The Mothers: A Novel

This is a book about abortion. Narration is by The Mothers from a church in Oceanside, California. It tells about two young women, Nadia Turner, and Aubrey, and a young man named Luke who is the son of the pastor. Both Nadia and Aubrey are motherless, both are affected by the abortion that happens when they are teens. An interesting concept for a novel set in the African American community of Oceanside. Well-written, fast-paced, and not overly long at 275 pp, for me it was a thought-provoking read.

I was disappointed by this book. I was very excited to read it based on recommendations from friends but it was not the book for me. It was boring and I didn't care about the characters. It didn't seem like anything really happened. I had the pleasure of meeting the author recently at a talk that she did in Chicago. She was so kind and the book seemed so interesting when she read an excerpt and when she answered questions about the book. I just finished reading it and I didn't get anything out of the story although the author is a good writer.

I borrowed this book from the library. My rating true rating is 4.5 stars and the reason is something that would be more relevant to be discussed in a book club than in a book review. This book would be perfect for a book club.

I could see this book as a streaming one season series to cover everything. I don't think Oprah Winfrey is too old to play the young man's haughty mother but my parents were older. Perhaps a better choice would be Tracee Ellis.

This is very much a character focused book - lots of development and progression, which I happen to really enjoy. The writing is lovely, and I adored "the Mothers" - the greek chorus-like group of elderly ladies in the church congregation who watch from afar and comment on the events as they unfold in the story. Trigger warning - abortion. (However, I feel like it was handled very realistically and well, showing the full spectrum fallout and lasting emotional effects on everyone involved.)

I was loving this book until the last line left me extremely confused.
I really enjoyed reading this I just wish the ending had provided more closure.
I loved the idea of "The Mothers" and how them being the narrators gave the book opportunities to explore the characters in a different way. I was so mad at Nadia and Luke, but Bennett did a good job of making her and the other characters human. I thought the writing was well done and kept me engaged the entire time as I had a hard time putting it down.

If I could give zero stars, I would. This is nothing but a preachy anti-abortion book. Seventeen year old girl's mother kills herself and girl (Nadia) is lost and drifts into a secret sexual relationship with local pastor's son (Luke) who is kind of a loser, gets pregnant and has abortion and goes off to college instead of having the baby of her slimy, secret boyfriend. Boyfriend told her to get an abortion, gave her money to get an abortion but then after she does he ditches her and says "maybe I didn't want you to abort our baby" and then she regrets it only because she now thinks of it as something that would have kept them together. But now her life is empty even though she goes off to college to fulfill her dream.
Her best friend ( Aubrey)knows nothing of this, latter falls in love with boyfriend, he becomes a better person because best friend is a great person and they get married. Girl comes back from law school because her dad was injured. Has an affair with boyfriend, he now wants to leave best friend. Girl says no but knows if she'd had her baby they'd be together (boyfriend grieves over aborted baby though didn't want it until he couldn't have it and obviously would have left her a single mother). Best friend ironically has trouble conceiving, finally does but has discovered the affair. Leaves the boyfriend but eventually goes back because of the baby but knows boyfriend doesn't really love her. Girl never marries, lives solitary existence. Boyfriend is son of a pastor, he and his wife paid for the abortion, once discovered years later, they are ostracized from the community.
Worst book ever, encouraging black women to just procreate and give up their dreams. Having a baby means you can hang on to your man. Writer should be shunned from literary community. Did she write this with Jerry Falwell? It's too bad the story and message were awful because she has some potential but no one wanted to tell her how terrible this book is but it didn't have to be. The parts where Nadia is attempting to learn more about her mom and the choices she made. Nadia wonders if her mom had regrets about getting pregnant at 19 and choosing to quit college and marry Nadia's father. Aubrey is very likable but never deals with her sexual abuse and is just reduced to a jealous wife in this story.
There is very little character development. The Mothers are the elder women of the church and they partly tell the story in an omniscient fashion but they don't really mother either of these girls, it's just a bad writing ploy to fill in the plot. Nadia and Aubrey are connected in that Nadia's mother kills herself though we never find out why and Aubrey's mother chooses her boyfriend over her daughter that he has been raping for years. Aubrey moves to Oceanside to live with her older sister and becomes involved with this church. But the author unimaginatively has them choose the guy over friendship.
The reader isn't even allowed to imagine what happens after the fairly abrupt ending. The Mothers let us know that Nadia is alone forever. What a horrible way to end a story. It doesn't have to have a happily ever after but this had nothing other than the idea that there is no redemption for girls who have abortions but life is fine for the guy that got her pregnant and encouraged the abortion. Just awful!!

