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All My Mother's Lovers
Intimacy has always eluded twenty-seven-year-old Maggie Krause—despite being brought up by married parents, models of domestic bliss—until, that is, Lucia came into her life. But when Maggie’s mom, Iris, dies in a car crash, Maggie returns home only to discover a withdrawn dad, an angry brother, and, along with Iris's will, five sealed envelopes, each addressed to a mysterious man she’s never heard of.
In an effort to run from her own grief and discover the truth about Iris—who made no secret of her discomfort with her daughter's sexuality—Maggie embarks on a road trip, determined to hand-deliver the letters and find out what these men meant to her mother. Maggie quickly discovers Iris’s second, hidden life, which shatters everything Maggie thought she knew about her parents’ perfect relationship. What is she supposed to tell her father and brother? And how can she deal with her own relationship when her whole world is in freefall?
Told over the course of a funeral and shiva, and written with enormous wit and warmth, All My Mother's Lovers is the exciting debut novel from fiction writer and book critic Ilana Masad. A unique meditation on the universality and particularity of family ties and grief, and a tender and biting portrait of sex, gender, and identity, All My Mother's Lovers challenges us to question the nature of fulfilling relationships.
In an effort to run from her own grief and discover the truth about Iris—who made no secret of her discomfort with her daughter's sexuality—Maggie embarks on a road trip, determined to hand-deliver the letters and find out what these men meant to her mother. Maggie quickly discovers Iris’s second, hidden life, which shatters everything Maggie thought she knew about her parents’ perfect relationship. What is she supposed to tell her father and brother? And how can she deal with her own relationship when her whole world is in freefall?
Told over the course of a funeral and shiva, and written with enormous wit and warmth, All My Mother's Lovers is the exciting debut novel from fiction writer and book critic Ilana Masad. A unique meditation on the universality and particularity of family ties and grief, and a tender and biting portrait of sex, gender, and identity, All My Mother's Lovers challenges us to question the nature of fulfilling relationships.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 26, 2020
About the author
Ilana Masad
4 books216 followersIlana Masad is a queer Israeli American fiction writer, essayist, and book critic. Her debut novel,
All My Mother's Lovers
, comes out with Dutton in May 2020.
Masad's work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Paris Review, NPR, BuzzFeed, Catapult, StoryQuarterly, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, as well as many others. She is the founder and host of The Other Stories podcast, which features new, emerging, and established fiction writers. Currently, she is a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she also serves as the assistant nonfiction editor for Prairie Schooner.
Masad's work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Paris Review, NPR, BuzzFeed, Catapult, StoryQuarterly, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, as well as many others. She is the founder and host of The Other Stories podcast, which features new, emerging, and established fiction writers. Currently, she is a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she also serves as the assistant nonfiction editor for Prairie Schooner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 648 reviews
July 27, 2020
Uneven. Excellent premise. Interesting protagonist. The novel soars when the story is told from Iris’s point of view. Pacing is way too slow. It takes too long for the real action to start. I liked the small twists throughout. Overall, this is a great book. But the last line is terrible. Throw my phone terrible. Why would you do that to your awesome book? WHY? Worth reading regardless.
July 26, 2020
Emotionally powerful and thought-provoking, Ilana Masad's debut novel,
All My Mother's Lovers
, is a look at family dynamics, secrets, motherhood, sexuality, marriage, and grief.
How can you not be pulled into a book that starts, “Maggie is in the midst of a second lazy orgasm when her brother, Ariel, calls to tell her that their mother has died”?
Maggie is thrown by news of her mother’s sudden death. They hadn’t been particularly close in years, as Maggie felt Iris never accepted her sexuality, always seeming to insinuate it was some sort of phase. But she always assumed they’d get past this and work things out.
Still, Maggie’s grief is palpable, and she has trouble navigating her father and brother’s feelings as well. Going through her mother’s papers, she finds envelopes addressed to five different men whose names she doesn’t recognize.
In an effort to escape the stifling environment of a house in mourning, she decides to deliver these letters by hand to the men. Along the way, she discovers a side of her mother she never knew existed, secrets she (and in some instances, Maggie’s father) kept, and she starts to understand things her mother did and said which never had context before.
How well do we truly know our parents? How do we know the things that make them react the way they do to circumstances in their lives? How do our parents’ relationships impact our own relationships?
All My Mother's Lovers was a really well-written and thoughtful book. Narrated by Maggie in the present and Iris at various junctures in her past, it’s a fascinating commentary on how the people we love often hide their true selves from us, and how that affects our interactions with them.
I didn’t get to finish this before the end of June but this was my last Pride Read of the month.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
How can you not be pulled into a book that starts, “Maggie is in the midst of a second lazy orgasm when her brother, Ariel, calls to tell her that their mother has died”?
Maggie is thrown by news of her mother’s sudden death. They hadn’t been particularly close in years, as Maggie felt Iris never accepted her sexuality, always seeming to insinuate it was some sort of phase. But she always assumed they’d get past this and work things out.
Still, Maggie’s grief is palpable, and she has trouble navigating her father and brother’s feelings as well. Going through her mother’s papers, she finds envelopes addressed to five different men whose names she doesn’t recognize.
In an effort to escape the stifling environment of a house in mourning, she decides to deliver these letters by hand to the men. Along the way, she discovers a side of her mother she never knew existed, secrets she (and in some instances, Maggie’s father) kept, and she starts to understand things her mother did and said which never had context before.
How well do we truly know our parents? How do we know the things that make them react the way they do to circumstances in their lives? How do our parents’ relationships impact our own relationships?
All My Mother's Lovers was a really well-written and thoughtful book. Narrated by Maggie in the present and Iris at various junctures in her past, it’s a fascinating commentary on how the people we love often hide their true selves from us, and how that affects our interactions with them.
I didn’t get to finish this before the end of June but this was my last Pride Read of the month.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
July 9, 2020
A really astonishing debut w/ a very clever, fun hook. I'll be talking about it with Masad TONIGHT for Litquake - would love to "see" some Goodreads friends in the virtual audience!
https://litquakeyearround2020.sched.c...
https://litquakeyearround2020.sched.c...
July 1, 2020
Whew, I really wanted to love this book. A book about grieving a difficult parent, where the main character is a millennial lesbian? Yes. Please. Relatable content, hello.
Unfortunately, I gave this book every chance to earn my love, and I just could not. Spoilers below.
***
I think the way this book started out was pretty telling of how the rest of it was going to go. The reader meets the protagonist, Maggie, in the midst of having sex with her girlfriend. I am no prude, and I have no problem starting a book with a sex scene. The problem with this particular sex scene was that it was terrible. This was about the least sexy description of a sex scene ever. It was incredibly stereotypical lesbian sex - multiple orgasms! very wet eating out! one partner who has trouble with commitment! - and felt very trite.
I tried to get past it. Unfortunately, that was the whole book.
