Monday, August 24, 2015

Things you've inherited from your mother by Hollie Adams

3 Star

Everyone deals with grief in their own personal way. Take Carrie, for example. To get over her mother’s death from ovarian cancer, she launches a passive-aggressive war with her fellow office workers, embarks on a campaign designed to let her ex-husband know she’s over him (which naturally only pushes her teenage daughter farther away), and plots to rid herself of her mother’s overweight cat, all the while consuming heroic quantities of red wine, spiked coffee, and coffin nails. Nobody’s perfect.

Situated at the midpoint between booze-soaked mayhem and middle-aged ennui, Things You’ve Inherited From Your Mother is a riotous assemblage of found objects, Choose Your Own Adventure-style in-jokes and useful facts about mice. In her startlingly funny first novel, Hollie Adams takes the conventional wisdom about “likeable” literary heroines and shoves it down an elevator shaft. 



Sabrina-Kate - 3 Star

Having recently been through loss myself, the idea of this book appealed to me because as it says, “Everyone deals with grief in their own personal way.” I thought that this book would be a little bit more serious about the topic but it turned out to be much more of a humorous oeuvre instead. I suppose that this preconception of mine changed what I thought about it somewhat. I did enjoy the book for what it was though I found the characters very strange and hard to feel for or like at times.

Carrie appeared to be spiraling out of control following the loss of her mother, which is something 
that anyone who is touched by grief probably feels at some time. The extremes she went to though are what I found a little difficult to appreciate or understand. As the mother of a teenage daughter, I would have hoped she would be able to hold it together a little bit more for her child.

The writing style was unique and the story was like none other, but I am not sure that it would be a story that would have mass appeal unless you like a story that is unapologetically unique and very zany. Not necessarily my cup of tea, especially when dealing with such a serious topic, though the comic relief might be just what some are searching for.

Thank you to NeWest Press for our review copy.  All opinions are our own.



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