Stine Pilgaard's "My Mother Says" is a touching and humorous portrayal of the complexities within family relationships. The story follows the quirky, relatable protagonist, who's caught in the throes of midlife crisis. Pilgaard's witty and candid prose delves into the intertwining dynamics of motherhood, identity, and personal growth. With a perfect blend of humor and heart, this novel offers a deep exploration of family bonds and the quest for self-acceptance. "My Mother Says" is a delightful and thought-provoking journey that will resonate with readers navigating the ups and downs of life and family.

Really enjoyed this. The narrator has just broken up with her girlfriend and trying to get n with life with the help of friends, her mother and father and a very patient doctor. It’s written with lots of humour and wordplay that had me smiling, the words just roll along. Nice bits about relationships, language and communication, and falling in love.

This is definitely a book for a specific audience, I didnt love it but didnt hate either. It was an interesting read and perspective.of an adult child's relationships with ones parents. It was a quick read and overall just ok, there is no plot really so not much else to report.

Do yourself a favor and save your money, this book is absolutely awful. There is absolutely nothing redeemable about it.

This novella by Danish author, Stine Pilgaard, about heartbreak and loss was delightfully entertaining.

It took me a few chapters to get used to the writing, but once I did I really enjoyed it.

Synopsis:

The narrator’s long-term girlfriend has just broken things off, forcing her to move back in with her father, a Pink Floyd–loving priest.

While she desperately tries to convince her girlfriend to reconsider, the rest of the world bombards her with advice: from her childhood friend Mulle to her kindly therapist to her overbearing mother and card-playing father.

Bumbling through the fog of disillusionment, the narrator gives herself permission to grieve, philosophize, and be generally outrageous until at last she sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

My Mother Says is a compendium of conversations between people who talk past one another in a universe of misplaced good intentions.

In this whirlwind of memories, confessions, temper tantrums, and declarations of love Pilgaard’s sheer affection for her characters turns the pain of a broken heart into a heartwarming comedy of errors.

Given the protagonist is a part of the LGBTIQA+ community, it was a perfect book to read during Pride Month. 🌈

A wonderful literary read.

Thank you to #stinepilgaard and #NetGalley for a copy in exchange of an honest review.

Pub date: 6 June 2023

this book is a "no plot, just vibes" perfection✨
it was about the mc's struggle as she tries to move on from a breakup; she narrates her conversations with her parents, doctor and bestfriend. in between the chapters, there's the
'monologues of a seahorse' chapters (which has 12 parts interjected in the book)that i absolutely adore ! it was poetic, beautifully-written prose of the inner thoughts of the main character towards her ex-girlfriend.
i was kind of doubtful when i started reading this because of the writing style but i got the hang of it as i continue to make progress around the first quarter.


my overall reading experience of the book was great and i highly recommend it to literary fiction lovers like me.

I had previously enjoyed reading The Land of Short Sentences so I had My Mother Says by Stine Pilgaard on my wishlist and appreciate the opportunity to be able to read it. Once again it features an endearing narrator who is insecure and funny and trying to figure life out. It captures her relationships with her divorced parents, with her best friend, with her recent ex and with a new partner as well as exploring things such as how we use language.

Every page of this book felt like time spent with a friend, or something closer. It held me in its embrace as I held it in my hands. From the fraught and not-so- parent/daughter relationships, to the collection and loss of lovers, and beyond I feel like I understand myself a little better having read it--in where I felt kinship with the narrator and where I didn't. This is one of the best books I've read this year, and I can't wait to be able to share it with the masses in a month.

The aftermath of a break up. Told in a unique way through conversation. The characters were quirky and the writing was lyrical. If you are looking for a plot driven book where things happen and resolutions are clear this is not the book for you. I did enjoy the writing style and will seek out other books by the author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC of this

Very poetic. Not my usual style but I thought it was a good translation. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Three stars.

Four stars for enjoyment—I found this mostly delightful—but with some major caveats. Recommended for fans of Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly and Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin.

The good:

When it’s good (which is most of the time), it’s charming and funny, alternately conversational and poetic. It made me laugh many times, and I highlighted a lot of passages. There are some really lovely passages about falling in love, including one about an imaginary pizzeria that made me tear up. The characters are vivid (with one notable exception, though said character doesn’t appear until the last third of the book).

The “not necessarily bad, but will be a turnoff to some readers”:

The main character is a hot mess and engages in a lot of emotionally unhealthy behavior (screaming at her ex over nothing, calling her ex five times a day, getting blackout drunk and smashing a window for no discernible reason). Personally, I enjoy reading about messy characters making bad decisions, but I can definitely see how some people would find this character too annoying (or like...arguably emotionally abusive) to enjoy. If I met her in real life, I’d probably find her exhausting and unbearable a lot of the time. If a friend of mine was dating her, I’d be concerned. But as a fictional character, I find her fun to read about. Her girlfriend says she’s breaking up with her because she’s not happy in their relationship, and the main character replies, “Misery is a condition of the human existence, haven’t you read Camus.” NO WONDER SHE BROKE UP WITH YOU!!!

The main character also seems rather spoiled and faces very few consequences for anything. (And I say this as someone who has had a very privileged life myself.) She’s not an heiress or anything, but she never really seems to worry about money, even though she’s a student. I don’t know, maybe that’s normal in Denmark? Her dad immediately gets her out of (admittedly minor) legal trouble by writing a check, and he doesn’t even seem upset about it. It’s not that I wanted her to be imprisoned (which she wasn’t, anyway), but the whole thing felt very “white girl faces no consequences because her dad pays for everything.”

The bad:

The main character and her mom make a number of passing comments that invoke racial stereotypes about cultures that they probably don’t actually know anything about (e.g. “Indian” smoke signals, dancing around totem poles). But much worse than that is the main character’s friend Mulle’s grandmother. Mulle’s grandmother makes a number of blatantly offensive comments about Black people, Muslims, and queer people. She technically doesn’t say slurs, but you can tell she’s using that tone where she might as well have used a slur. For example, she says of Michael Jackson: “once black, always black, but at least he tried to look like us.”

To be clear: I do NOT think that portraying a behavior in fiction is the same as endorsing that behavior in real life. I am NOT saying that the author agrees with Mulle’s grandmother. The other characters clearly know that Mulle’s grandmother’s comments are wrong, and Mulle sort of perfunctorily protests the comments with liberal bromides like “It’s all right for people to be different.”

HOWEVER. Nobody in the book actually seems particularly bothered by Mulle’s grandmother’s racism. She’s very much portrayed as a charmingly uncouth old lady who says outrageous things but is lovable overall. For example, she has an amusing unrequited crush on the main character’s dad. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people contain multitudes, and that sometimes you love people who are terrible. It’s not that I want Mulle’s grandmother to be a cartoon villain. It’s that the book clearly really wants us to find her adorable, even as it also goes out of its way to show us how egregiously racist she is. Like the book thinks that racism is just bad manners, just an embarrassing but innocuous quirk, like audibly farting in church.