Mother, Mother

by Koren Zailckas
July 21-Aug 18, 2014

I've been sitting on this one for a few weeks now, sort of trying to come up with something interesting to say. I recently joined Blogging for Books, and Mother, Mother was the first novel I received for review. I felt that I owed it to this cool book-sharing service to like it more than I did. The description on the dust jacket is promising, but ...

Josephine Hurst is a mother in control. From the outside, the life she shares with her husband and three children seems perfect. That is until her middle daughter ends up in a psych ward and her son needs home schooling for his own protection. The "mystery" behind it all is what happened to Rose, the eldest daughter. Josephine leads everyone to believe that she ran off with some boy, and her alcoholic husband is no help to anyone in this failing family.

The problems with the story began early on when I found myself wanting more. The characters were unsympathetic, but never completely fleshed out; Josephine, especially, needed to be a little more interesting and convincing as a master manipulator. The plot's potential was never fully realized simply because Zailckas couldn't deliver better detail, insight or character development. And while I am usually never correct in guessing the outcomes of books, I saw this one coming a mile away. Bottom line is that I'm just not into psychological thrillers, especially poorly paced and predictable ones.

Mother, Mother appears to be the first work of fiction by Koren Zailckas. Perhaps memoirs are more her strength.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.