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REVIEW
Which Mother are You? Which side you’re on in the “Mommy Wars” is really simple, right? I mean, you either stay at home with your kids, and love it, or you go to work and you love it, right? You never struggle with your choice, right? Never think that the other side might have it better, right? Right? Well…not if you’re human. The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross is all about that struggle, both within and without. Amanda and Thea are next door neighbors and mommies who’ve made two very different choices. One stays home with her kids; the other takes the train into the city to work every day, leaving her baby with a nanny. The two women try to be friends, but their defensiveness about their choices gets in the way, and soon the war has come to their street – the battle both with each other and inside themselves. Gross is brutally honest when it comes to the prejudices and feelings these two moms have. She almost embarrasses you by echoing secret horrible things you’ve thought, yet relieves you at the same time, by echoing those thoughts you wondered if only you had. I found myself loving one character and finding the other despicable through most of the book, until I realized that I was just identifying with the character who most resembled me. But then, when the introspection hit too close to home – got too bald-faced – I began to gravitate to the other pole. By the end I wasn’t sure which mother I was…which, I believe, was Gross’ point. Gross has a beautiful literary voice and the characters are real, and in their own ways, subtly amazing. Things happen that both stun the reader and seem right in place. The Other Mother was a book I looked forward to picking up every night.
Jennifer Brown is a freelance writer in Liberty, Missouri. The two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck global humor award (2005 & 2006), Jennifer's humor column appears in The Kansas City Star. Contact Jennifer and check out her work at www.jennifunny.com.
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