What an amazing book! THE MOTHERS is a brilliant debut by an author that you need to keep your eyes on. Brit Bennett is wise beyond her years, with a gift of words that left me captivated by her prose. I can't recommend this book enough.

How much do our mothers affect the choices we make? How we live our lives? How can the absence of such a pillar of strength for many send some to the path of self-destruction? Brit Bennett explores these questions and many others in The Mothers.

THE MOTHERS is narrated by a group of church elders, referred to as "the mothers", who seem to know all about the members of the congregation of Upper Room, the local church of which they are members. In the beginning, they note that "all good secrets have a taste before you tell them" and boy do they have a secret just dying to get out. Nadia Turner—the girl whose mother killed herself six months ago—walked over the local abortion clinic and got rid of her problem. The father? The pastor of Upper Room.

Since her mother's death, Nadia has spiraled out of control, seeking solace in the arms of men, specifically Luke Shepard, desperate to feel something other than the internal pain of loss. When she winds up pregnant, she decides she doesn't want to keep the baby. She's smart and one of the few women she knows going to college and desperate to live the life her mother never got to before having her. She forms a bond with Aubrey while working at Upper Room, someone with whom she'd have nothing in common. But learns that they might have more in common. Meanwhile, Luke struggles with the loss of the baby and the guilt over his role in all of it.

What I found incredibly interesting was how Aubrey, Luke and Nadia all had different upbringings and different kinds of mothers. Aubrey has a mother who chose a man over her; Luke's mother rules over his house with a cold, strict hand; and Nadia had a mother who loved her but chose death over life. How do they cope? Aubrey runs to love and safety to shut out her demons. Luke chases after the remnants of his dreams. And Nadia just runs away, ignoring all of the choices that haunt her.

All of the characters make many choices: good and bad ones. Many times, I wanted to butt into the narrative, much like the Mothers did, and tell them to wake up. But it was those choices that took them to their journey. In the end, the book was bittersweet for me—hopeful for our characters with a tinge of sadness. Maybe for the time they lost while they were out running around blind to the trajectory of their decisions.

This is a book that lends itself to so much discussion. I can't really cover all the points in this review. Brit Bennett doesn't shy away from addressing points of racism, abortion, female autonomy, family values, religion, and grief. Her prose is striking and beautiful, and I am so eager to see more from her! This is a book that will stay with me and I will read over and over again.

Audiobook Comments:
I listened to this whole book on audio and totally loved it. The Mothers' sections were some of my favorite from her. Adenrele Ojo's performance is vibrant and engaging, entertaining and funny and the perfect complement to Brit Bennett's incredible literary voice.

* Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the audiobook for review. Receiving this audiobook for free did not affect my opinion. Happy listening!

My book club Girl Fridayz choose this as our Jan 2018 raff of the month. The cover story peaked my interest, the cover not so much. This was a bit of a tough read. The story line did not flow and gel together easily. Seemed to have some missing parts but you can make up your own details as you go. Hoping there is a book 2 as it seemed to be left unfinished. Overall an ok book but I will give this author another try. Can't wait to see what others at bookclub think and how discussion goes.

Happy reading.

I guess I'm not sure what all the hype is about. It was moderately entertaining and the writing was decent, but it read an awful lot like a young adult romance novel. Pretty predictable, and I found some of the characters very annoying in their drama. Poor Luke just can't get over the loss of his child and also can't seem to suppress his manly urges. Poor Nadia can't get over Luke and doesn't care enough about her best friend to not sleep with her guy. Poor Aubrey - the eternal victim.

I have to admit, I was not as blown away by Brit Bennett's writing as much as I wanted to be. I felt that too often she fell back on cliches and unsurprising language (some may fight me on this - it's true that fancy over-imaged language is symptomatic of the MFA machine; Bennett escapes that). However, I'm still giving this book four stars, primarily because of how deftly and how sincerely it approaches deep, sensitive, difficult topics. Suicide, abortion, sex, female friendship, race, rape and religion all clash within these pages. It's messy, but it's necessary. I look forward to seeing what this author does next.

