The Wrong Mother

Very very fun. I never really read mystery/thriller fiction, but maybe I should. This was fun.

Briefly: modern UK setting. The cast: An OFF. THE. RAILS. 39yo first-time mom and her shrieking newborn. A little old lady who is super crotchety and has blood splatters all over her rug. Glorious.

I really enjoyed this one. It was basically a PG-13 thriller, not too gory (thank God), centered around - ahem - “women's issues”. And y'all know how NUTS - NUTS, I TELL YOU - 39 year old women with their biological clocks can get. I was cackling with demented 40-year-old glee throughout.

Ever since becoming a parent and, much more importantly, an AUNTIE, I feel like I've graduated into this weird new realm of middle-aged womanhood. And it's great. Now I get where “old wives tales”, etc, come from. I UNDERSTAND THE MYSTIC WOMANHOOD. That shit comes from this off the rails brew of aunties cluckin' and judgin', generation upon generation. Doing all the laundry. Getting crapped on by the patriarchy. And having just a helluva time.

I should also specify: an aunt is someone whose sibling has a child. AN AUNTIE is someone who is just a middle-aged lady UP IN YOUR BUSINESS and ready to hit you with a shoe. “Auntie” is what kids in India call you when they perceive you as OLD - believe me, the pain was deep when I was “auntied” in my early 30s, after many years of being called “didi” (big sister). But now that I am here, in my - as Gloria Steinem promised - increasingly fem radicalized middle-aged, I AM PUMPED.

Anyway, so this is, what I would like to call, AUNTIE LIT. It features tiny babies, incompetent and competent mothering, 1 stupid man, and just all sorts of catnip for the auntie set. I AM HERE FOR IT. Also, give me that baby, I will take care of it, you don't know what you're doing.

3.5 Stars