Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur

☆☆☆☆
ebook, 232 pages
Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mariner Books
About the Book:
On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was fourteen, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five simple words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me. Adrienne instantly became her mother’s confidante and helpmate, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband’s closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne’s life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her life—and her mother—on her own terms. Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. It’s a remarkable story of resilience, a reminder that we need not be the parents our parents were to us.

Wild Game is a vivid, insightful daughter-mother memoir that explores the author's journey to know, understand and accept her beautiful, dynamic and unusual mother. Though the story is steeped in the unique details of the author's experience--a mother who commands attention and adoration but seems always just a step away from her daughter--it tells a universal story.

I enjoyed the style of writing, and taking me back to another time. It is refreshing to see a daughter who went through a lot of soul searching to find the way to love a mother for who she was, even if it meant recognizing that the person who was her ‘mother’ was not quite what you would expect. Adrienne Brodeur writes the book without contempt. As she peels away the layers of illusion and drama surrounding her mother, the author grows into her strong and talented womanhood. Loved the book...Highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mariner Books and Adrienne Brodeur for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

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