2018 Book Review #32: That Kind of Mother

This is a new-to-me author and I found it most unusual that a male author wrote about motherhood in such a poignant and profound manner.

STORY SUMMARY

Rebecca Stone, a poet, is a new first-time mother.  It is 1985.  She's married to Christopher, a diplomat for England, based in Washington, D.C.

They are rather affluent and both are thrilled to have a son whom they named Jacob.  However, although they are overjoyed at this new baby, they are also feeling overwhelmed.

Rebecca is left to be a stay at home mom yet aspiring to be further along in her career as a poet.  She loves following the example of Diana, Princess of Wales, whom she thinks of as "perfect".  However, her chances of meeting Diana are slim.  So.....she idolizes her from afar.  However.....

Rebecca meets Priscilla Johnson, a lactation consultant at the hospital where Priscilla's daughter Cheryl, a newlywed, is a nurse.  Priscilla is soon hired by Rebecca and Christopher to be Jacob's nanny.  Priscilla is a person of color and knows everything about infants.  She makes everything look so easy.  She brings order to the Stone household and her presence really shakes up Rebecca's world.

Race becomes a key point in American society and soon it becomes a factor in Rebecca's life.  Rebecca begins to learn that she has blind-spots in her own privileged lifestyle and perceptions.  She does feel connected to Priscilla because Priscilla has taught her how to be a mother.  But then tragedy strikes.  Priscilla dies in childbirth leaving behind a daughter who has just given birth herself to a little girl named Ivy.  Priscilla's newborn son is soon embraced by Rebecca and named Andrew.  She gives Andrew all the things he needs in the first 3 months of his life, including a home.  Cheryl and her husband Ian agree that Rebecca and Christopher should adopt Andrew and so they do.

But Rebecca is unprepared to be the white mother of a black son.  Navigating motherhood will be a matter of learning how to raise two children whom she loves equally but whom the world is determined to treat differently.

Can she do it??

MY THOUGHTS

This book started out a bit slow, picked up, but then slowed down again.

I love the premise of this story but I wasn't thrilled with the characters, although they are very life-life.  Perhaps it's because the 80s, for me, was filled with college, single life, ministry, graduate school, teaching and finally engagement.  I was definitely not dealing with motherhood and don't fully understand the complexities of raising children who have different skin colors. 

I imagine it is a lot like what is very well described in the book.

This book has some psychological insights that all the characters inhabit.

There's a strange scene, which honestly I didn't fully understand, where the newly deceased Princess Diana appears to Rebecca in some kind of daydream.  I thought it was odd yet it brings out some concepts that Rebecca had to learn on her motherhood journey.

The main theme seems to be that families will fight to build a well-rounded family and that we will go to great lengths to keep the family intact.

This book also deals with divorce,  single motherhood, privilege vs. middle-class, race and prejudice in education and the community.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.