The main character of Maggie seems like a cardboard cutout of a stereotypical queer millennial. Doc Martens? Check. Entitled, spoiled rich kid? Check. Liberal politics? Yep, that too. It felt so incredibly stereotypical. I'm a liberal Obama loving old millennial/young Gen X-er, and I can affirm we are not a monolith that thinks with a hive mind. Maggie, however, seems like what every Boomer THINKS we are.
Also, did I mention she's a lesbian? Because she does. Constantly. Every fucking page. I am actually a real live human who is a lesbian, and I was sick to death of hearing about Maggie's lesbianism by chapter 2.
Maggie wasn't the only character who read like a job description of a specific kind of person. Maggie's girlfriend Lucia, the only character for whom I had any amount of sympathy because Maggie's inability to return her texts or calls immediately got on my last nerve, is the other stereotypical millennial. Maggie tells the reader that Lucia is Puerto Rican and Black, that she has had stress and anxiety since Trump's election, and that she was so affected by the Charlottesville tragedy that she had to sleep at her own house rather than Maggie's apartment that night.
Maggie and Lucia felt like the author was ticking off the boxes of what queer life looks like for the 25-35 set in the Trump years. I felt like I was reading about caricatures, not real people, not characters that I could relate to and sympathize with.
There comes the second massive issue with this book. It is like a laundry list of descriptive paragraphs. We are TOLD everything. "My dad was really sad." "Ariel was really angry." "Maggie felt alone." We get all of these reports of how people felt but it's so ineffectively expressed that it never feels real. I need a book to show me how a character is, through their actions, not just tell me repeatedly without ever actually showing an example of the claimed behaviour or personality trait.
Finally, these people were just wholly unsympathetic. Maggie was rude, angry, and seemed unable to control what came out of her mouth. After imploring her dad to "be nice" to people in her absence, she then goes right to her mother's first lover's house and after finding out that he and her mom had an affair, proceeds to berate this man in his own home and in front of his son. He then offers her a place to sleep for the night. I would have kicked her ass to the curb if she spoke to me like that in my own house.
Maggie's mother Iris is no more sympathetic. She was basically a mediocre mother who was absent a lot because she was off sleeping with various men in order to make up for her miserable first marriage. Cool. And I'm supposed to feel...what...for this woman? I didn't feel anything at all.
The whole cast of characters - Maggie's spoiled, selfish brother Ariel, her pushover dad, her largely absent girlfriend...there was really no one I could root for and get behind.
I pushed my way through this book because as a millennial lesbian, I felt obligated to, but it was a serious struggle.
Unfortunately, I gave this book every chance to earn my love, and I just could not. Spoilers below.
***
I think the way this book started out was pretty telling of how the rest of it was going to go. The reader meets the protagonist, Maggie, in the midst of having sex with her girlfriend. I am no prude, and I have no problem starting a book with a sex scene. The problem with this particular sex scene was that it was terrible. This was about the least sexy description of a sex scene ever. It was incredibly stereotypical lesbian sex - multiple orgasms! very wet eating out! one partner who has trouble with commitment! - and felt very trite.
I tried to get past it. Unfortunately, that was the whole book.
The main character of Maggie seems like a cardboard cutout of a stereotypical queer millennial. Doc Martens? Check. Entitled, spoiled rich kid? Check. Liberal politics? Yep, that too. It felt so incredibly stereotypical. I'm a liberal Obama loving old millennial/young Gen X-er, and I can affirm we are not a monolith that thinks with a hive mind. Maggie, however, seems like what every Boomer THINKS we are.
Also, did I mention she's a lesbian? Because she does. Constantly. Every fucking page. I am actually a real live human who is a lesbian, and I was sick to death of hearing about Maggie's lesbianism by chapter 2.
Maggie wasn't the only character who read like a job description of a specific kind of person. Maggie's girlfriend Lucia, the only character for whom I had any amount of sympathy because Maggie's inability to return her texts or calls immediately got on my last nerve, is the other stereotypical millennial. Maggie tells the reader that Lucia is Puerto Rican and Black, that she has had stress and anxiety since Trump's election, and that she was so affected by the Charlottesville tragedy that she had to sleep at her own house rather than Maggie's apartment that night.
Maggie and Lucia felt like the author was ticking off the boxes of what queer life looks like for the 25-35 set in the Trump years. I felt like I was reading about caricatures, not real people, not characters that I could relate to and sympathize with.
There comes the second massive issue with this book. It is like a laundry list of descriptive paragraphs. We are TOLD everything. "My dad was really sad." "Ariel was really angry." "Maggie felt alone." We get all of these reports of how people felt but it's so ineffectively expressed that it never feels real. I need a book to show me how a character is, through their actions, not just tell me repeatedly without ever actually showing an example of the claimed behaviour or personality trait.
Finally, these people were just wholly unsympathetic. Maggie was rude, angry, and seemed unable to control what came out of her mouth. After imploring her dad to "be nice" to people in her absence, she then goes right to her mother's first lover's house and after finding out that he and her mom had an affair, proceeds to berate this man in his own home and in front of his son. He then offers her a place to sleep for the night. I would have kicked her ass to the curb if she spoke to me like that in my own house.
Maggie's mother Iris is no more sympathetic. She was basically a mediocre mother who was absent a lot because she was off sleeping with various men in order to make up for her miserable first marriage. Cool. And I'm supposed to feel...what...for this woman? I didn't feel anything at all.
The whole cast of characters - Maggie's spoiled, selfish brother Ariel, her pushover dad, her largely absent girlfriend...there was really no one I could root for and get behind.
I pushed my way through this book because as a millennial lesbian, I felt obligated to, but it was a serious struggle.
September 16, 2020
3.5-4.0
I can't quite decide where I fall so I'm rounding up because this is a debut and I absolutely will read this author's next book. Plus, I loved her writing. I really enjoyed this story, however it kind of dragged at times? I feel badly because it took me FOREVER to read this book - and it wasn't for a lack of wanting to. I had other books I had to get to, so I had to put it down for a few months. I then put myself on the wait list for the audio because I really wanted to get back to it!
To help flush out my feelings on my journey with this book, here is the breakdown of how I read it:
0-25% Reading
25-80% Audio
80-100% Reading
I struggle sometimes with audio because it feels like I'm on a hamster wheel. I only have a little bit of my day to listen (versus no time to read), and with the nature of this particular plot (daughter of deceased mother finds letters to four strangers to be sent if she dies - there by creating a journey for the daughter to deliver these letters) made things a little repetitive. Yes, each circumstance around the person who received a letter was different, but the pattern kept repeating itself...so I switched back to reading because I wanted to finish the book. I mentally needed to move on to something else. Please don't misunderstand this as me not liking the book, but I hope provide insight into why I rated this down a little. (It being slightly repetitive.)
