this book with my book club and I think it was a great book for a discussion. There’s lots of things to discuss so definitely recommend it for a book club.
One of the main topics of the book is how events and choices impact our lives. This book will make you feel all the feelings and reflect on the choices the characters make and how it imapcted their lives. The book also covers religion, love, family and death.
Britt Bennet’s writing is amazing. Her ability to write these characters is something I can’t describe but I hope you all read it and get to experience it yourselves. I read this book in two days and that is a lot to say for me because I am a super slow reader.
I didn’t give it 5 stars because of the ending. I don’t want to spoil it but I like endings to be a little more wrapped up than how this book ended. I wanted more of this story!
Content Warnings
Abortion, sexual abuse, domestic violence, suicide, loss of a parent, racism
Who I recommend this book to
I recommend this book to everyone! It is a powerful and impactful book that everyone should read. If, like me, you read The Vanishing Half this year I think you’ll love this one too.
Get the Book!
Did this review of The Mothers convince you to read it? You can get the book from Bookshop.org here. Please consider ordering it from a Black owned independent bookstore. This list of Black owned independent bookstores accepts online ordering.
It really was a great book club discussion, even though I hadn’t read it yet lol I will definitely be finishing it at soon as I can though!