This is a thoughtful and engaging story about how the past haunts, shapes and sometimes saves us. I had a little trouble getting into the story but by page fifty, I was hooked. The characters were well drawn and they mattered to me. Everything about it seemed plausible yet the prose had a lyrical quality to it. The ending did leave me a little puzzled but that speaks to the mysterious in life, I suppose. Well worth the read.

“All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.” So say the Mothers in the opening pages of Britt Bennett’s lyrical and moving debut, which concerns a closely guarded secret and the effect it has on the intertwined lives of three young people growing up in Southern California.

The Mothers are a Greek chorus of community gossips, the elderly denizens of the local church, Upper Room. This clutch of women watches over the novel’s action, forming their own, imperfect judgments of the players involved. But the book really belongs to Nadia, the owner of the secret in question, a 17-year-old African-American girl who’s “young and scared and trying to hide her scared in her prettiness.”

Nadia’s mother has recently committed suicide, leaving her only child isolated and adrift. The lonely teen finds solace in the arms of Luke, the son of Upper Room’s pastor. Once a hotshot football star at San Diego State, he’s back at home, working at a beachside restaurant and coping with his own feelings of grief and disappointment after a devastating injury cut his playing career short.

Before long, Nadia and Luke’s tentative, clandestine romance bears unwanted fruit. She gets pregnant and decides to have an abortion. Luke comes up with the cash for the procedure, but never shows up at the clinic to pick her up afterward, a betrayal Nadia can’t forgive. As the years pass, she holds her secret close, not even telling her best friend Aubrey, with whom she bonds over their shared motherlessness. But the sweet, churchgoing Aubrey, a foil to restless and sometimes reckless Nadia, has secrets of her own, including the abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather. “I could hear him moving through the apartment, like a rat clicking through the pipes. I could hear him before he got to my room,” she remembers in a heartbreaking passage.

For Nadia, the choice to have an abortion is hardly a choice at all. When she finds herself pregnant, she already has her acceptance letter to the University of Michigan in hand, which she sees as her ticket out of Oceanside, the stifling military town of her childhood. “[Luke] had to understand she couldn’t pass this up, her one chance to leave home.” Nadia is also acutely aware of the effect a teenage pregnancy had on her own mother’s life; as she sees it, she owes it to her dead parent to seize the chances she never had.

Bennett gracefully handles the question of the abortion, treating the incident with the gravity it deserves without resorting to cheap moralizing. Nadia never exactly regrets not having the baby, but the life she might have built with Luke and their child haunts her, even as she heads to college and then law school, rarely returning home. Finally, after Aubrey and Luke fall in love and are married, Nadia’s long-held secret is ultimately revealed, upending the lives of all involved.

The question of motherhood --- what it means to have one, to be one (or want to be one), and to lose one --- permeates THE MOTHERS. Bennett’s carefully drawn characters are all grappling with questions of identity and self, and, in the case of Nadia and Aubrey, what it means to be a woman, especially in light of their own mothers’ choices.

“A daughter grows older and draws nearer to her mother, until she gradually overlaps her like a sewing pattern,” says one character. At first glance, such an observation seems like a more poetic rendering of the old saw that all women eventually become their mothers. But Bennett is plumbing a deeper truth. The Mothers narrate their sections in a hypnotic, first person plural that effectively links the experiences of the younger protagonists with a broader shared experience of African-American women, each “trying to manage the hard lives we’d been given.”

Bennett is a keen and sensitive observer, from her poignant description of the thoughtfully chosen but unwanted gifts Nadia’s father buys her each Christmas, to the way she highlights “the sly type of racism” she encounters in Michigan, where “white girls…expected her to walk on the slushy part of the sidewalk” and boys drunkenly tell her she’s “pretty for a black girl.” Her sharp insights into the hidden motivations that drive a person’s decisions and the unexpected ways those choices shape their lives make THE MOTHERS a must-read.

Reviewed by Megan Elliott

What a dark book filled with secrets, lies, and sadness. I know I'll think back on the book and ponder its heavy topics, but I can't shake the dark tones of it.
I did like the voice used for the mothers. Anyone who has spent anytime in church recognizes these women as people of their congregation. What an interesting perspective they brought.