What I absolutely loved about this book was how unique it was. I can't honestly think of another book like it! (A good thing.) It's told mostly from the perspective of a twenty-something lesbian, Maggie, who had a complicated relationship with her mother, Iris. Iris made it known that she struggled with her daughter's sexuality and this has a lasting impact on Maggie's life. As we spend time with Maggie, we see how she processes her feelings and past and current decisions in the shadow of this complex relationship. When Iris suddenly dies, Maggie grapples with past interactions they both had and tries to understand the woman she learns more and more about. I think if this were a book club choice or group discussion, there would be a lot to ponder about parents being people with lives prior to having children and how those lives continue once children come into the picture.
While I'm not gay, I found a lot to identify with here because of our similarity in age. It's not at the forefront, but there definitely is a coming of age aspect to this book - particularly in a time that is very unstable and scary (2017 - we haven't even gotten to COVID yet!!). Maggie very much is trying to figure out who she is as a person still and how that role might change now that she lost her mother.
I highly recommend this as something to pick up. Maybe you will feel differently than I did regarding it being repetitive. I think the book could have been a little shorter, but that's just me. This book overwhelmingly provided value to me as a reading/listening experience and I can't wait for Ms. Masad's next book.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Dutton Books and Ilana Masad for the opportunity to read this and provide an honest review.
Review Date: 09/16/2020
Publication Date: 05/26/2020
I can't quite decide where I fall so I'm rounding up because this is a debut and I absolutely will read this author's next book. Plus, I loved her writing. I really enjoyed this story, however it kind of dragged at times? I feel badly because it took me FOREVER to read this book - and it wasn't for a lack of wanting to. I had other books I had to get to, so I had to put it down for a few months. I then put myself on the wait list for the audio because I really wanted to get back to it!
To help flush out my feelings on my journey with this book, here is the breakdown of how I read it:
0-25% Reading
25-80% Audio
80-100% Reading
I struggle sometimes with audio because it feels like I'm on a hamster wheel. I only have a little bit of my day to listen (versus no time to read), and with the nature of this particular plot (daughter of deceased mother finds letters to four strangers to be sent if she dies - there by creating a journey for the daughter to deliver these letters) made things a little repetitive. Yes, each circumstance around the person who received a letter was different, but the pattern kept repeating itself...so I switched back to reading because I wanted to finish the book. I mentally needed to move on to something else. Please don't misunderstand this as me not liking the book, but I hope provide insight into why I rated this down a little. (It being slightly repetitive.)
What I absolutely loved about this book was how unique it was. I can't honestly think of another book like it! (A good thing.) It's told mostly from the perspective of a twenty-something lesbian, Maggie, who had a complicated relationship with her mother, Iris. Iris made it known that she struggled with her daughter's sexuality and this has a lasting impact on Maggie's life. As we spend time with Maggie, we see how she processes her feelings and past and current decisions in the shadow of this complex relationship. When Iris suddenly dies, Maggie grapples with past interactions they both had and tries to understand the woman she learns more and more about. I think if this were a book club choice or group discussion, there would be a lot to ponder about parents being people with lives prior to having children and how those lives continue once children come into the picture.
While I'm not gay, I found a lot to identify with here because of our similarity in age. It's not at the forefront, but there definitely is a coming of age aspect to this book - particularly in a time that is very unstable and scary (2017 - we haven't even gotten to COVID yet!!). Maggie very much is trying to figure out who she is as a person still and how that role might change now that she lost her mother.
I highly recommend this as something to pick up. Maybe you will feel differently than I did regarding it being repetitive. I think the book could have been a little shorter, but that's just me. This book overwhelmingly provided value to me as a reading/listening experience and I can't wait for Ms. Masad's next book.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Dutton Books and Ilana Masad for the opportunity to read this and provide an honest review.
Review Date: 09/16/2020
Publication Date: 05/26/2020
June 1, 2020
I’m giving this book two stars instead of one because it’s competently written, but I pretty much hated it. The author has managed to write a character that is completely selfish, annoying, rude, clueless, and irresponsible. There’s little that’s redeeming here.
She buries her feelings in pot and booze, is incredibly rude to her younger brother (they’re both adults), dismissive of her mother, and pandering to her father. She’s wasted a lot but you never really feel empathy for her, you must feel like, sheesh, what a jerk.
She goes off on this wild goose chase to find the men her mother left letters to, and when she finds them she’s abusive to them.
My thought on the opening scene of this book, in which the main character and her girlfriend are having sex and interrupted by a phone call, is that I don’t want to walk in on people having sex in real life, and I don’t want to meet a new character that way, either. Let me get to know her first, let me ease into her sexual life as I ease into her life in general. Starting a book with a sex scene was off-putting—way too much, way too soon.
She buries her feelings in pot and booze, is incredibly rude to her younger brother (they’re both adults), dismissive of her mother, and pandering to her father. She’s wasted a lot but you never really feel empathy for her, you must feel like, sheesh, what a jerk.
She goes off on this wild goose chase to find the men her mother left letters to, and when she finds them she’s abusive to them.
My thought on the opening scene of this book, in which the main character and her girlfriend are having sex and interrupted by a phone call, is that I don’t want to walk in on people having sex in real life, and I don’t want to meet a new character that way, either. Let me get to know her first, let me ease into her sexual life as I ease into her life in general. Starting a book with a sex scene was off-putting—way too much, way too soon.
February 24, 2022
l 79% l
writing reviews is all fun and games until i come across a book that i have absolutely no idea how to review.
this book is one of those.
i don’t know what to say about it, other than that it’s very interesting and i annotated it a lot and it’s quotable and has impressive portrayals of life and love.
i didn’t really understand the point of the book at first, it went really slowly and i liked it but didn’t love it. this is one of those books that becomes good slowly and by the end it felt meaningful and whole.
this was good literary fiction.
the plot:
so basically the premise of this book is about a woman whose mom dies and she finds some letters from her mom addressed to people so she decides to deliver the letters for her mom.
there’s not really a mystery involved or anything super important in the plot, it’s more just used as a device for character development and the overall complexity of the novel.
i found it a bit slow in the beginning, but near the end i was definitely more compelled and i found myself immersed in the story.
be aware if you read this that it isnt a very plot-driven novel, so the plot by itself won’t be as compelling as the characters themselves and their lives.
the characters:
everyone could honestly be a real person.
there is so much depth and so many layers to these characters, and that’s what keeps the story going. i feel like i could read endlessly just to be able to learn more about them and discover even more depths.
it was very interesting to see the impact that life and love had on all of these people, and all of their different views on the situations.
everyone is equally complex and interesting and that’s what i love about this book.
maggie was an excellent main character, i sympathized with her greatly and she was very relatable and human, i truly felt all of her feelings and her confusion and pain and grief with her mother and everything else in her life. even if the rest of the book hadn’t been as compelling, i probably still would’ve read it for her. (+ great representation)
iris was one of the most interesting characters, as she just had so many layers to her and at times she felt completely unknowable, there was so much to her and she was a very complicated human being. she had her fair share of faults and mistakes and flaws but she sure had a lot of love, too.
