{"product_id":"the-book-of-mother-9780349012315","title":"The Book of Mother","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e''\u003cb\u003eAn indelible portrait of a brilliant, beautiful, mad and maddening woman\u003c\/b\u003e, expressing the joy of holding her mercurial attention and also the terrible cost of that intimacy...\u003cb\u003eNo-one who reads this captivating book will ever forget Maman\u003c\/b\u003e'' \u003cb\u003eAndrew Solomon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA prize-winning tour de force when it came out in France, this brilliant translation of Violaine Huisman''s ''witty, immersive autofiction showcases a Parisian childhood with a charismatic, depressed parent'' (\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e. Beautiful and magnetic, Catherine, aka ''Maman'', smokes too much, drives too fast, laughs too hard and loves too extravagantly. During a joyful and chaotic childhood, her daughter Violaine wouldn''t have it any other way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut when Maman is hospitalised after a third divorce and breakdown, everything changes. Even as Violaine and her sister long for their mother''s return, once she''s back Maman''s violent mood swings and flagrant disregard for personal boundaries soon tur\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCaptures a filial love as fierce and frank as its central figure\u003c\/b\u003e * New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA sparkling debut.\u003c\/b\u003e Any sadness in the telling is countered by the panache and surprise of the writing infused in these pages. Love wins out in a life of struggle - the struggle of a monarch without a kingdom * Elle (France) *\u003cbr\u003eViolaine Huisman unfurls memories, facts and family myths . . . it's poignant, terribly alive . . . the grit Huisman has in retelling her story, both as a young girl and as a writer, is as beautiful as it is brave . . . \u003cb\u003edignified and devastating, the book is a superb monument to a woman who spent her whole life in fligh\u003c\/b\u003et * Le Monde *\u003cbr\u003eHypnotic and searching * La Vie *\u003cbr\u003eA magnificent ode. Her prose abounds with literary force * Le Point *\u003cbr\u003eAn indelible portrait of a brilliant, beautiful, mad and maddening woman, expressing the joy of holding her mercurial attention and also the terrible cost of that intimacy. This is an exquisite evocation of the passionate, reciprocal love that can illuminate its objects, or destroy them, or both. No one who reads this captivating book will ever forget Maman. -- Andrew Solomon\u003cbr\u003eViolaine Huisman summons her late mother's voice in order to speak with and through and for her. The result is a charged portrait of a vibrant and destructive woman as imagined by the daughter who believed it was her job to save her. The prose has the unmistakable urgency and authority of love, producing an homage without idealization, an elegy without false consolation. \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Mother\u003c\/i\u003e is at once an act of radical identification and a way of letting go -- Ben Lerner\u003cbr\u003eHuisman's excellent debut chronicles the life of a charming but volatile Frenchwoman... Huisman's storytelling ability is immense: Violaine unfurls the wide-ranging narrative like a raconteur at a party, and develops a kaleidoscopic portrait of Catherine. This thoughtful exploration of familial trauma and love will have readers riveted * PW, starred review *\u003cbr\u003eThe names of Huisman's characters will provoke discussion of the novel as autofiction, but the story here is bigger than that. Love hurts; Huisman elegantly examines how and why * Kirkus, starred review *\u003cbr\u003eA powerful and emotive piece of autofiction... as raucous as it is melancholic... Huisman powerfully rebukes the idealised paradigm of motherhood that is so entrenched in our society * NB Magazine *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733639082327,"sku":"9780349012315","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780349012315.jpg?v=1720000973","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-book-of-mother-9780349012315","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}