Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman ★★★★☆

Special thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing me with a an electronic advanced copy (E-ARC) of this book for a fair and honest review.

Read 12/17/19 – 12/19/19

This is a short story that follows a young girl with a negligent and abusive (mentally and physically) mother. We follow her as she struggles to cope with having to live with the atrocious human she has for a mother. This makes for a rich family drama that I love to read. It is all about the characters, their motivations, and their struggles. As a story, I think it works well. Hoffman takes the time to get us invested in the characters so that we care what is going on. Then she uses that in the climax of the story as the mother-daughter dynamic reaches its limit.

The only problem I had with the story was with the pacing. More specifically, the ending felt rushed. We spent so much time getting to the point where we were. Then Hoffman rushes to reach some type of resolution. As I read, I remember wondering if there was going to even be a conclusion or if the story was just the messed-up mother-daughter situation. Then comes the abrupt ending. This probably would have been resolved by taking more time to draw out the ending. Sure, it makes for a fast paced end, but it needs to meld with everything that preceded it.

All in all, it was a really good story, and I appreciate the opportunity to review it! 4/5 stars