ariel and peter seemed like such sweethearts and i really appreciated having them in the story. they seemed like really good family members and were really wholesome at some points.
lucia seemed very sweet and while we didn’t get to know her very well, which seemed like it was kind of the point, she seemed to have a very real and important connection with maggie. they seemed like they were really good for each other and i liked how even without taking center stage, their relationship progressed throughout the story.
i usually have a hard time feeling the connection between characters when their relationship has already been established before the book starts, but it worked really well in the case of maggie and lucia. i would’ve liked to see them have some more time together in the book but i also thought it was done well how it was.
all of the lovers were equally interesting to read about, and they provided an additional sense of suspense and another layer to uncover.
the writing:
purple prose isn’t used in this, but the writing is very strong and quotable throughout. the whole sense of the writing also fits with the story really well.
the writing does a great job of portraying emotions and grief, and the progressions of those things as the story goes on.
this is literary fiction so i was expecting the writing to be strong, and i was not disappointed.
wrap-up:
i definitely recommend this, it’s a little bit slow but definitely worth it and does an interesting depiction of life and love. everything about it is well-developed and it is a very high quality novel.
__________________________
4.25 stars
rep:
✔︎ queer jewish mc
✔︎ queer li of color
✔︎ sapphic relationship
✔︎ trans side character
✔︎ ace side character
tw for death of a loved one, homophobia, car accident, etc
writing reviews is all fun and games until i come across a book that i have absolutely no idea how to review.
this book is one of those.
i don’t know what to say about it, other than that it’s very interesting and i annotated it a lot and it’s quotable and has impressive portrayals of life and love.
i didn’t really understand the point of the book at first, it went really slowly and i liked it but didn’t love it. this is one of those books that becomes good slowly and by the end it felt meaningful and whole.
this was good literary fiction.
the plot:
so basically the premise of this book is about a woman whose mom dies and she finds some letters from her mom addressed to people so she decides to deliver the letters for her mom.
there’s not really a mystery involved or anything super important in the plot, it’s more just used as a device for character development and the overall complexity of the novel.
i found it a bit slow in the beginning, but near the end i was definitely more compelled and i found myself immersed in the story.
be aware if you read this that it isnt a very plot-driven novel, so the plot by itself won’t be as compelling as the characters themselves and their lives.
the characters:
everyone could honestly be a real person.
there is so much depth and so many layers to these characters, and that’s what keeps the story going. i feel like i could read endlessly just to be able to learn more about them and discover even more depths.
it was very interesting to see the impact that life and love had on all of these people, and all of their different views on the situations.
everyone is equally complex and interesting and that’s what i love about this book.
maggie was an excellent main character, i sympathized with her greatly and she was very relatable and human, i truly felt all of her feelings and her confusion and pain and grief with her mother and everything else in her life. even if the rest of the book hadn’t been as compelling, i probably still would’ve read it for her. (+ great representation)
iris was one of the most interesting characters, as she just had so many layers to her and at times she felt completely unknowable, there was so much to her and she was a very complicated human being. she had her fair share of faults and mistakes and flaws but she sure had a lot of love, too.
ariel and peter seemed like such sweethearts and i really appreciated having them in the story. they seemed like really good family members and were really wholesome at some points.
lucia seemed very sweet and while we didn’t get to know her very well, which seemed like it was kind of the point, she seemed to have a very real and important connection with maggie. they seemed like they were really good for each other and i liked how even without taking center stage, their relationship progressed throughout the story.
i usually have a hard time feeling the connection between characters when their relationship has already been established before the book starts, but it worked really well in the case of maggie and lucia. i would’ve liked to see them have some more time together in the book but i also thought it was done well how it was.
all of the lovers were equally interesting to read about, and they provided an additional sense of suspense and another layer to uncover.
the writing:
purple prose isn’t used in this, but the writing is very strong and quotable throughout. the whole sense of the writing also fits with the story really well.
the writing does a great job of portraying emotions and grief, and the progressions of those things as the story goes on.
this is literary fiction so i was expecting the writing to be strong, and i was not disappointed.
wrap-up:
i definitely recommend this, it’s a little bit slow but definitely worth it and does an interesting depiction of life and love. everything about it is well-developed and it is a very high quality novel.
__________________________
4.25 stars
rep:
✔︎ queer jewish mc
✔︎ queer li of color
✔︎ sapphic relationship
✔︎ trans side character
✔︎ ace side character
tw for death of a loved one, homophobia, car accident, etc
October 14, 2020
What an absolutely terrible last line! Just as the story was actually going somewhere and characters started to feel more developed and mature the ending ruined it all.
The book feels uneven, pacing is too slow at times. Relationships are diminished to “fucking” and girlfriends/boyfriends to “fuck buddies”. Maggie is selfish, judgemental, childish and absolutely annoying. I didn't like how the trans character was misrepresented and diminished to basically a woman with a dildo, and that coming from another queer person was was absolutely exasperating.
I liked it best when the story was told from Iris's point of view and wish the author had expanded more on what led her to each and every person she had a relationship with.
The book feels uneven, pacing is too slow at times. Relationships are diminished to “fucking” and girlfriends/boyfriends to “fuck buddies”. Maggie is selfish, judgemental, childish and absolutely annoying. I didn't like how the trans character was misrepresented and diminished to basically a woman with a dildo, and that coming from another queer person was was absolutely exasperating.
I liked it best when the story was told from Iris's point of view and wish the author had expanded more on what led her to each and every person she had a relationship with.
May 27, 2020
I have a lot of love for *All My Mother's Lovers*! It tells the story of Maggie, who uncovers a series of stories about her mother, who has recently died, that will shake both her understanding of her mother but also herself. Maggie's quest is packed with surprises and wise insights about human relationships, accepting each other, and being queer.
I was reminded of *The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* when I finished, and I think fans of that book will love this one, too. But what sets *Mother's Lovers* (I love the rhyme in the title) apart is how definitively modern it is. The use of modern anxieties to tease out Maggie's psyche is a stand-out feature of the book. I'm not sure I've seen that anxiety portrayed quite like this.
*Mother's Lovers* also paints a generous picture of human sexuality. Throughout the story, we come to see sexuality as something complex and diverse and wholly individual. I appreciate that a lot.
4.5 stars ♡
I was reminded of *The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* when I finished, and I think fans of that book will love this one, too. But what sets *Mother's Lovers* (I love the rhyme in the title) apart is how definitively modern it is. The use of modern anxieties to tease out Maggie's psyche is a stand-out feature of the book. I'm not sure I've seen that anxiety portrayed quite like this.
*Mother's Lovers* also paints a generous picture of human sexuality. Throughout the story, we come to see sexuality as something complex and diverse and wholly individual. I appreciate that a lot.