Really wonderful prose and a thorough investigation of the inner lives of three young people from Oceanside, California. The characters and their relationships were wonderful. Both Nadia and Aubry were relatable and unique. Nadia, living her best college life, traveling, pursuing her passions, and Aubry, living more quietly and entranced with the shadow that Nadia gives off. Their friendship was beautiful, with both finding the safety net and magic space for each other in their lives. All of the characters were fully realized, and I would definitely read anything by Brit Bennett after this.
I loved it.

Excellent story about the drama that the "Church Mothers", a familiar group in every African-American Church, witness in the congregation on a regular basis. These elderly female prayer warriors have seen and heard it all, and nothing fools or surprises them. Nevertheless, they continuously pray for, nurture, and assist younger Church members whenever they can, and in any way that they can.

I searched the reviews here to see if anyone can tell me what the author had in mind when she wrote this book. It has much to recommend: the portrayal of grief, and her ability to draw credible characters, even though the men are largely stereotypes. I don't understand the use of the Greek chorus technique at the beginning and end of the book and sporadically within unless the author has some thing important to convey.

I enjoyed the sassy tone at the beginning of the book and the use of some mild black diction, but that did not last long and the book more or less resorted to standard English and not much humor. I thought for awhile this novel might be a comment on the power of black churches in the community, but it turned out to be about a church's destruction. I also thought for a while that the mother's suicide might be a metaphor for the situation of black unwed mothers, but then I didn't understand why all the mothers in the book, including the church mothers are ultimately self destructive. It seemed as if only the two lesbians understood the nature of caring maternal love. Perhaps the book is about abortion and black genocide?

I like Nadia. Is she the model for the new matriarch in black culture? What was the reference to Cherry and Luke's being attacked all about? An homage to *The Outsiders* or Emmett Till? And was the name of the church some sort of Last Supper allusion? I am certain I missed the point of this novel from this obviously intelligent and skilled writer. It can't just be a coming of age story, can it????

I really enjoyed this novel, I couldn't put it down! I loved all the characters and how their lives intertwined with one another as the years passed. I enjoyed reading the story from each of the main characters perspectives, it was really enlightening to see how each of them viewed different situations in their lives. And I loved the different insight from the mothers. It was a very good read

I enjoyed the author's approach to tell this realistic story. It was painful at times... fun, funny, thought provoking... This is a book the speaks of life issues people keep secret. I recommend for those who like a well written story. It left room for wondering and what some might call loose ends. I would say that real life doesn't always have a solution, resolve, or forgiveness. Enjoy!

Life has a way of presenting choices followed by decisions with lasting implications. No one is immune from the past as ensuing days, weeks, months, and years are informed by a past mistake or triumph. Nadia's journey is complicated and sometimes on the brink of emotional disaster. The Mothers: a Novel is worth reading as it is well written and insightful about loss and moving on.

This is a rare read for me -a book where I genuinely love all of the characters. They make many mistakes, and there is a lot of hurt that they inflict on each other, but I wished the best for all of them. Well done! My ONLY complaint is this novel has probably the worst last line I have read in a LONG time. However, that is such a small thing to nit-pick when this is probably the novel I have enjoyed the most all year. Go forth and read it.

Two chapters where the predominating word is the "F" word - not a term generally associated with a good mother. The book goes on to crude exploitation of the sexual act, then a switch to religion and church matters as if cleansing what went before. The total - not descriptive of a loving, caring mother.

There were some interesting parts towards the beginning of the book. There were some boring parts also. Overall, light and easy. I liked that the main character was a mystery throughout without much information about her. The reader can decide what happens- or there will continue to be books about her.

This book is a breath of fresh air. A few reviewers have said that they feel as if a lot of questions went unanswered. In my opinion, those unanswered questions are the reason this book is so spectacular. Several questions do go unanswered, but that's life. Books like these are important and realistic because of this. Bravo Brit Bennett!

The book made me think of a lot of things and how our decisions shape not inky our lives, but everyone around us. The "what if" scenarios.
Spoiler alert:
I think if the Church hadn't played such a big role the book would have been a young adult novel.

