Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman
Jul. 11th, 2008 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyI saw a woman reading this book on the plane a few months ago - a new edition to go along with the new movie featuring Helen Hunt, Colin Firth (drool!) and Bette Midler. I had not heard of anything written by Elinor Lipman in a while, although I had read Isabel's Bed and loved it a while back. I decided I wanted to see the movie before I read the book, so that I would have at least a small hope of enjoying the book. This was a good choice because, despite a stellar performance by Bette Midler, the movie was not that great.
April Epner is a shy and awkward Latin high school teacher. After the death of her adopted mother, she is approached by a woman who asks her if she wants to meet her birth mother. Bernice is glamorous and aggressive where April is quiet and self-effacing. April is straightforward and open where Bernice can't help bending the truth. Bernice will hardly shut up about sex and April has hardly had a serious boyfriend. Do opposites attract even when they're mother and daughter?
"Bernice Graverman was my mother, all right, and I hated her within minutes. She was striking in a slim, dark way that recalled Bess Myerson in her Catalina swimsuit being crowned Miss America. 'Gabrielle,' she said theatrically as she saw me. 'Gabrielle.'
I walked down the diner's central aisle toward that voice. I know this woman, I said to myself. I know her on some level. Her voice... her face. I thought: it's mine. Uncanny, really. A prenatal memory.
'Bernice has her own TV show,' Sonia was saying.
I didn't get it immediately. Then I heard her -- static overtaking a weak signal. The introduction registered: this knowledge of Bernice was not imbedded (sic) in my DNA. It was not that of a child finding her long-lost mother. It was that of a casual viewer, a channel-spinner." p 13
The book is touching, realistic, and make-you-laugh-out-loud funny. I laughed so many times while I was reading it. If you have a difficult mother or two, you must read it. Four stars.
April Epner is a shy and awkward Latin high school teacher. After the death of her adopted mother, she is approached by a woman who asks her if she wants to meet her birth mother. Bernice is glamorous and aggressive where April is quiet and self-effacing. April is straightforward and open where Bernice can't help bending the truth. Bernice will hardly shut up about sex and April has hardly had a serious boyfriend. Do opposites attract even when they're mother and daughter?
"Bernice Graverman was my mother, all right, and I hated her within minutes. She was striking in a slim, dark way that recalled Bess Myerson in her Catalina swimsuit being crowned Miss America. 'Gabrielle,' she said theatrically as she saw me. 'Gabrielle.'
I walked down the diner's central aisle toward that voice. I know this woman, I said to myself. I know her on some level. Her voice... her face. I thought: it's mine. Uncanny, really. A prenatal memory.
'Bernice has her own TV show,' Sonia was saying.
I didn't get it immediately. Then I heard her -- static overtaking a weak signal. The introduction registered: this knowledge of Bernice was not imbedded (sic) in my DNA. It was not that of a child finding her long-lost mother. It was that of a casual viewer, a channel-spinner." p 13
The book is touching, realistic, and make-you-laugh-out-loud funny. I laughed so many times while I was reading it. If you have a difficult mother or two, you must read it. Four stars.