4.5 stars ♡
October 25, 2020
When Maggie's mother Iris dies in a car accident, she leaves a small pile of letters addressed to men Maggie has never heard of. She decides to deliver them in person. This is a nice structure to a sometimes flawed novel. It allows the author to tell the mother's story too, while the daughter examines her own relationships - her girlfriend, her brother, her old friends - all while she gets to know more about her mother than she ever knew while she was alive.
(Everyone in Goodreads agrees - the novel has a terrible last line. It mirrors with the beginning, I suppose.)
This is a positive three stars, it is a decent read, but I can't overlook the flaws. I imagine the next novel by this author will be even better. I read it in a day.
(Everyone in Goodreads agrees - the novel has a terrible last line. It mirrors with the beginning, I suppose.)
This is a positive three stars, it is a decent read, but I can't overlook the flaws. I imagine the next novel by this author will be even better. I read it in a day.
July 8, 2020
Too tidy of an ending for such a messy situation.
July 1, 2020
A solid debut focussing on the ramifications of grief and how well you truly know those you call family.
This novel follows Maggie who embarks upon a physical and spiritual road trip upon the passing of her mum after discovering some letters that her mum requested be sent. What unfolds thereafter is a pleasant journey into grief and it’s aftermath, alongside the journey of accepting one’s identity within the lgbtqia+ spectrum.
This was a decent enough book, though it did feel a bit preachy at times as though we had to be sure of HOW liberal the author and every character is. It was obvious without the interspersed sentences reaffirming the above.
Our main character Maggie got a little annoying at times, but that seems intentional in order for Maggie to learn what the author wanted her to.
Overall this was enjoyable and I would gladly read another by this author.
This novel follows Maggie who embarks upon a physical and spiritual road trip upon the passing of her mum after discovering some letters that her mum requested be sent. What unfolds thereafter is a pleasant journey into grief and it’s aftermath, alongside the journey of accepting one’s identity within the lgbtqia+ spectrum.
This was a decent enough book, though it did feel a bit preachy at times as though we had to be sure of HOW liberal the author and every character is. It was obvious without the interspersed sentences reaffirming the above.
Our main character Maggie got a little annoying at times, but that seems intentional in order for Maggie to learn what the author wanted her to.
Overall this was enjoyable and I would gladly read another by this author.
July 11, 2020
Emotionally indistinct and superficial. I wouldn't rush to read it!
July 15, 2020
"Her underwear is fairly soaked."
Well I knew I wasn't reading THE GREAT GATSBY but I still expected more of a send-off than wet panties.
But maybe that is the close this book club selection deserves. It's not satisfying as schmaltz, or as much of anything. Here are some other quotes, enjoy:
(MOTO Maggie thinking about the sun): "It’s hot and orange and impossible to look directly into."
(we meet the dead mother): "Iris rarely considered her death a real possibility, perhaps because she spent much of her life making sure to avoid it."
(Maggie's journey to meet the lovers begins): "So maybe they’re ax murderers, she thinks idly, and wonders, as she pulls into a gas station, whether ax murders are even a thing anymore."
(When your character thinks they are in one movie after another - it should be a red flag): "The carpet felt like a pillow under her soles. It was a luxurious sensation, like being Eloise at the Plaza, and when the elevator opened and she saw Abe standing at his majestic six-foot-three height, she had the urge to run to him, jump on him like someone in a rom-com."
(try reading this out loud):"Years later, Iris would remember the first time Shlomo hurt her being April Fool’s Day, 1977. But it wasn’t. It was the day after and there was absolutely nothing funny about it."
(this is a real quote):"He had radical politics, and while she challenged him occasionally on them, she never won an argument. And she loved it. God help her, she loved it. And she loved him. That, well, that was the biggest problem of all."
(Maggie reflects on her journey):"Her selfie on Instagram from a few days ago has garnered more than two hundred likes. Because her mother is dead? Or because she looked good? Probably the former. Some of the latter. The combination of both is probably what it really is. Tragedy and sex appeal go together."
Well I knew I wasn't reading THE GREAT GATSBY but I still expected more of a send-off than wet panties.
But maybe that is the close this book club selection deserves. It's not satisfying as schmaltz, or as much of anything. Here are some other quotes, enjoy:
(MOTO Maggie thinking about the sun): "It’s hot and orange and impossible to look directly into."
(we meet the dead mother): "Iris rarely considered her death a real possibility, perhaps because she spent much of her life making sure to avoid it."
(Maggie's journey to meet the lovers begins): "So maybe they’re ax murderers, she thinks idly, and wonders, as she pulls into a gas station, whether ax murders are even a thing anymore."
(When your character thinks they are in one movie after another - it should be a red flag): "The carpet felt like a pillow under her soles. It was a luxurious sensation, like being Eloise at the Plaza, and when the elevator opened and she saw Abe standing at his majestic six-foot-three height, she had the urge to run to him, jump on him like someone in a rom-com."
(try reading this out loud):"Years later, Iris would remember the first time Shlomo hurt her being April Fool’s Day, 1977. But it wasn’t. It was the day after and there was absolutely nothing funny about it."
(this is a real quote):"He had radical politics, and while she challenged him occasionally on them, she never won an argument. And she loved it. God help her, she loved it. And she loved him. That, well, that was the biggest problem of all."
(Maggie reflects on her journey):"Her selfie on Instagram from a few days ago has garnered more than two hundred likes. Because her mother is dead? Or because she looked good? Probably the former. Some of the latter. The combination of both is probably what it really is. Tragedy and sex appeal go together."
February 10, 2021
All My Mother's Lovers falls into the "after school special" genre. It stops at all the stations of the cross of progressive politics and recites the appointed prayers to saintly characters who run counter to stereotypes. While all the characters are believable in the story, it ends up feeling a little heavy on sending a message to the reader. If you've read other reviews of mine, you know I bristle when I don't feel an author trusts me. Masad doesn't trust readers to hold properly enlightened views of black men (they make great dads!), transgender men (smart, straight, and desirable!), senior citizens (they have sex!). Light pollution, fat phobia, Hollywood typecasting also get a mention.
Meh. I'm probably not being fair. This is a pretty good book, well written, a solid 3/5 stars. Maggie is a mid-twenties millenial who must deal with the unexpected death of her mother. Their relationship was not an intimate one in that stereotypical mother-daughter way but was not totally broken. Given time, they may have both matured into a closeness but their progress toward that has been halted. Maggie must make the journey on her own as more of her mother's past is revealed. I found the journey tedious at times. I also find interacting with people who are high most of the time tedious. A correlation there, perhaps?
An aspect I enjoyed was the way time was grounded in current events. I can't recall a book that handled that so well. Since the early '90s there's been a 24 hour news cycle. We're inundated with stories and certain of them stick with us forever. The characters acknowledge their awareness of major news events, really events that are a crisis for those living them. Yet to the characters, like to us IRL, it's a news story. And that's all it can be in that moment because we're all caught up in our own lives and problems whether they are large, like dealing with a parent's death or small, like finding a babysitter last minute. Can we really drop our problems to deal with a mass shooting in another state? And if we can't, then what do those news stories mean to our lives?
