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A NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Exquisite and harrowing." â??New York Times Book Review "This electrifying, gorgeously written memoir will hold you captive until the last word." â??People NAMED A BEST FALL BOOK BY People * Refinery29 * Entertainment Weekly * BuzzFeed * NPR's On Point * Town & Country * Real Simple * New York Post * Palm Beach Post * Toronto Star * Orange Country Register * Bustle * Bookish * BookPage * Kirkus* BBC Culture* Debutiful A daughter's tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity. On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was fourteen, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five simple words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me.
Adrienne instantly became her mother's confidante and helpmate, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband's closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne's life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her lifeâ??and her motherâ??on her own terms. Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. It's a remarkable story of resilience, a reminder that we need not be the parents our parents were… (more)
When Brodeur was in her early teens, her mother took her into confidence, revealing that she had begun an affair with her husband's best friend. In this memoir Brodeur details the trajectory of that clandestine relationship, Brodeur's own involvement in it, and though it took her many years to accept it, the innumerable ways it messed her up. Reading this book was like watching the proverbial train wreck — even though it was just overflowing with dysfunctional relationships, psychological manipulation and deceit, I couldn't stop turning pages. So while it ticked the boxes for engaging and entertaining, I'm not sure what made it a story worthy of publishing. The writing is skilled, but other than feeling grateful that I don't come from nearly as dysfunctional a family, I don't feel like a really got much out of it. Recommended if you, too, just want to feel better about your own family. ( )
This memoir opens with a startling event: the 14 year old narrator's mother bursts into her room to share that she has been kissed by her husband's best friend. That a parent would seek out a young teenager to be her confidante and co-conspirator in adultery shows us what the mother, Malabar, and the daughter, Adrienne (Rennie) are made of. The writing is excellent here - the pacing, the plot, Rennie's description of her own excitement and shame, and her subsequent bout with depression - and it's almost enough to feel that Rennie's complicity is justified. But not Malabar's - she is also the daughter of a horrorshow mother - which still can't vindicate her selfish actions, nor can the divorce of Rennie's parents and the early death of their first child. I chose this book because I heard the author at a local reading in Beverly, MA, supporting her wonderful new novel Little Monsters, and you too should read them as a satisfying set. ( )
What a raw and emotional memoir that Adrienne (Rennie to her family) has written. At 14 she became a co-conspirator in her mother (Malabar) love affair with her second husband's best friend. This went on for years but they both had spouses.
I felt that Rennie loved Malabar but felt that Malabar was only using her for this purpose. Then it gets complicated even more when Rennie marries Malabar's lovers son.
Quite an emotional read and by the epilogue I was getting emotional. ( )
I could not put this memoir down. Which is saying a lot given I am in the middle of a cross country move.
At its heart, this is the story of a psychologically painful mother/daughter relationship in the context of significant wealth. I am no psychologist, but Rennie's mother is a narcissist if ever there was one, and it's interesting to see how the mother/daughter relationship evolves over time the daughter finally begins to recognize it. ( )
Reminded me of The Glass Castle, but I see that comparison has been made already. It was a fairly interesting story, in a can't-look-away car crash kind of way, and the author wrote beautifully. But still, it is at its essence, another Mommy Dearest story. It's a family story made for daytime television like Dr. Phil. But then it's also someone's truth, I guess. And if baring your soul rids you of your demons, well good for you. But is it good for me? I need to reevaluate why I read memoirs. ( )
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Exquisite and harrowing." â??New York Times Book Review "This electrifying, gorgeously written memoir will hold you captive until the last word." â??People NAMED A BEST FALL BOOK BY People * Refinery29 * Entertainment Weekly * BuzzFeed * NPR's On Point * Town & Country * Real Simple * New York Post * Palm Beach Post * Toronto Star * Orange Country Register * Bustle * Bookish * BookPage * Kirkus* BBC Culture* Debutiful A daughter's tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity. On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was fourteen, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five simple words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me.
Adrienne instantly became her mother's confidante and helpmate, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband's closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne's life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her lifeâ??and her motherâ??on her own terms. Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. It's a remarkable story of resilience, a reminder that we need not be the parents our parents were
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