July 29, 2015
This collection of short stories is tied together by the common theme of mothers and their children. Most of the stories revolve around Ruby and her daughter Nora, though there are three unrelated short stories about modern mothers. The title story was one of these, a second-person narrative about a mother coping with her teenage daughter's eating disorder.
All of the stories were good, but I wanted more of Ruby and Nora. Ruby got pregnant while in college in the early 1960s. The father bails, and most of the stories are about her and Nora as the years go by, leading up to Nora at the age that her mother got pregnant, struggling between having a stable older boyfriend and wanting to be 20-years-old, being irresponsible sometimes. We never know if she takes an interesting job offer, though I'd assume yes.
It doesn't surprise me that the blurb at the front of this book is from a review in Oprah's magazine. The target audience is definitely women, as the stories show the complex relationships between mothers and daughters. I won't get into any details, but I'll just say that I envy women of my generation who are friends with their mothers. Though Ruby and Nora had a close relationship, they definitely butted heads. I would read more by Serber (this seems to be her only book so far), but I would specifically read more about Ruby and Nora.
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