Masad also has her finger on the pulse of the maturing that happens in one's 20s. Ariel, the brother in his last year or so of college, is on the cusp of being an adult who is fully independent of his parents as opposed to Maggie who is already independent. One of strongest and most enjoyable aspects for me was recollecting moments when I first stepped into a situation where I owned it, made the decisions, drove it forward. I remember my younger brothers at that age and, like Maggie, I observed them behaving in a way that was fully adult, fully responsible.
By the book's end I felt judged. This is why I quit hanging out in queer spaces-too many Maggies (not all of them women, not all of them millenials.) Also why I stopped going to church. I'm a pretty decent human being. Why subject myself to perpetual judgement or the pressure to constantly virtue signal in order to be accepted?
Would recommend to people who like relationship mending stories. This was the monthly pick for my LGBTQ+ book club - will be interested to hear what others think.
Meh. I'm probably not being fair. This is a pretty good book, well written, a solid 3/5 stars. Maggie is a mid-twenties millenial who must deal with the unexpected death of her mother. Their relationship was not an intimate one in that stereotypical mother-daughter way but was not totally broken. Given time, they may have both matured into a closeness but their progress toward that has been halted. Maggie must make the journey on her own as more of her mother's past is revealed. I found the journey tedious at times. I also find interacting with people who are high most of the time tedious. A correlation there, perhaps?
An aspect I enjoyed was the way time was grounded in current events. I can't recall a book that handled that so well. Since the early '90s there's been a 24 hour news cycle. We're inundated with stories and certain of them stick with us forever. The characters acknowledge their awareness of major news events, really events that are a crisis for those living them. Yet to the characters, like to us IRL, it's a news story. And that's all it can be in that moment because we're all caught up in our own lives and problems whether they are large, like dealing with a parent's death or small, like finding a babysitter last minute. Can we really drop our problems to deal with a mass shooting in another state? And if we can't, then what do those news stories mean to our lives?
Masad also has her finger on the pulse of the maturing that happens in one's 20s. Ariel, the brother in his last year or so of college, is on the cusp of being an adult who is fully independent of his parents as opposed to Maggie who is already independent. One of strongest and most enjoyable aspects for me was recollecting moments when I first stepped into a situation where I owned it, made the decisions, drove it forward. I remember my younger brothers at that age and, like Maggie, I observed them behaving in a way that was fully adult, fully responsible.
By the book's end I felt judged. This is why I quit hanging out in queer spaces-too many Maggies (not all of them women, not all of them millenials.) Also why I stopped going to church. I'm a pretty decent human being. Why subject myself to perpetual judgement or the pressure to constantly virtue signal in order to be accepted?
Would recommend to people who like relationship mending stories. This was the monthly pick for my LGBTQ+ book club - will be interested to hear what others think.
August 9, 2020
There were some fun lil twisty twists with this one!
Ilana Masad's All My Mother's Lovers was a really solid debut and a quick read. Maggie was a fascinating, conflicted, and utterly Millennial character, and Masad's observations and reflections on late 2010s queer culture, as well as the complexities of grief and untimely death, were incredibly astute. The book's present-day storyline takes place in 2017, and it was super fascinating to look at a year that seems so recent with an almost historical lens to it. (Doesn't it feel like we've lived three decades since 2017?!?!?)
I struggled a little bit with the pacing (we didn't even get to the damn letters for at least a quarter or maybe one-third of the book?), but once things really got going in the back half, it was a fast ride.
Content warning: Homophobia, transphobia, discussions of domestic violence
Ilana Masad's All My Mother's Lovers was a really solid debut and a quick read. Maggie was a fascinating, conflicted, and utterly Millennial character, and Masad's observations and reflections on late 2010s queer culture, as well as the complexities of grief and untimely death, were incredibly astute. The book's present-day storyline takes place in 2017, and it was super fascinating to look at a year that seems so recent with an almost historical lens to it. (Doesn't it feel like we've lived three decades since 2017?!?!?)
I struggled a little bit with the pacing (we didn't even get to the damn letters for at least a quarter or maybe one-third of the book?), but once things really got going in the back half, it was a fast ride.
Content warning: Homophobia, transphobia, discussions of domestic violence
May 23, 2020
4.5 stars rounded up!
Do you ever finish a book and you love so many things about it, but when it comes to putting your thoughts into coherent sentences you come up short? That’s how I feel about writing the review for All My Mother’s Lovers. This book blew me away, but yet I don’t feel like I can accurately portray why.
27 year old Maggie Kraus has had a strained relationship with her mother Iris ever since she told her parents that she was lesbian. When her Iris dies in a tragic car accident, Maggie drops everything to return home where she finds her father barely functioning and her brother just a ball of anger.
While trying to deal with all of the funeral arrangements, Maggie finds that her mother has left five envelopes to be mailed as her last wishes, but they are addressed to men that Maggie has never heard of. Who were these men and what did they mean to her mother? Rather than mail the letters, Maggie decides to deliver the letters in person, which sets in motion a journey to uncover so many secrets that her mother kept from her.
All My Mother’s Lovers is a beautifully written tale that highlights the intricacies of relationships, especially familial ones. This story tackles a myriad of issues such as racism, prejudice, privilege, biases, sexuality, gender, etc. As we go through the story, we watch Maggie evolve from an angsty somewhat immature twenty something to someone who begins to understand the complexity of relationships as she learns about her mother as a person versus her mother as a parent.
I’ll be honest, this story will not be for everyone. However, if you enjoy reading books that truly challenge you and your beliefs, pick this one up. This is one of those stories that you need to go in with an open mind and see where the story takes you. The journey is absolutely worth it.
Thank you to Dutton Books for providing a review copy through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
Do you ever finish a book and you love so many things about it, but when it comes to putting your thoughts into coherent sentences you come up short? That’s how I feel about writing the review for All My Mother’s Lovers. This book blew me away, but yet I don’t feel like I can accurately portray why.
27 year old Maggie Kraus has had a strained relationship with her mother Iris ever since she told her parents that she was lesbian. When her Iris dies in a tragic car accident, Maggie drops everything to return home where she finds her father barely functioning and her brother just a ball of anger.
While trying to deal with all of the funeral arrangements, Maggie finds that her mother has left five envelopes to be mailed as her last wishes, but they are addressed to men that Maggie has never heard of. Who were these men and what did they mean to her mother? Rather than mail the letters, Maggie decides to deliver the letters in person, which sets in motion a journey to uncover so many secrets that her mother kept from her.
All My Mother’s Lovers is a beautifully written tale that highlights the intricacies of relationships, especially familial ones. This story tackles a myriad of issues such as racism, prejudice, privilege, biases, sexuality, gender, etc. As we go through the story, we watch Maggie evolve from an angsty somewhat immature twenty something to someone who begins to understand the complexity of relationships as she learns about her mother as a person versus her mother as a parent.
