The Other Mother: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Gwendolen Gross (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Gross's third novel (following Getting Out) documents the front lines of the Mommy Wars, but its real strength lies in exposing the complex inner battlefields motherhood can open up. Eight months pregnant Amanda, a successful children's book editor and dedicated New Yorker, picks up with her lawyer husband and moves to suburban Teaneck, N.J. Her new neighbor, Thea Caldwell, is a full-time mother of three who still lives in her childhood home and who arrives bearing brownies. When the newcomers take extended shelter in the Caldwells' basement following a damaging storm and, later, when Amanda hires Thea as her newborn's nanny, the growing intimacy between the two breeds resentment, bitterness and misunderstandings. The series of external crises designed to create tension and suspense are, in the end, less compelling than the women's own inner demons, revealed through alternating, and overlapping, first-person narration. Jersey resident Gross shows the strife between SAHMs (Stay at Home Moms) and WOTHs (moms who Work Outside the Home) to be a lot more nuanced than it's often portrayed. (Aug.)
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From Booklist
Maybe Thea resented Amanda moving into the house that once belonged to her childhood best friend. Perhaps Amanda was jealous of Thea's effortless domestic skills. Or maybe Thea couldn't approve of Amanda's decision to return to work after the birth of her daughter Malena, while Amanda failed to understand how Thea could find fulfillment as the stay-at-home mom of three. Whatever the reasons, it soon becomes clear that there is ample potential for animosity between these two neighbors, and the hostilities only escalate once Amanda's family is forced to move in with Thea's after their house is extensively damaged during a violent storm and Thea offers to become Malena's nanny. When dead animals start showing up on Thea's doorstep, however, Amanda is her first suspect, and, suddenly, whatever petty differences the two families may have had take on sinister new meaning. By using the alternating points of view of each intensely multifaceted woman, Gross paints an electrifyingly complex and explosively gripping portrait of contemporary, have-it-all motherhood. Haggas, Carol

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307352927
• ISBN-13: 978-0307352927
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #362,586 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just About Mommy Wars, August 10, 2007

By	Jennifer Donovan "www.jennifersnapshot.blogsp... (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Yes, the underlying issue of this book is the opposing viewpoints and ideologies of one mom against another--in this case the SAHM versus the mom going back to work. But Gwendolen Gross also hits the nail on the head about the way that other women size each other up--in looks, husbands, children's behavior, volunteer work, and gardens to name a few. She also perfectly captures a mother's love, from the beauty of a newborn baby to the tender release of your firstborn into adulthood and everything in between.

This book is not only beautifully written, but the human drama creates tension that causes this book to be a real page-turner.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Way We Are, August 19, 2007

By	EGranfors (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews

My husband is used to my being engrossed in books, but he finally said "Hey, let's do something else!" That's a compliment to Ms. Gross.

I loved the book. I loved the way both points of view were made clearly through Amanda and Thea with opposing viewpoints that will never, ever mesh. I am not someone who rushes off to hold someone else's newborn, but I enjoyed the book, found the characters believable, the descriptions lush, and the interaction with the husbands quite true-to-life.

The ending held surprises, and I also liked the dynamics of the women's constant judgment of one another--so very true.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two Mothers, August 7, 2007

By	lorilyn (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

On the surface, The Other Mother is about the mommy-wars, specifically whether or not to go back to work after the baby is born.
Told in an alternating first-person narrative by two suburban mothers, one who works in the home as a SAHM (that's stay at home mom for those of you like me you may not know. I kept seeing that on message boards wondering what in the world it was until finally a friend filled me in) and one who continues to work outside the home.
The story centers around that choice and the judgments the two women hold for one another and themselves as they struggle to come to terms with the decisions they've made.
But it's also about something larger. There are no good guys and bad guys here. As I fell into this story, I identified with both of the women, feeling along with them their joys and resentments, fears and suspicions.
It's a story about being a woman in an internal and external landscape that is constantly changing. It's a story about relationship and history and love. And at its heart, mystery: the mysteries we all live with all the time, the questions we ask ourselves and the shifting answers.
The Other Mother reminded me that there's a conversation taking place. Sometimes we speak the words to one another and sometimes we only whisper them in the most private rooms in our hearts, but we are all telling our stories, learning our truths, changing our minds and walking the paths of womanhood, sisterhood, wifehood, self.
The writing here is both lush and precise, the details sensual. I found myself stopping to savor.
The Other Mother presents a true and familiar world in a thoughtful way that leaves you with much to ponder.