Missing Mom
A Novel
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3.7 • 38 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Nikki Eaton, single, thirty-one, sexually liberated, and economically self-supporting, has never particularly thought of herself as a daughter. Yet, following the unexpected loss of her mother, she undergoes a remarkable transformation during a tumultuous year that brings stunning horror, sorrow, illumination, wisdom, and even—from an unexpected source—a nurturing love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oates's latest returns to upstate New York's Mount Ephraim, the setting of We Were the Mulvaneys, Oates's 1996 novel a 2001 Oprah pick about one family's privilege and decay. This time, Oates turns to the middle class: narrator Nikki Eaton, 31, is a reporter for the smalltown Beacon and her family's black sheep. She's having an affair with a married DJ; she barely tolerates her widowed mother, Gwen, and her homemaker sister, Clare. As the novel opens, Nikki arrives at Gwen's Mother's Day party with newly spiked, "inky-maroon" hair and contempt for Gwen's cooking, one-story house and endless munificence to her ragtag guests. Two days later, Gwen is murdered by an ex-con. Chronicling Nikki's year following Gwen's death, the novel includes some wonderfully precise emotional observations. But more often the prose sags beneath the weight of banal information and a story line too redolent of pulp. Naturally, the "swarthy" police detective investigating Gwen's murder initially seems repulsive, and naturally, in the novel's final pages, Nikki thinks: "I had not noticed in the past how strong his profile was." There are no surprises, that's for sure. And yet the novel is so conventional and relentlessly detailed that it can't help showing its characters behaving in ways that resonate.
Customer Reviews
Well Done
This book moves from slow-paced to nail-biting and back again. The story is entertaining and emotional. The main character, though frustrating at times, ends up feeling like a good person to spend an afternoon or late night read with. In addition to the plot, the prose is highly enjoyable.
Missing Mom
Nikki, the central character, takes some getting used to. She seems aloof and insincere at times but she is worth getting to know. As the story develops so does one's empathy for her as she struggles to connect with a family that seems to be falling away from her. She resolves issues slowly, but with her own style and eventually a warmth replaces the frost. Amusing and obnoxious characters step in (and out) of her life and it is easy to feel you have known all of them personally. Like many of her books, I reached the end with a sense of melancholy and accomplishment. It is hard to step away from a decent story.