BookClique

I read a great review in the NYT Book Review on Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber. They described it as a book of short stories about the relationships between mothers and daughters. That description is what initially drew me in, but after about the third story I realized it’s really more about how a woman defines herself within their relationships to their families. In a suite of eight stories we view the lives of Ruby and her daughter Nora, both of them trying to grow up and, I think, both of them trying to be the mother.  Three unrelated stories tell the story of a brand-new mom with her much older husband, a mother dealing with her anorexic daughter, and finally a middle-aged woman trying to find her place in the world and within her own family.  These were all very believable and relatable characters for me. I saw my mom, my friends, and myself in these fictional women. I hated that the book ended, but find myself imagining the lives they might lead and what they might become.  This was a really good book.

Sherri M.

Filed under: Fiction by stacyw