Mothers, Tell Your Daughters

August 3, 2015
After 2011’s novel Once upon a River, National Book Award–finalist Campbell returns to the realm of food stamps, liquored nights, and deadbeat men in an aptly titled short story collection populated by beleaguered mothers and their tetchy, trouble-courting offspring. In “To You, as a Woman,” a gang-rape victim and single mother laments her later irresponsible choices and contemplates the fate of her two young children while waiting for STD lab results. The paranoid maternal figure in “Tell Yourself” drives away her new beau after wrongfully accusing him of showing an interest in her teenage daughter. In “My Dog Roscoe,” a hormonal and pregnant new bride imagines her dead ex-fiancé inhabiting the soul of a stray dog in need of adoption. The title story unfolds as a sprint-down-memory-lane rant from a hospice-bound, cancer-ridden woman to her daughter. “Forgive me, even if I can’t say I’m sorry,” she says—an apology uttered in one way or another by many of the mothers in this collection. Campbell has made a career chronicling the triumphs and hardships of the perpetually marginalized, with an acute talent for airing the dirty laundry of tough-as-nails, ill-treated women. And though this new batch traverses similar territory instead of, perhaps, something new, most of the stories succeed so thoroughly that it’s hard not to think: if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

December 1, 2015

These dark stories of women's lives in rural Michigan are funny, poignant, and depressing by turns. Each tale tells of common conflicts and how family members fail one another, though they try hard and some eventually recognize mistakes they have made. Some of the stories present a "lady and the tiger" ending, leaving readers to wonder at the outcome and hope the protagonists can find their way to a positive ending All of the women and girls are strong characters, while many of the men skew closer to caricatures. Narrator Christina Delaine gives life to the various personae. VERDICT An enjoyable listen for those who enjoy gritty, hard-luck stories. ["Bittersweet stories of unbearable heartache, sadness, and sometimes love": LJ 8/15 starred review of the Norton hc.]--Cheryl Youse, Norman Park, GA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.