I was very disappointed in this book. I was hoping that a novel of almost entirely black characters would bring some new perspectives. Unfortunately, it seemed the author is pushing an anti-choice, anti-education for women agenda that may be acceptable in some segments of society but not with women readers I know. The focus of the characters' lives is an all-Black, conservative church; I guess members of right-wing churches would love this book. I sent my friends a warning to avoid it.
The author expects us to believe that the main character, Nadia, is so ruined by her abortion at 17 that she cannot get fulfillment from any future accomplishments! Like most women, she had the abortion so that she could fulfill her dreams of an education and travel and she succeeded! The Greek chorus of Mothers continually espouse their belief that if she had never had that abortion & had formed a family with a troubled, tattooed waiter everything would have been much better for her. The author makes known-to-be-fake pregnancy help centers (which are just anti-abortion guilt centers) look good and makes the "father" of the fetus seem like a better human being than the "mother" because he is more in touch with his loss of the fetus than she is.
Nadia gets the message that the root cause of her mom's suicide was that Nadia herself was an unplanned pregnancy. Women in this book cannot win! Her mom did not get to fulfill her dreams so she killed herself; Nadia made all her dreams come true but had an abortion so she, therefore, could not have a happy life.
This book is almost as misogynistic as "Boy, Snow, Bird". That book was definitely the most anti-woman book in recent history.

Excellent book, deep character development - just a great story all around dealing with a multitude of themes gracefully in a short novel. Taking one star off because the woman reading the audio version s-backs her words ("shtress" instead of "stress"; "hish truck" instead of "his truck") which drives me crazy. If I'd known, I would have purchased the paper version.

Bennett's novel is beautiful and interesting. I enjoyed reading the third-person perspectives of "The Mothers," the elderly church ladies on everyone's business, Nadia, the beautiful but always lost and wandering main character, Aubrey, the best friend with a secret of her own, and Luke, the man who loves both Nadia and Aubrey. The book is fast-paced and interesting and definitely worth the read. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the intricacies of having an abortion, being in love, and friendship.

In THE MOTHERS, a debut novel, one decision affects not only the main characters’ lives but also the lives of a lot of people around them. The strength of the story can be found in the realistic portrayal of the characters. They are our acquaintances… our friends. I definitely recommend this very engaging novel.

All the mothers, non-mothers, dead mothers, and lovers of mothers tell this story. It is a simple story of romance born out of sorrow, an unwanted pregnancy, an abortion, then grief of the lost baby that never goes away. The sorrow is not only a mother's unexplained suicide but the death of a baby and of relationships. Both men and women will understand and relate to the stories in this book. From the injured and derailed football star to the abused young girl we view how the decisions we make carry through other people's lives. Mothers are the center of it all.

★★★½
“The book, I think, is about this central question of how girls grow into women when the female figures who are supposed to usher you into womanhood aren’t there. How girls come of age with that absence. And it’s about how communities are shaped by loss, this thing I keep writing about—how in moments of grief, community can be both a source of comfort and a source of oppression. My main character feels this responsibility to her community yet wants to escape it at the same time. And I was interested in this complexity, as well as the experience of being a young black woman in a community that expects a lot of her, in a world that expects very little.”

I found the above insight in this online interview with the author and I think it summarizes The Mothers theme beautifully. Overall, I liked The Mothers and especially enjoyed reading the relationship dynamics written into this story in terms of family, friendship, church body, and a conservative small town. I appreciated Brit Bennett bringing attention to gender double standards, role expectations, and negative self-fulfilling prophecies. This was an interesting read that was both entertaining and thought provoking. If you enjoy reading a variety of themes within the literary fiction and women's fiction genres, check it out!

My favorite quote:
“Was that all it took, kneeling at the altar and asking for help? Or did you have to invite everyone in on your private sorrow to be saved?”

I was engaged through the beginning of the book. The characters are realistic and well developed. The storyline is completely believable. The only thing missing was an ending. I would like to see how they all end up.

Brit Bennett’s debut novel The Mothers is beautifully written and heartbreakingly sad. The Mothers follows three characters starting in high school and progressing into their twenties. The story begins with a secret that over time impacts an entire community. Bennett also focuses on the choices people make and their inability to move on from these choices even though the decision has been made. She writes lyrically and thoughtfully. I loved the book and read it in a day and a half. I did not want to put it down until I knew how it ended. I look forward to her next novel.

I'd seen the book pop up here and there but didnt know much about it before I read it. I don't even think I read the teaser. Excellent book, hitting close to home, in sooo many ways! I felt I was there with Nadia, Audrey, and Luke in the small town near San Diego (one of my favorite US cities). Imagery and depth of characters was fantastic!! Great read!

