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Book Reviews Title MotherKind Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story Jayne Anne
Phillips' brilliant new novel explores the
spiritual education at the heart of that most
fundamental transition: the child becoming the
caretaker of the parent. In "MotherKind", Kate -
whose care for her terminally ill mother coincides
with the birth of her first child in the early
months of a young marriage - must, in a single
year, come to terms with radiant beginnings and
profound loss. Phillips tells Kate's story in a
delicately layered narrative in which the daily
details of life resonate with import and
meaning. We enter the
world of Kate's marriage, of babies and
stepchildren, neighbours and friends. We watch as
the tumult of Kate's everyday world is enveloped by
the gradual vanishing of her mother. And as the
woman who has been her best friend and mentor
disappears, we see Kate deal with timeless, perhaps
unanswerable, questions of love and
death. It is the triumph
of "MotherKind" that Kate's complex experience of
being - and losing - a mother is so luminously
portrayed. We
Say I have been
waiting a long time for a book that would equal
Jayne Anne Phillips' debut novel "Machine Dreams"
(published in 1984). Unfortunately "MotherKind" is
not the one. It does not have the same kind of
scope or reach that the first novel had and nor
does it have quite the same strength of characters.
However, "MotherKind" is still wonderful and
ambitious in its own way and I feel slightly cruel
to begin on a negative point. Once I did manage to
get over my disappointment that it wasn't going to
be another "Machine Dreams", I began to see more
and more clearly just how good it actually is.
Jayne Anne
Phillips is a true craftswoman when it comes to her
writing. Words are truly her tools, which she uses
skilfully to create something amazing. There is the
sense that each word and every phrase is laboured
over and nurtured carefully (which is exactly how
it should be for any writer worth their advance!).
This can make it quite tough going at times. But
then, this book is not one for those that enjoy
cosy, friendly stories and the odd airport
paperback on the beach - this is the hard stuff.
Both the subject matter and the style are
uncompromisingly heavy and sad. That said, I am not
suggesting that it is pretentious - it's not. It is
about real life (which is frequently mundane) and
real people (the characters are totally
convincing). "MotherKind" is
not the easiest book to read but for anyone who
aspires to write, it is a fine example of skilled
writing. As a reader, it is a story that proves to
be very moving and full of truth. Review by: Rachel
Taylor |
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