Kirjailijakuva

Rachel M. Harper

Teoksen The Other Mother tekijä

3+ teosta 150 jäsentä 16 arvostelua

Tietoja tekijästä

Includes the name: Rachel Harper

Tekijän teokset

The Other Mother (2022) 71 kappaletta
Brass Ankle Blues: A Novel (2006) 44 kappaletta
This Side of Providence (2016) 35 kappaletta

Associated Works

Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness (2012) — Avustaja — 57 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Sukupuoli
female

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

Jenry is a young African-Cuban musical prodigy, who had been raised in Florida by his single mother and her parents. He decides to go to college at his mother's alma-mater (Brown) in the hopes of connecting to his father. When he gets there, he finds that his origin story is more complicated than he had realized, and is told that instead of his father, he should look for "his other mother". The story covers decades, and uses a different narrator for each chapter, so we get the same incident from multiple viewpoints.

I felt this was done skillfully, and all of the characters were well-rounded, with strengths and flaws. Sometimes maybe it was over-dramatic, but after all, sometimes life is pretty dramatic.

I especially appreciated reading a book that talked about lesbian parenthood in the 90's; since that mirrors my own experience. In the end, the book really focusses on the strength of all kinds of family bonds, and there is a lot of sweetness, along with dysfunction.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
banjo123 | 1 muu arvostelu | Jun 25, 2023 |
4.25 stars. i really love the way she gives us everyone's perspective here (except noelle, who may have deserved a say although i understand why she didn't get one) and what she's saying about family and connection, and about motherhood (and a little about fatherhood/parenthood). this is so lovely. the writing, the emotion, the way we make terrible decisions and have to live with the consequences. the way we sometimes try to right wrongs or make up for those mistakes, but how we can't change the past no matter how much we want to. they way we can carry love for someone for so many years, whether or not they even know of our existence, or no matter how they feel about us.

there's so much here and it's all so beautifully rendered.

"What does it mean to be the one who remembers?"

"How is it that he continues to compress time, and why? What feels like a few years go might be decades, whereas yesterday feels as remote as a memory from his childhood. This is the tragedy of age, he thinks, his mind like an uncatalogued library with memories wedged wherever they fit on shelves, instead of placed in a logical order. The assumption - or better yet, the ease - of chronology has become a myth he's sure a young person invented."

"Unlike his wife's family, he was proud to have the blood of slaves in his veins. It proved they were stronger, since they had survived the impossible."
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
overlycriticalelisa | 1 muu arvostelu | May 7, 2023 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program. This is the story of Aracelia- mother of three and addict. This is not only her story but the story of her children and the non relatives that have come to care about them. After spending time in jail and trying to beat her addiction, Arcelia struggles to make her family whole again and stay clean. Told from many voices, this story is one that will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned. It is one of those heart wrenching stories- one told with so much emotion that the reader is drawn in and feels like they are living the story themselves which is such a credit to Harper- to take a storyline that thankfully I don't have any experience with and make it so real and heartfelt.… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
debristow | 10 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 3, 2017 |
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.
This novel is dark and saddening, but a true piece of the daily lives of many members of our society. Those members being drug addicts, junkies, drug dealers, single mothers, homeless children, people who want to help but don't know how, wives, husbands, and anyone trying to survive from day to day. Thus saying all types of characters in this book, I absolutely loved it. I guess I like to read heavy drama and this certainly filled the bill from start to finish. Each chapter is narrated by a different character, telling the story from their perspective. In a nutshell, and without giving away the ending, this is the story of a single heroin addicted mother struggling to take care of her three children while struggling to stay clean. She wants to keep her family together and though she is high most of the time and a poor mother, the children love her dearly and think about how she was prior to her addiction. When the mother is busted and ends up in prison, thank goodness for the characters that stepped up to give the children some semblance of a normal life. I thought that the ending would be predictable, but it caught me off guard. When all signs point to a tidy conclusion and things don't end up that way, well.....that's the kind of novels I enjoy the most. An outstanding portrait of a family that live outside the margins of what many Americans would consider a normal life and which most of us can't even imagine. An eye-opener!… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
jeanie0510 | 10 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Aug 22, 2016 |

Palkinnot

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Tilastot

Teokset
3
Also by
2
Jäseniä
150
Suosituimmuussija
#138,700
Arvio (tähdet)
3.9
Kirja-arvosteluja
16
ISBN:t
15
Kielet
1

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