A review by vanessakm
The Good Mother by Sue Miller
3.0
This book seems like it's going to be some kind of banal divorced woman with child finds love again type of story, only to go off in a different direction about halfway through. It's thoughtful and disturbing enough that the story has stayed with me for years.
Anna Dunlap is divorced and making a living teaching piano in Massachusetts with her young daughter Molly, who is not only the best thing in her life, but one of the few good things. Then she meets an artist named Leo at the laundromat and although they fight over a washer, sparks fly (as an aside that needs to be stated, I was totally on Anna's side in this dispute because we aren't animals! The laundromat has rules, man!) Soon they are dating and Anna is really living for the first time, since childhood at least or maybe ever. The sex is great, the pseudo-Bohemian lifestyle is great, Leo loves her kid, her kid loves Leo. Then Anna's ex-husband accuses Leo of sexually molesting their daughter, and things really go to shit.
I like that Miller is clearly smarter than her protagonists here. She writes with compassion, but clearly she thinks both Anna and Leo made some poor decisions. She's also pretty bold in her narrative choices. I think a parent might find this borderline too painful to read, regardless of who they sympathized with. Is Anna a good mother? Each reader has to answer that question for themselves.
This was turned into a fairly decent movie with Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson. It skipped some of the material near the end which was some of the best writing in the book, but I can also see why they didn't want the movie to drag on after the denouement.
Anna Dunlap is divorced and making a living teaching piano in Massachusetts with her young daughter Molly, who is not only the best thing in her life, but one of the few good things. Then she meets an artist named Leo at the laundromat and although they fight over a washer, sparks fly (as an aside that needs to be stated, I was totally on Anna's side in this dispute because we aren't animals! The laundromat has rules, man!) Soon they are dating and Anna is really living for the first time, since childhood at least or maybe ever. The sex is great, the pseudo-Bohemian lifestyle is great, Leo loves her kid, her kid loves Leo. Then Anna's ex-husband accuses Leo of sexually molesting their daughter, and things really go to shit.
I like that Miller is clearly smarter than her protagonists here. She writes with compassion, but clearly she thinks both Anna and Leo made some poor decisions. She's also pretty bold in her narrative choices. I think a parent might find this borderline too painful to read, regardless of who they sympathized with. Is Anna a good mother? Each reader has to answer that question for themselves.
This was turned into a fairly decent movie with Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson. It skipped some of the material near the end which was some of the best writing in the book, but I can also see why they didn't want the movie to drag on after the denouement.