Mamele

I found this a deeply moving read. As a queer woman, the main character's experiences of rejection and never being fully accepted for who you are was all too familiar and brought back feelings of sadness and anger at my past experiences. It's an excellent read for anyone interested in child development and attachment theory.

Edie's Jewish emigrée mother Zelda is vividly depicted; the ghosts of WWII have marked her, as they have the other women of Carlton Mansions, albeit in different ways. Edie spends her childhood desperate for her mother's love, but her mother can never be fully present; she is either distant, dismissive or catatonic. Despite disowning her when she's a teenager, Edie's life is haunted by her mother.

Edie seems to live her life not questioning whether she deserves more than the wealthy and glamorous Joanna, who together with her husband Harry, takes her into her family estate as a 'friend of the family' (lover). Joanna gets to have her cake and eat it, leaving Edie with mere crumbs.

I found Edie's mute acceptance of her circumstances frustrating and sad, so it was heartening to see her start questioning her relationships later in the novel. You realise how her experiences have been coloured by the narrative she has of her mother, which isn't entirely accurate.

A cleverly written dissection of the mother-daughter relationship. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

Beautifully written and very powerful. Reeve’s writing was easy to read and took me on a journey. I was rooting for the main character Edie throughout as she navigated relationships and life.

Quietly powerful and written beautifully, this book was an absolute masterpiece. I adored Reeves’ writing, it was easy to lose myself in this book and Edie’s life. There was such an intense focus on the important of self and being, I was rooting for Edie the whole way through, desperately wanting her to find a glimpse of happiness and independence. The family dynamics were complex and unconventional, but I could still feel the love and loyalty between Edie and her sister. I also enjoyed the time jumps, it felt like we were on a journey with Edie as she dug through her own trauma and key life moments. This was a real triumph of a novel, with enriched characters and a wonderfully fresh message. Gorgeous.

Mamele is a raw, tender and honest look at female relationships of all different kinds and one woman coming into her own, finding her own way in the world and coming to terms with her past. Our queer main character seems surrounded by fraught and uncertain relationships which mirrors how she feels about her life. Following her journey in tackling these relationships head on and deciding how she wants to move through the world was so charming and earnest.

Heartfelt, raw and real. Slaps you in the face, hugs you, apologises, then repeats. A gorgeous depiction of growing up queer with a sprinkle of unabashed shame.

A thoroughly engaging and deeply compelling novel which is beautifully written. Complex family dynamics are written thoughtfully creating a powerful narrative. The characters were beautifully developed over the novel making a very engaging read. I absolutely loved it.

I've just finished this book. It's been with me for a week. I didn't want to finish it because it was so good. Also sad, raw and gritty, rough and different, a bit like a melancholy arthouse film with dim lighting where you know at the beginning that it's going to be a bizarre ending that can mean everything and nothing and where the last shot is blurred and faded out.

A mother daughter story. An unsettling one. One that got under my skin. Even if it's about more than that. About family trauma, generational trauma, queerness, escape, holochaust, depression, role models, art, the desire to be close to the own mother, recognising that the mother had a difficult life, recognising that the narrating voice had and has a shitty life, patterns that we reproduce and, in the end, making your own decisions and perhaps breaking free. There are definitely a lot of smart things to say about this book that I didn't uncover in the way I read it. For me, the aspect of forgiveness, or in Edie's case, not forgiving her mother for her absence and coldness was insanely powerful. A story in which not everything is tidy and whole from all sides at the end, but healing nonetheless. It’s a heartbreaking story and it’s a brilliant one.