In a Country of Mothers - Softcover

Homes, A.M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679742433 ISBN 13: 9780679742432

Publisher: Vintage, 1994

Synopsis

No relationship is more charged than that between a psychotherapist and her patient—unless it is the relationship between a mother and her daughter. This disturbing literary thriller explores what happens when the line between those relationships blurs.

Jody Goodman enters psychotherapy with questions of career and love on her mind. But Claire Roth, her therapist, keeps changing the focus of their sessions to Jody's parentage—Jody was adopted; Claire gave up a baby for adoption who would now be exactly Jody's age. As the two women become increasingly involved, speculation turns into certainty, fantasy into fixation. Until suddenly it is no longer clear just which of them needs the other more—or with more terrifying consequences.

About this title

About the Author:

A. M. Homes is the author of over 10 books including the novels May We Be Forgiven and Music for Torching; and the short story collection, Things You Should Know. Homes’s work has been translated into over 20 languages and she is a frequent contributor to Art Forum, Harpers, Granta, and more.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A shrink convinces herself that one of her patients is her lost daughter: the strong premise has a weak follow-through in Homes's first novel for adults (after her YA novel Jack, 1989, and her 1990 story collection, The Safety of Objects). When Claire Roth was in college, she became pregnant by her English professor. Dead-set against a back-alley abortion (this was 1966) and getting no sympathy from her ice-cold WASP parents, Claire was forced to give up her baby for adoption (by a Jewish family, she insisted). Now 43, a successful Manhattan therapist with a good marriage and two sons, she is still haunted by that early loss, still self-punishing. Her newest patient is Jody Goodman (whose viewpoint alternates with Claire's). The outwardly self-confident Jody, who works for a film producer, is getting the jitters over her imminent departure for UCLA's film school. Despite a wonderfully helpful mother, Jody has always had problems making changes and getting close to people. Is this related to her adoption? When Claire first sees the possibility that Jody is her daughter (times and places jibe), the therapist considers her own violent reaction as a countertransference problem; but then Claire starts behaving unprofessionally, fawning over Jody while neglecting her own family. After this tension, there is a falling- off. Jody leaves for California, escorted by her mother, and the only way Homes can reconnect her protagonists is to have Jody fly back east with a Mysterious Virus, while Claire is spinning her wheels. The climax is effectively ghoulish but resolves nothing. Snappy dialogue, transparently clear style, and characters handled with just the right amounts of sympathy and acerbity: Homes has a bright future--but, for now, readers have this intriguing if ultimately disappointing debut. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0679742433
• ISBN 13: 9780679742432
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288