I’ll be honest, this story will not be for everyone. However, if you enjoy reading books that truly challenge you and your beliefs, pick this one up. This is one of those stories that you need to go in with an open mind and see where the story takes you. The journey is absolutely worth it.
Thank you to Dutton Books for providing a review copy through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
June 3, 2020
Maggie learns of her mother’s death when she is in bed with her lover, Lucia. She is stunned but restrains herself from breaking down. Her mind takes over immediately—she is already planning ahead about the funeral, the people she’ll have to call and the arrangements she’ll have to make. Her performative calm is unusual. But Maggie’s relationship with Lucia is still at a tender stage; the last thing she wants is for her lover to feel intimidated by her grief.
Maggie returns home to an irate brother and a distant father. She realises she’ll have to be the responsible one. As she sets to work, she discovers her mother’s will and five envelopes addressed to men she has never before heard of. Death steals from us the chances we think we have, the conversations and confrontations we postpone for a more opportune time. So Maggie embarks on a road-trip to deliver the letters in person, viewing this as her last chance to understand Iris better, with whom her relationship has been fraught for years. Ilana Masad’s 27-year-old protagonist is both scrupulous and discerning. Even before Maggie uncovers the truth about Iris’ alternate life, she has an inkling that her belief in her parents’ perfect marriage is about to crumble.
All My Mother’s Lovers is a revelatory title for it divulges at the very outset exactly what we are going to find out eventually. So the conflict at the heart of this book is not about the learning of an uncomfortable truth but how we grapple with the surfacing of new realities about a person we were certain we knew. What happens when this person is a parent and far beyond one’s reach? How does one reconcile with a new version of their parent that has come to light in the wake of their death? Is reconciliation even possible? These are some poignant questions that Masad raises and responds to in the course of her stimulating novel. With incisive writing and a taut plot, Masad ensures that her book remains gripping and unpredictable as she throws at the reader one inconvenient truth after another.
Maggie returns home to an irate brother and a distant father. She realises she’ll have to be the responsible one. As she sets to work, she discovers her mother’s will and five envelopes addressed to men she has never before heard of. Death steals from us the chances we think we have, the conversations and confrontations we postpone for a more opportune time. So Maggie embarks on a road-trip to deliver the letters in person, viewing this as her last chance to understand Iris better, with whom her relationship has been fraught for years. Ilana Masad’s 27-year-old protagonist is both scrupulous and discerning. Even before Maggie uncovers the truth about Iris’ alternate life, she has an inkling that her belief in her parents’ perfect marriage is about to crumble.
All My Mother’s Lovers is a revelatory title for it divulges at the very outset exactly what we are going to find out eventually. So the conflict at the heart of this book is not about the learning of an uncomfortable truth but how we grapple with the surfacing of new realities about a person we were certain we knew. What happens when this person is a parent and far beyond one’s reach? How does one reconcile with a new version of their parent that has come to light in the wake of their death? Is reconciliation even possible? These are some poignant questions that Masad raises and responds to in the course of her stimulating novel. With incisive writing and a taut plot, Masad ensures that her book remains gripping and unpredictable as she throws at the reader one inconvenient truth after another.
December 22, 2020
2.5/5
CW: polyphobic comments, transphobic comments, graphic sex scenes, mentions of abuse, cheating, drug use/dependency, alcohol use, gambling
I'm...so glad to be done with this book. A friend sent it to me and asked that I read it because she enjoyed it and it reminded her of Evelyn Hugo, a book we both adored last year, so when my hold at the library finally came up, I thought I'd give it a shot, fully expecting to adore this book as much as Evelyn.
Clearly, I didn't.
There wasn't a single character I enjoyed. Especially Maggie, who was selfish, immature, hypocritical with just about everything she was pissed at her mom about and was overall.
That last line was awful and
This book pissed me off from start to finish and I am now on the hunt for something better to read to cleanse the palate so I don't have to end 2020 on such a sour note. I started the year with a good book, I'll be damned if I don't finish with a good book. This is not the year to be fucking around with bad books. I only finished it because I told my friend I would.
This is nothing like Evelyn Hugo and if you are considering picking this book up because you enjoyed that book, don't. The only compelling part of this book is its synopsis.
CW: polyphobic comments, transphobic comments, graphic sex scenes, mentions of abuse, cheating, drug use/dependency, alcohol use, gambling
I'm...so glad to be done with this book. A friend sent it to me and asked that I read it because she enjoyed it and it reminded her of Evelyn Hugo, a book we both adored last year, so when my hold at the library finally came up, I thought I'd give it a shot, fully expecting to adore this book as much as Evelyn.
Clearly, I didn't.
There wasn't a single character I enjoyed. Especially Maggie, who was selfish, immature, hypocritical with just about everything she was pissed at her mom about and was overall.
That last line was awful and
This book pissed me off from start to finish and I am now on the hunt for something better to read to cleanse the palate so I don't have to end 2020 on such a sour note. I started the year with a good book, I'll be damned if I don't finish with a good book. This is not the year to be fucking around with bad books. I only finished it because I told my friend I would.
This is nothing like Evelyn Hugo and if you are considering picking this book up because you enjoyed that book, don't. The only compelling part of this book is its synopsis.
July 5, 2023
Ngl was expecting a book about a Jewish lesbian with intimacy issues to hit so much harder. Promising premise, mediocre execution.
This book was most interesting in the places where Masad sought to untangle the complexities of identity/attraction/how people bring themselves to their relationships, which I think, in theory, should’ve been present throughout, but instead shone through primarily in Iris’s and Peter’s narratives. I felt as though Maggie was written with the same depth of character that she attributed to her mother and especially her father throughout most of the book, which is to say not much depth at all.
Giving this three stars largely because the acknowledgements at the end were so lovely and thoughtful.
This book was most interesting in the places where Masad sought to untangle the complexities of identity/attraction/how people bring themselves to their relationships, which I think, in theory, should’ve been present throughout, but instead shone through primarily in Iris’s and Peter’s narratives. I felt as though Maggie was written with the same depth of character that she attributed to her mother and especially her father throughout most of the book, which is to say not much depth at all.
Giving this three stars largely because the acknowledgements at the end were so lovely and thoughtful.
