The Mothers are the women in Jim Mounts's life: his adoring (and rejected) mother Felicita (ironical name for her, "happiness"), and the four women he has loved and lived with: Louise, Maria, Natasha, ( a rich mans wife) and Francine. Mount see that when "girls" become "Mothers" something changes in them. Botsford's portraits are seething, often terrifyingly intense and mysogynisitc. The are also deeply loving, life-giving, and generous.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The life of Jim Mount, a charismatic smalltown Midwestern lawyer, is recalled from the perspectives of his alternately aggrieved and bemused ex-wives and lovers in this provocative character study. In a fluid, bold narrative style, Botsford (Out of Nowhere) introduces Jim through the eyes of those who knew him best: Aissa, the narrator of the book, an old childhood friend who keeps him company as he ages; first wife Louise, a needy painter; Maria, the high-spirited young woman who rejuvenates him after his marriage to Louise ends in divorce; Natasha, the unlucky spouse of a boorish rich man, whose life briefly intersects with Jim's; and Francine, his last wife, who's about to leave him as the book opens. While Francine complains that Jim is absent even when he's present, she, like the rest of Jim's women, is fascinated by his remoteness, his need for girl-women who love him unconditionally and his theory of "Mothers"-his word for what the women in his life inevitably become. Full of provocative exchanges and one-liners, the book offers a powerful, brooding portrait of an unreachable and at times unlikable man (though he isn't given much chance to defend himself). When the book finally grinds to a halt amid the emotional wreckage of Jim's life, Botsford has explored most of the pitfalls of romantic relationships, while offering a fresh, sobering view of the masculine heart in love. Botsford is a longtime friend and associate of Saul Bellow, and readers will be forgiven if they suspect that Jim might be modeled on the much-married writer. The resulting portrait occasionally shades into stereotype, but is overall richly drawn and resonant.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"The Mothers is a tremendously moving book...gnarly with life." --James Wood
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