The Mothers proved to be an engrossing book, with characters so richly built that I couldn't put the book down until it was finished. Nadia Turner has lost her mother, and a series of events and relationships unfold, spanning over a decade of the lives of Nadia, her best friend Aubrey, and the pastor's son, Luke. Brit Bennett's choice of language throughout the novel conveys so much. She uses compound adjectives much in the way of Thomas Hardy's poetry with the word "un" at the beginning of a phrase. To steal from History Boys,"It's a turn of phrase that brings with it a sense of not sharing, being out of it...a holding back." This quite accurately touches on Nadia and her relationships, a holding back. Anyone who calls this novel a romance first is only half correct, there is romance and lust but the novel is about love, love between mothers and daughters, love between sisters, love between female friends, and yes, romantic love as well. It's not the romantic love that makes this read so compelling, it is the deep emotional truths that Brit Bennett lays bare. Anyone who has had an unperfect relationship with their mother will find themselves in this book, lost between pain, love, and an attempt for understanding. A really beautiful debut novel.

I'd heard so much hype about this book that perhaps I was expecting too much. It is a very well-written tale, but I simply thought it was good instead of great. I would read more by this author, because I think she might have something really good in her.

It's a wonderful debut and I can't wait to read more of her work. What makes it stand out is how complex the three main characters are, and how it avoids good/bad cliches around certain choices. It deserves all of the praise it receives.

Absolutely stunning debut from Brit Bennet! The Mothers will make you reminisce about what first and true love really means all while trying to make sense of it all while reading this coming of age story. I can't wait to read more from this author, her storytelling is masterful.

I'm wavering between 3 and 4 stars. Started interesting, touches on the subject of a woman's body and what is her right to do with; Especially when she's pregnant. But I lost a bit of interest 65% of the way. The ending was also abrupt. Not quite as finished as I would have liked.

I can't say you will regret reading it, because it's a good story. It's a story that keeps you reading, but I didn't understand the last page. It was suggested on an Instagram account I follow, so I decided to give it a try.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this author, but the whole concept of “The Mothers” threw me off. They were kinda in the background the entire story, but since the book is named after them, you would think there would be more of a role for them. Meh. Otherwise a very good read.

Nadia Turner is the 17 year old pretty protagonist of this very good debut novel. Nadia. Not quite grieving. Not exactly mourning. Just getting on with life. The writing is solid and the story is superb in its ordinariness. Which is a good thing. Nadia is entering her final year of high school and her mother has committed suicide. Why? The reader is never informed.

She hooks up with Luke, the son of the local pastor. When she becomes pregnant with Luke's child, she decides to abort the child without any denunciation from Luke. We get the feeling that if Luke had been a little more vocal about his wants then she would have kept the baby. Ironically she becomes friends with Audrey, a reserved girl who too has lost her mother, although she is very much alive.

When Nadia heads off to college leaving behind Audrey and putting Luke into the rear view mirror, Luke and Audrey develop a relationship that eventually leads to marriage. What will the past mean for Luke and Audrey if the secret of Luke/Nadia ever surfaces?

The device of using "Mothers" to narrate parts of the story didn't really work that well for me and never having Nadia's mother's voice I thought was a missed opportunity.

The great thing about this novel is that these ladies are dealing with the the absence of mothers and the author still makes sure they are both drawn normally, not drama filled, not crazy on the road to destruction, just two young African American females figuring out life as millions do everyday through heartbreak and the imperfections that are always part of the human journey.

The story centers around three young adults growing up in Southern California.

Nadia Turner is a seventeen year old senior in high school. She has been accepted to study at the University of Michigan. She is grieving the death of her mother who committed suicide six months ago. Nadia becomes involves with twenty-one year old Luke Sheppard. He is the son of the preacher at the local chapel. They have a secret romance, and Nadia finds herself pregnant. During employment at the local chapel, Aubrey Evans becomes Nadia’s best friend. She has moved to the area to live with her sister, leaving behind a difficult family situation. Nadia and Aubrey share a common motherless bond. We follow their relationship from the adolescent years to adulthood. This wonderful novel explores friendships, secrets, loss and shame.

The book is narrated in part by the elderly women, or “mothers” of the church. These women keep track of the gossip from the Upper Room Chapel where these families congregate.

