Article Contributed on: 4/18/2006 8:34:09 PM
Memorable moms...hmm. That could mean a mom we want to
remember or one we spend our lives trying to forget. Literature
gives us both. Here are few of my choices for memorable mom's in
fiction to keep you reading until Mother's Day.
First up, Bunty, of George and Bunty in Kate Atkinson's,
Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Our narrator Ruby, whom we meet at
the moment of conception, tells the tale of her life in middle
class England from 1951 to 1970. You won't forget Bunty, but you
will be glad she wasn't your mom. And, you won't forget Ruby whose
character sees the world with that subtle British wit and wry humor
we have come to love from our friends across the pond. More than
once, I laughed out loud. Kate Atkinson has created a family saga
that gives us plenty of back-story with her clever use of the much
maligned footnote.
One True Thing, by Anna Quindlen, gives us another kind of
mother in this story of a daughter who puts her own life on hold to
care for her mother in her battle with cancer. It takes us deep
into this relationship and this family as it reveals many true
things.
And finally, anything by Anne Tyler, who knows women and
families. Ladder of Years; the escaping mom; The Amateur Marriage;
a "can't get it quite right" mom; or Breathing Lessons; the
reflective mom. I love them all and if my days had 48 hours, I
could read them all again before mother's day. What mom books do
you love?