A Mother's Love

March 1, 1993
An accomplished writer of fiction ( The Waiting Room ) and nonfiction ( Nothing to Declare ), Morris here creates a sensitive, intriguing and touching portrait of a single mother struggling with eternal issues that are given a timely twist. Narrator Ivy Slovak, a California-born and Nevada-raised jewelry designer, lives in Manhattan with her infant son. Although the baby's father, Matthew, claims no interest in parenthood, he occasionally wavers in his resolve--an excruciating tease for the financially strapped and emotionally isolated new mother. Moreover, Ivy is swamped by memories of her own mother, who deserted her and her father when Ivy was seven, taking with her Ivy's younger sister. Unwilling to accept maternal abandonment, Ivy has gone so far as to hire a private detective. Meanwhile, other motherly figures enter her life: neighbor Mara, who hands down baby clothes and gentle advice, and Viviana, the brusque but kind baby-sitter. An infertile couple provides an ironic contrast to Ivy's excess of parenting responsibilities. As usual, Morris's writing is mature and insightful as she explores the new perspective from which a mother views and hears familiar sights and sounds: the faces of missing children on milk cartons; a TV nature show about birds raising their young; the quickening footsteps of a stranger behind her in the subway. This novel of loss and hope indeed reveals how ``our lives are shaped as much by those who refuse to love us as by those who do.''

February 15, 1993
In her warm, poignant third novel (after The Waiting Room, LJ 5/15/89), Morris tells the story of a young, single mother struggling to raise her baby in New York. Jewelry designer Ivy Slovak decides to have her son, Bobby, even though her boyfriend cannot commit to marriage or fatherhood. Meanwhile, Ivy's past haunts her present emotional life. She finds it difficult to relate to Bobby, as she herself has never been the object of maternal love; her mother deserted her when she was seven years old, taking Ivy's younger sister with her. Flashbacks describe Ivy's youth with her gambling, itinerant father in the Southwest. In the present, she continually scans the nameless faces of the city, seeking her lost mother and sister. Realistic characters, beautiful descriptions, and a compelling examination of a modern social problem distinguish this novel, which is highly recommended.-- Stephanie Furtsch, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y.

Copyright 1993 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 1993
In this very satisfying, quietly provocative novel, Morris introduces a young woman who has recently given birth to a boy. The decision to have the child has severed Ivy's relationship with the baby's father and, for herself, churns up complex, painful feelings from the past. Abandoned by her own beautiful and capricious mother, Ivy is consumed with finding both her and a sister, both of whom left one day and were never heard from again. Moving between Ivy's day-to-day coping with being a single parent and her memories of a bizarre childhood, Morris delves into the ordeal of motherhood and penetrates its mysteries. On view here is the mastery of a writer in her prime, revealed in the palpable restraint of the writing and the hypnotic tempo of a commanding story. ((Reviewed Mar. 15, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)