The Mothers is a story about people and how life happens while we are living it. A main point that I took away from the book is that when we withhold information, feelings can get hurt and damage the relationships we cherish. Decisions or errors that we make in the formative years can creep up on us later in life. We aren’t without flaws.

I did not want to put the book down, so the laundry in my house did not get folded for a few days. This is a debut novel. I am thrilled that another novel is in the works.

Overall it was an okay read. I was hooked on the book waiting for the climax and expected a little more detail when it hit. A book about love, friendship, betrayal and family. Disappointed in the ending but would recommend this to a girlfriend or to read at book club.

My Book Club just finished reading Brit's book. We agreed it was simply painful to get through. After 20 years of teaching 8th grade English, I felt it was written by one of my students. If you want to read a book filled with high school drama, go ahead. It addressed teen pregnancy and other poignant issues, but not in a way that made us ever want to recommend it.

The plot turned in a direction I didn't like and would not have read the book had I known. Don't like stories about lying, cheating, gossip. If you don't mind that negative stuff it would be a good book. Not for me

I thought the book was okay but my book club members panned it. They thought the characters were undeveloped and it left you hanging. I guess I wasn’t expecting a fabulous read so I was more lenient on the author. Just okay.

It's a good book. It got a little slow towards the middle and I had stopped reading it for a while. But I saw it somewhere else and I still wanted to know why it was called, "The Mothers". So I continued reading and got my answer. I don't regret my decision.

It caught my attention from the first sentence and never let go. I felt like I was really getting to know the characters and watch their lives unfold. If this is her debut novel, I can't wait for more.

On average I read about two books per week. This is the worst book I have read in a long time. The constant abortion shame is downright oppressive. This book could have been so much better and the author should have done better.

I think about Brit Bennett's characters a lot after reading this book. I wonder how they're doing and where they are, which is a testament to how well written and realistic they are. The novel is heartbreaking, and as a resident of Oceanside, it has a special place in my heart. I recommend this book wholeheartedly and can't wait to read more of Bennett's writing.

I could not stop turning the pages. I wanted to climb inside the pages of this book and hug Nadia Turner. She became a part of my life and I wondered what she was doing when I was not with her. This book will haunt me.

An absolutely stunning debut novel by Brit Bennett. Rather than being annoyed, upset, irritated by the characters and their actions, their stories tear at your heart. The novel shows how tender, fragile, and clumsy love can make you feel. It was delightful despite the heart ache.

This one not only didn't live up to the hype for me, I just didn't care for it. I felt it started strong and then just went steadily downhill. And I found the intro of every chapter having that The Mothers bit to mostly be a strange distraction.

I think my expectations were too high because of all the buzz for this book. It was just ok to me. I kept waiting for something big to happened but nothing. It was really drawn out to me and very slow. Also I didn't like the ending.

First half of book was great, then went downhill. Ending was terrible- rushed, sloppy and never really tied up. She left main character, who author built story around, with no ending. Very disappointing!!!

this story seemed to die after the 4th chapter. I felt like I was reading just to be reading and I hate when that happens. I kept wondering what is the purpose of this story and honestly, I didn't find one.

I don't understand the good reviews this book has received. It seemed more of a plot outline than a well-developed novel. The characters were never developed and remained uninteresting. I finished it just to finish it and try to see what the hype was about. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

This is a story about how an abortion by a teenage mother ruined her life and the lives of the boyfriend, her best friend, her father, the boyfriend's parents and caused a collapse of the church that was central to all of their lives. This is a ridiculous story promoting an anti-choice message.

The mothers are those from the Upper Room, the older women who stand over their congregation, sometimes quietly sitting back, taking note of the changes, the moods, of those whose bodies are in the pews and whose minds are not. They sit in judgment, handing out opinions, conclusions, decisions and verdicts on who should be spending less time carousing and more time serving others. They’ve seen it all in all their years, there’s no surprising them, but it doesn’t stop them from singing out a little story now and then, some tale that might begin with “now you didn’t hear it from me, but…”

”If we laid all our lives toes to heel, we were born before the Depression, the Civil War, even America itself. In all that living, we have known men. Oh girl, we have known littlebit love. That littlebit of honey left in an empty jar that traps the sweetness in your mouth long enough to mask your hunger. We have run tongues over teeth to savor that last littlebit as long as we could, and in all our living, nothing has starved us more.”