February 12, 2023
such an interesting premise that was unnecessarily prolonged by insignificant details and that was further dragged down by uninspiring prose.
i'm sorry to say that i did not enjoy this book. i could not connect with Maggie and her voice was very unpleasant. Iris was fine but her characterization was awfully cliché and predictable. everything felt so superficial. i found the themes shallow and unsatisfactory— the author wants to talk about race, gender, politics, and sexuality but the way it's done here grated me. i can't pin down what exactly put me off but there is definitely a better way to incorporate all... that. and to tie it all up, the writing was unbelievably mediocre and i was exhausted (yet triumphant?) by the end of it. the dialogue was poor and the “edgy millennial” thing going on felt forced at times. it had this aura of desperation to be hip and cool that made me cringe reflexively.
i may sound harsh but just because a book is queer doesn't mean it's good.
i'm sorry to say that i did not enjoy this book. i could not connect with Maggie and her voice was very unpleasant. Iris was fine but her characterization was awfully cliché and predictable. everything felt so superficial. i found the themes shallow and unsatisfactory— the author wants to talk about race, gender, politics, and sexuality but the way it's done here grated me. i can't pin down what exactly put me off but there is definitely a better way to incorporate all... that. and to tie it all up, the writing was unbelievably mediocre and i was exhausted (yet triumphant?) by the end of it. the dialogue was poor and the “edgy millennial” thing going on felt forced at times. it had this aura of desperation to be hip and cool that made me cringe reflexively.
i may sound harsh but just because a book is queer doesn't mean it's good.
March 20, 2020
Well-written, this seemed superficial at the start but once a third of the way in the details became lush and the emotions real. My complaint about it is that it tried a little too hard to be all-encompassingly diverse, to the point where it was distracting.
April 21, 2021
made me raise my
Eyebrows
Eyebrows
August 20, 2020
Not to be snobby, but this book would not be my normal cuppa tea, yall***(see below). The fact that the main character seemed to have few boundaries, and perhaps fewer manners and bordered on being a petulant child, even though she was 27, and that she had a strained relationship with her mother all conspired to draw me in just to see what would happen... so I climbed aboard and took this short trip with Maggie.
Maggie starts out as an immature and confused young woman who despite believing that she has a strong grip on life, has not accepted herself and blames her mother for her own issues. Maggie uses what she believes is her mother's position to view her own sexuality. She lives a self-medicated life as a put upon emotional voyeur whose level of sarcasm is only matched by her ability to bully her family and friends any time she is strained. In literature, this position seems to be portrayed as the stereotypical life of many lesbians, so Masad isn't showing anything new or unique along these lines.
The unique part of the book is the letters and the audacity of Maggie to take it upon herself to hand-deliver them instead of, well, doing what her mother wanted. However, this is the balm that Maggie needs to come to terms with the anger of her mother's death before she was able to evolve into a complete adult and fully formed a friendship with her mother. There were so many times when Maggie and I were riding along and I would say to her, "stop... it is not your business or your place".. but she never listened to me... it took more than a suggestion from a reader...
The book was just a short ride for me... somewhere between ok (which is good) and good (which is only good but not great)... It was an interesting view into a family and their dynamics, and maybe this is how young urban individuals live today, but God... have we really raised a generation that cannot face life without a haze of some substance that takes the edge off of everything in life? Anyway, there was ... Grief, acceptance, and growing up ...
3.5 stars
Happy Reading!
*** I do not normally take interest in books that take sex between individuals who are involved in or supposed to be in a loving relationship and treat it like a cheap purchase on the street... Maggie's need to reduce the act of making love in the opening line of the book to "being eaten out" ... was in fact, a complete turn off to me. But it ended up being a reflection of the defense of her inability to accept her own sexuality ...
Maggie starts out as an immature and confused young woman who despite believing that she has a strong grip on life, has not accepted herself and blames her mother for her own issues. Maggie uses what she believes is her mother's position to view her own sexuality. She lives a self-medicated life as a put upon emotional voyeur whose level of sarcasm is only matched by her ability to bully her family and friends any time she is strained. In literature, this position seems to be portrayed as the stereotypical life of many lesbians, so Masad isn't showing anything new or unique along these lines.
The unique part of the book is the letters and the audacity of Maggie to take it upon herself to hand-deliver them instead of, well, doing what her mother wanted. However, this is the balm that Maggie needs to come to terms with the anger of her mother's death before she was able to evolve into a complete adult and fully formed a friendship with her mother. There were so many times when Maggie and I were riding along and I would say to her, "stop... it is not your business or your place".. but she never listened to me... it took more than a suggestion from a reader...
The book was just a short ride for me... somewhere between ok (which is good) and good (which is only good but not great)... It was an interesting view into a family and their dynamics, and maybe this is how young urban individuals live today, but God... have we really raised a generation that cannot face life without a haze of some substance that takes the edge off of everything in life? Anyway, there was ... Grief, acceptance, and growing up ...
3.5 stars
Happy Reading!
*** I do not normally take interest in books that take sex between individuals who are involved in or supposed to be in a loving relationship and treat it like a cheap purchase on the street... Maggie's need to reduce the act of making love in the opening line of the book to "being eaten out" ... was in fact, a complete turn off to me. But it ended up being a reflection of the defense of her inability to accept her own sexuality ...
June 24, 2020
Messy, complicated life. If someone were to ask me what this book is about, that is the only answer I can give. It’s about our messy, complicated lives.
This is one of those literary books that are also pulp fiction page-turners. At the heart of it is an exploration of grief (not good on the soul to read two books on grieving one after the after!), and questions of how well we know the closest people in our life. As Maggie sets off on an impromptu road trip after the death of her mother, the trip becomes a metaphor for life itself. Yes, I know. The road trip metaphor has been used so often that we tire in its banality. Yet.
There’s something in the journey here that made me want to keep turning the pages - I also wanted to know about Maggie’s mother’s lovers. The ending didn’t surprise me, but that’s not the point. Maybe, at the end of our own life, would we be surprised at how it all turned out?
This is one of those literary books that are also pulp fiction page-turners. At the heart of it is an exploration of grief (not good on the soul to read two books on grieving one after the after!), and questions of how well we know the closest people in our life. As Maggie sets off on an impromptu road trip after the death of her mother, the trip becomes a metaphor for life itself. Yes, I know. The road trip metaphor has been used so often that we tire in its banality. Yet.
There’s something in the journey here that made me want to keep turning the pages - I also wanted to know about Maggie’s mother’s lovers. The ending didn’t surprise me, but that’s not the point. Maybe, at the end of our own life, would we be surprised at how it all turned out?
October 6, 2020
The dialogue is what kinda killed this for me, plus how gender and race was discussed. Like, making the supportive brown girlfriend tell the white main character, "But judgment? I just don't think I can. Everyone has reasons for everything they do. Good, bad, racist, phobic, logical or not, doesn't really matter. The reasons exist, for them." I really get the perspective Masad is trying to depict here, but... that part grated. The trans stuff, too. The premise of this book pulled me in but I can't recommend it.
June 7, 2020
I just cannot stand books by and from the perspective of a millennial... such poor dialogue, full of irrelevant facts and descriptions (just to set a 'hip scene with a vibe'), underpinning everything with technology, as how things would progress otherwise, the overall worldview and outlook, which dictates illogical actions...
February 18, 2024
The worst line was “U were right the Indian place is AMAZEBALLS.”
September 14, 2020
I loved this book,would recommend !
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