I’ve been hearing the buzz about Audrain’s novel since last year so was excited to pull it out as a summer vacation read. It did not disappoint!
I had the impression that the novel was a horror but psychological thriller is more accurate. The protagonist, Blythe, is a forty something divorced mother of two writing a long letter to her ex-husband. She weaves together the story of their marriage with snapshots of her childhood, particularly her relationship with her mother. The letter is a narrative, an examination/ explanation of how things fell apart, and a plea for her husband to take Blythe’s concerns about their daughter Violet’s potentially sociopathic tendencies seriously.
The psychological part of the thriller comes from trying to determine whether Blythe’s fears about Violet are founded, or the byproducts of her history of trauma, combined with the pressures and mental health issues that can impact any women who become mothers (identity, lack of time for themselves, postpartum depression, etc.). (I haven’t read We Need to Talk About Kevin, but I gather it touches on some of the same cultural fears).
The exploration of mothers and mothering- is the core of this book, with the mental health of Blythe (and her mother and grandmother) forming the case studies for consideration. Neither Blythe’s grandmother nor her mother were ‘naturals’, and neither necessarily wanted to be a mother- it felt less like a choice and more like an inevitability to be borne. Blythe is hypersensitive of her family’s history with motherhood, and so she enters into motherhood reluctantly.
I feel like there is a feminist college lit paper just waiting to written about the novels of motherhood- how it reflects our fears for ourselves and society (other novels on the syllabus: Rosemary’s Baby, The Handmaid’s Tale). Is the call coming from inside the house? What does that even mean when the house is our own body?
This novel hooked me from the very beginning and did not let up on the pressure. Even knowing from the outset that Blythe’s marriage would end in divorce, Audrain does a wonderful job of painting the heady honeymoon days preceding Blythe’s problematic first pregnancy. You are rooting for things to be ok for the couple and holding your breath while waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it does drop, you keep second guessing, along with Blythe.
Great summer vacation book, although you may want to hold if you are pregnant (the response I got when I tried to pass it along to pregnant friends was a big ‘heck no’, which feels understandable).