Places to Look for a Mother: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Already anticipating the next book
Review: "Places to Look for a Mother" might feel more like a memoir than a novel, but it's that rarest of memoirs driven by a sharply focused narrator who refuses to reduce her coming of age to nostalgia or melodrama. Lucy Taylor is a kid whose dream of a stable childhood is constantly undermined by her mother's inability to stick with a husband, a geographic locale, or even a self-identity. Mom's need to belong somewhere -- anywhere -- takes precedence, forcing Lucy to steer herself through turbulent adolescence. All the instability creates the same need for belonging in Lucy, leading to events that force her to rethink her mother, and motherhood itself. It sounds heavy, but Stansbury's skill as a writer (particularly with dialog) can make difficult subject matter a real pleasure to read.

Rating:
Summary: If She Were MY Mother...
Review: ...I'd probably shoot her! Or take her to a field, push her out of the still-moving car, and leave her there.

In Miriam Taylor, Nicole Stansbury has created a kinder, gentler "Mommie Dearest"...as told by the youngest daughter, Lucy. In Lucy, we find an enabler in the making, forgiving her dysfunctional mother time and again, no matter how destructive her mother is to the family, and especially to Lucy. And it seems, in "Places To Look For A Mother" that nobody really loves Lucy.

There were times in this novel that I wished I could reach deep into the pages and shake some sense into Lucy, tell her to get out before Miriam's insidious poison seeped into her heart, never to be dispelled. Reading "Places..." brought up many of my own "mother issues", and it was an anxiety-ridden read from beginning to end. (my own mother makes Miriam look like Mother Theresa...though there were many issues in this novel that rang totally true from my viewpoint)

I gave this book only 3 stars, not because of the story or the wonderful writing (albeit a bit disjointed in places). This rating is for the very poor proofreading and editing job that was performed before the book was released. Many deleted words, repeated words, words with too many letters or not enough...very irritating overall. Each one was like a tiny little speedbump on the page that slowed the story down. Otherwise, great read!

Rating:
Summary: Painfully honest and honestly funny.
Review: I recently took this book with me on a weekend trip, and it made my hours at the airport fly by. Stansbury has written a wonderful novel that feels like truth, with a level of honesty that sometimes made me cringe only because it resonated so deeply. No airbrushing of life here as our heroine, Lucy, comes to terms with a mother who is just a little insane and a father whose love holds her up but whose frequent absence is a gaping wound. The cutting honesty is made bearable by many truly funny moments. The writing flows, the characters live, and Lucy is the ultimate emotional survivor.