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MotherKind |
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 MotherKind byJayne Anne Phillips Alfred E. Knopf 304 pages, 2000 ISBN 0375401946 Reviewed by Andrea Collare Floating within the bookends of the beginning of a new life and the ending of an old life, Kate copes with the birth of her first child while caring for her dying mother. Her present life is ruled by this upheaval as she marries the father of her baby, who also bestows her with an instant family of two rambunctious stepsons. To escape her tumultuous world, Kate drifts in and out of reality in frequent dreamlike remembrance of the past that has shaped her. Written mainly in stream of consciousness, MotherKind is a contemplative journey of life, death and the seemingly insignificant things that happen in between. Jayne Anne Phillips has a poetic grasp of the English language. Her images of daily life and dialogue are intelligent and thought provoking. MotherKind curiously explores the true fragility of life. Readers who have had similar experiences will be able to relate to the surreal detachment that Phillips endows in the main character. |
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