Title: My Evil MotherAuthor: Margaret Atwood
First Published: April 1, 2022
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Genre: Coming of Age, Historical Fiction, Humor, Short Stories
Format: Ebook
Source: Free Promotion
Rating:
Synopsis:
Life is hard enough for a teenage girl in 1950s suburbia without having a mother who may—or may not—be a witch. A single mother at that. Sure, she fits in with her starched dresses, string of pearls, and floral aprons. Then there are the hushed and mystical consultations with neighborhood women in distress. The unsavory, mysterious plants in the flower beds. The divined warning to steer clear of a boyfriend whose fate is certainly doomed. But as the daughter of this bewitching homemaker comes of age and her mother’s claims become more and more outlandish, she begins to question everything she once took for granted.
Review
This little short story was a surprise and a delight! I didn’t know what to expect at first glance from this book, but that made it more fun I think. My Evil Mother is a short and cheeky story about mothers and daughters, about how frustrating our mothers can be, how crazy they can seem when we are young. The narrator’s mother is a total crystal mom, always brewing strange herbal remedies, consulting tarot cards, and spouting off things that seem like utter nonsense. The narrator is embarrassed by her eccentric mom, a single mother, the target of gossip and jeering.
I appreciated the way that the story subverts the expectations of difficult mother-daughter relationships. I could relate in a lot of ways, I still think my mother as crazy, no one gets me angry quite like she does, and I know very well that she thinks that I rebelled against her because that’s what teenage daughters do (and I was not at all a wild kid). Now that I’m a mother of two darling daughters, one of which just turned thirteen, I found this witty little story to be especially endearing. I laughed out loud pretty much the entire time I read it, and then read it to my husband after, it was a fun read that I can easily recommend.
Quote
“The protector was her, the greater power was her, the Universe that took an interest was her as well; always her.”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College. Margaret Atwood’s longtime partner was fellow writer Graeme Gibson.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers’ Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
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