Nadia Turner is seventeen the year her mother kills herself, leaving herself and her father behind with an ever-changing, never-ending list of unanswered questions which all boiled down to one: Why?

”Her father propped his sadness on a pew, but she put her sad in places no one could see.”

Nadia’s plans include college, a degree, a life away from the place where her mother’s ghost is in the sympathetic eyes of everyone, in the familiar places where they walked together, all she hears now is the endless refrain of “why?” with every step. Alcohol and sex can only offer her momentary diversions, but a chance to be somewhere new, different, un-haunted by her mother’s un-presence, and she thinks maybe then, there, that she can breathe again. Live again. Think of other thoughts again.

”Since then, the girl had earned a wild reputation – she was young and scared and trying to hide her scared in her prettiness. And she was pretty, beautiful even, with amber skin, silky long hair, and eyes swirled brown and gray and gold. Like most girls, she’d already learned that pretty exposes you and pretty hides you and like most girls, she hadn’t yet learned how to navigate the difference. So we heard all about her sojourns across the border to dance clubs in Tijuana, the water bottle she carried around Oceanside High filled with vodka, the Saturdays she spent on base playing pool with Marines, nights that ended with her heels pressed against some man’s foggy window. Just tales, maybe, except for one we now know is true: she spent her senior year of high school rolling around in bed with Luke Sheppard and come springtime, his baby was growing inside her.”

Decisions must be made. Nadia knows what she’s always wanted for herself, how can she possibly do that with a child? She knows that’s not possible.

Through the months that follow, Nadia and Luke’s relationship changes, pulling away from each other, and Nadia finds some comfort in the friendship of a girl she only vaguely knows from church. Quiet and shy Aubrey, the girl who wears a chastity ring, their common ground being the lack of a mother in each of their lives, Aubrey’s mother having chosen her latest boyfriend over her daughter. Through Nadia, Aubrey comes out of her self-protective bubble a little, gains a little self-confidence, and relaxes enough that she finds herself smitten with Luke Sheppard.

I loved this story from the very first pages. I smiled when I read the first paragraph, knowing already that I would love this. And while I would have likely read this eventually, when I was contacted by Quarterly, offering me a sample box of their latest selection, “The Mothers,” I agreed to try it out. I knew I would not be able to read it right away, but I was intrigued by how they would “add value” to the featured book. When it arrived, aside from “The Mothers,” it included Toni Morrison’s “Sula” and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “We Should All Be Feminists” in addition to a few extra goodies including a mug and some literary tea (Jane Eyre). Throughout the pages of “The Mothers” are post-it notes, handwritten by Brit Bennett, some of her thoughts, background information, musings. An appreciated touch, giving this novel that already felt so very personal an extra personal touch. It really added an extra facet for me, an idea of what was going through her mind when she wrote this. It reminded me of sitting on the porch with my aunt, or my godmother, where we would take turns reading and discussing the book we were reading – and those conversations always included how they related to these stories, how it reminded them of this or that. That personal touch, a thought that added some new insight.

Brit Bennett began writing this novel when she was seventeen, herself – the same age as Nadia. Ms. Bennett, herself, grew up in Oceanside, with big plans for her future. I’d say that with this debut novel, her future looks big and bright.

This story is told with an unwavering authenticity that engages the reader from beginning to end. Brit Bennett slips completely into each character’s point of view, sparing nothing in shedding light on the suffering her characters experience.
I appreciate how the story gives a nuanced male perspective on abortion, particularly because this young black man has such a rich inner life that he is unable to share with anyone, though we sense he would desperately like to.
Though this novel tackles difficult contemporary issues such as the role of church in everyday life, abortion, suicide, sexuality, and infertility, it deals with each gently, only exploring the humanity that pulses at the heart of each.

I like that the book tackled abortion and showed it as an act that never really leaves you. It was not a callous and impetous act tjat was forgotten as soon as it was committed. I do not like that Nadia and Aubrey were so dependent on Luke. They almost defined themselves by their relationship to him. They were strong characters and they had their demons that definitely defined a portion of them but I guess it was not good enough. I hate that they turned Nadia into a home wrecker and that it was her best friend's husband. I hate even more that Aubrey went back to him.

The weaving of the stories through multiple perspectives was deftly done. Really enjoyed the prose, and the visual feel. The characters make some heart breaking choices, which is what makes a character real - they frustrate us, as people do. Very strong debut novel.