'The Mothers' by Brit Bennett explores the lives of Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey, starting from the aftermath of Nadia's mother's suicide when she was in high school. The story delves into their relationships, choices, and the repercussions of those choices over the years. The narrative is told from varying perspectives, including the main characters and the church mothers, providing insight into motherhood, relationships, and the impact of secrets within a community.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include sexual assault, abortion, suicide, and discussions around grief and trauma, making it suitable for readers who can handle these themes.
Has Romance?
There is a medium level of romance present in the narrative, primarily revolving around Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey.
From The Publisher:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"Bittersweet, sexy, morally fraught." -The New York Times Book Review
"Fantastic… a book that feels alive on the page." -The Washington Post
From the New York-Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half, the beloved novel about young love and a big secret in a small community.
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.
Ratings (12)
Incredible (2) | |
Loved It (7) | |
Liked It (1) | |
It Was OK (2) |
Reader Stats (30):
Read It (12) | |
Want To Read (11) | |
Not Interested (7) |
What can you read after
The Mothers?
About the Author:
Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, The Mothers, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for both…
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
