Last month, I ended up reading several books back to back which featured mentally ill mothers. I think that it was a little bit too much of a not-so-good thing.
It started with In This Way I Was Saved (linked to my review). The book was good enough, but I was anticipating more quirky than dark. It was fairly dark, and I read those kind of books only in moderation.
Then I read Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson, not quite knowing that it was going to take me in the same direction.
I am drawn to stories about mothers and daughters. We were all daughters. Many of us are mothers now or hope to be in the future. Becoming a mother automatically changes your perspective of your own mother.
This story is told from the perspective of 8-year-old Tillie. I actually love the device of using a child narrator to tell an adult story. In this case, Tillie is going into labor with her first child and is thinking of her story, of those few years when she became aware of her mother’s mental illness and the impact it had on the family.
The wonderful thing about using a child to tell the story of horrible events (as in Room), is that they are seen through the eyes of a child. We as adults see the horror, the shame, or the fear. But a child usually does not. She sees only what is before her — no more, no less.
Henderson uses this technique well as she unfolds a story and the mystery of what happened to Tillie’s mother when they left their home and moved to Washington DC. As a reader, I was held in suspense because I wanted to know what happened to Tillie’s mother, and what was going to happen to Tillie.
Up from the Blue is a pretty serious story about a family and the toll of illness and secrecy and fear, captured in just a moment — just that span of a year or two. The author doesn’t explain everything, nor does it reach far enough for us to understand the characters as adults, but the characters are resolved nicely but not in an overly-simple way.
Then a week after reading that one, I dug into Heather Sellers’ memoir that I eagerly anticipated, You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know.
It didn’t wow me, but there are no major flaws either. The fact that it was the THIRD book I read in the last month that featured a mentally ill/unstable mother had a lot to do with my fairly lukewarm response to it. If I had read it a month ago, or in 6 months, when my heart and brain weren’t so saturated by mental illness, I might have responded differently. But because I was saturated, it just seemed somewhat unextraordinary (as if this type of mental illness is normal, which I know it is not).
Heather Sellers’ writing is clear and precise, not overly emotional, but not so removed that it’s as if she was reporting on her own story. The style goes along with her story perfectly. She has had to stay removed from people her whole life because of her “face blindness” and her family history.
The story did not lag and was not overly indulgent (as memoir can be). When I read a memoir, I am looking for informative or inspirational stories about something that people have overcome or experienced. If you like the informative style — seeing what it’s like to live in a dysfunctional family, and specifically learning about face blindness — I recommend you give Sellers’ story a read.
So any of these three books on their own might have left me with more to think about. As it was I was a bit numb and underwhelmed and desensitized. So I’m hoping that no more mentally ill mothers crop up in the next month or so as I read.
Jennifer Donovan’s memoir would have moments of ordinary, but perhaps moments that would inspire shock or surprise or pity or empathy. There’s no memoir in her future, but she blogs at Snapshot.
Katrina says
Interesting thoughts, Jennifer. Though I haven’t had this particular experience, I remember reading a book that dealt with a very painful and heart-breaking subject. When I closed the book, I knew I needed to turn to something a bit more cheery — I could only take so much.
But even if a subject’s not “depressing,” I can see reaching that saturation point — where you just need a change of pace/topic.