A review by metamorphesque
The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

  • easily 5 stars, I do not even have to think twice about it although with how intense and extreme the book is at times I suspect readers will either love or hate it naturally i am in the love camp 
  • an imperfect novel-memoir on generational trauma, that stuns and shocks; essentially a well-written account of growing up with a mentally unstable mother who is both a force of nature and deeply fragile 
  • looking at the deepest, darkest, most sensational aspects of their family history
  • touching, claustrophobic at times, and also loving, emotive, sensitive, and disturbing overall
  • Part I of the book chronicles Huisman’s extensive mother-damage, Part II tells her mother Catherine's own story and Part III returns to Huisman's story and is all sentimental
  • incredibly cynic at times which I loved and funny in a dark, twisted and disturbing kind of way 
  • I adore the writing style only read the english translation, i can only imagine the original in french is superb

"As for the woman who had existed before giving birth to me, I had no access to her. To me, Catherine could only ever be a work of fiction. So I endowed her with my fantasy of what might have been her history, her thoughts, her choices. Of course, she had told me the story of her life in great and contradictory detail, but to give shape to her I had to imagine her, interpret her. I had to become the narrator of her story in order to give her back her humanity. "

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