Mary Coin
Ratings7
Average rating3.9
Bestselling author Marisa Silver takes Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photograph as inspiration for a story of two women—one famous and one forgotten—and their remarkable chance encounter. In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of the road in central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting migrant laborers in search of work. Few personal details are exchanged and neither woman has any way of knowing that they have produced one of the most iconic images of the Great Depression. In present day, Walker Dodge, a professor of cultural history, stumbles upon a family secret embedded in the now-famous picture. In luminous prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief event in history and its repercussions throughout the decades that follow—a reminder that a great photograph captures the essence of a moment yet only scratches the surface of a life.
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I picked this novel up on a whim at the library because I've always found the photo featured on the front cover (Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange) to be such an arresting image. The idea of telling the story behind that photo was quite interesting to me, and I'm happy to say the novel was a compelling read. I loved the writing, each of the three main characters was fascinating, and the look at life during the 1930s was completely engrossing. Especially poignant to me was the author's decision to make each of the mothers in the book face difficult choices for her children, and the results of both of their choices. This is a really excellent novel, and I'd love to read more of this author's work.
I came across this book after I read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Kristin's book was so beautifully tragic and I wanted to stay in that time period of immense struggle. It is an interesting idea to imagine a story behind the photo of the “Migrant Mother” and what her life may have looked like and how that photo came about. I understand the reason behind the current day history professor his story but I could have done without that part of the book. That's personal preference as I thought the book would have been compelling even without that storyline. It seems that dual storylines are popular with novelists but sometimes it's not necessary.
