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After reading ‘The Other Half of Augusta Hope’, I was so excited to read ‘All My Mothers’. And I was not disappointed. Joanna Glen is rapidly becoming an auto-buy author for me - and this book is full of the same heart as Augusta Hope. The Price of Salt was in some ways revolutionary – it differed from other gay romances of its time in its hint of a happy ending. And as ever when it comes to the author of The Talented Mr Ripley, the novel is beautifully, thrillingly told – even on second reading I could barely tear myself away from its sensitive, confused, desperate characters. To quote the book itself, “A classic is something with a basic human situation.” I agree with Val McDermid, who wrote the foreword to my edition, that The Price of Salt fits this description. Read it, then watch the stunning 2015 film adaptation, in which Cate Blanchett performs the somewhat miraculous feat of rising from the living room floor hands-free, all the while looking impossibly elegant. Eva’s life in London helps the reader to learn about the characters, and when she starts to study in Cordoba, the real task of finding her birth mother begins. The vivid imagery in All My Mothers adds another layer of depth to the storyline, making it a truly captivating read. Una vida está compuesta de muchos momentos y All my mothers consigue captar eso a la perfección. Real como la vida misma, este libro te hace sentir todo tipo de emociones. Y , por su puesto, siempre de la mano de unos personajes que son maravillosa y terriblemente humanos. No todas sus decisiones son correctas o estuve de acuerdo con ellas, pero ¿quién vive una vida sin equivocarse alguna vez? ¿Sin tomar un desvío que te lleva a un callejón sin salida? ¿Si haber tenido que recurrir a un GPS que te reoriente?
It follows our narrator Eva from childhood when she begins suspecting that her mother isn’t hers. There are no baby photos, no answers to her questions and suddenly, no father to turn to either. Eva’s mother suffers from depression, making her distant and absent emotionally and physically. Eva takes it upon herself to find out what’s missing and document her search in her Quest Book. If you want a beautiful book about motherhood, all the dimensions of it from the POV of a daughter, this is delightful. The innocence of a child who doesn't understand why her mother's negligence and her father's abandonment. The loneliness and deseprate pursuit of validation and love of a teenager, and the understanding and resolution of adulthood. All of these eras painting a beautiufl and deep portrait of motherhood.
Having the nuns be "the real mothers all along" feels wrong when one knows the true picture of what was happening. The religious subtone was excellent, don't get me wrong, and at the end it made sense, but it also got pushed to the front, instead of other areas that could be explored like fragile masculinity, or Pink Mother's mental state.
This book is beautifully written and takes the reader through Eva’s life with sensitivity and wonder, through the hard times and the moments of happiness. Underlying it all, though, is Eva’s uncertainty about where she really came from and this is something she is determined to find out more about.Right away I'm going to say that this book totally overwhelmed me to the point that I don't really know how to talk about it. I've spent the last couple of days immersed in it and have come away a slightly different person. This was stunning from start to finish. It tells us the story of Eva, a young girl who longs to have the perfect family. Sadly for Eva, ger mother isn't able to be present for her and her father isn't really around. Through this, she's left with the lingering question some young children come up with: maybe these aren't my parents at all. Had me absolutely sobbing - a beautiful, beautiful book' JO BROWNING WROE, bestselling author of A TERRIBLE KINDNESS
A truly glorious life-affirming book, in which love, hope and friendship trump sorrow’ DINAH JEFFERIES I loved how the author weaved the story, you grow into it as Eva grows up. We sometimes see where the journey is going, and sometimes we don't, but Eva is a truthful narrator to both herself and her subjects. She is at times, not terribly likeable, but she is believable and three dimensional. When her parents’ relationship crumbles, Eva begins a journey to find these answers for herself. Her desire to discover where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning decades and continents – and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be, and who will change her life forever… This book, this book is immense. We are following the story of Eva, from her first memories as a four year old starting school and making a best friend, all the way through to adulthood. We see her at her best and her worst, at her highs and lows. This book doesn't pull it's punches. One of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn’t bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears’ STACEY HALLSEva’s story unfolds over the next thirty years in London and in Spain. Her parents separate and a tragedy in Bridget’s family sees Bridget and her family move to Israel. Eva feels this loss more keenly as, for a while, she lived with the Blume family and experienced their acceptance and love. Honest, heartfelt and hopeful, All My Mothers captures the joy and pain of love in all its forms, and reminds us that mothers can be found in the most unlikely of places and people. It broke my heart three times, but I adored it!” - MARIANNE CRONIN, author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot Do you have those books that you love just SO MUCH, hit you so hard and mean so much to you, but you worry that it was more about the circumstance in which you read it than the book itself? The Other Half of Augusta Hope, Joanna Glen’s debut was my favourite book I read last year, and I was worried All My Mothers wouldn’t live up to the hype that I had created for it. The narrative arc in All My Mothers is skillfully crafted, taking readers on an emotional journey with its characters. One of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn't bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears' STACEY HALLS
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