The Mothers: A Novel

This book broke my heart over and over, I needed to take breaks every chapter because I was so scared of what decisions & revelations would happen next. I kept imagining happy endings that would still somehow be possible at this point in the story but it just went down. The ending broke me & now I'm sad because I will never know how Nadias life went on. It's not a given for me to really connect to characters in a way that will make me cry and ache for them but sometimes it happens and those are the best books! I loved the representation in this book, black characters, a muslim character (yey), queer representation and a very in depth look into abortion and the church. And family dynamics - always here for that!! (but they hurt). It just felt like such a real book, a real look into our society and the experience of people. I felt a bit like reading a memoir and every few pages there was a line that felt like an important lesson I should remember forever. Another thing I really enjoyed were "The Mothers" sometimes it seemed like they were the old women from church and other times they seemed like a kind of entity looking over our characters and telling their story. I never read anything like this before! There were a few things I wished would have been different but it doesn't really diminish how great this book was and how sure I am of it becoming a favorite. (slight spoiler alert from now on, nothing really central to the story) For example I really would have wanted the muslim character to be explored more deeply, he was a guy who was very actively working for human rights, taking part in debates and so on. That was so interesting and he left us too soon in the book. I don't really liked how Nadia sometimes acted as if she only dated him due to his being a "progressive muslim", obviously this is a wording that very nicely feeds into stereotypes that are currently present in the world. It would have been great to witness a conversation between Nadia and Shadi in which they would explore his connection to his faith more deeply. BUT - I understand that the focus obviously was set on Nadias experience of being black & born to a christian family in America & sometimes it is better to focus on one thing instead of all the things. It was definitely great having a Muslim character in a book and it just made me so happy. In general all the representation in this book just felt very natural and comfortable to read. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone but I want to make it clear that, at least to me, this wasn't a light read but a very draining and thought-provoking story - it was worth it!

Luke should've either left Aubrey or left Nadia alone because wtf man. Nadia disappointed me and I was rooting for her

this book tells a beautiful, heartbreaking story about love, loss, friendship and grief. so special, the language made me almost tear up a couple of times. The author knows how to put complex feelings into words without explaining them. In the end, the book does leave some stories unfinished, some things unsaid, some secrets not revealed. but this is what makes this book so close to real life. It feels like it captures the stories of Nadia, Aubrey and Luke without interfering in their lives, it feels like they are real and we are just watching. really enjoyed this one