"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. " Now, Adrienne has been drawn into her mother's confidence, helping her keep the secret of this affair for year. Yes, I said years. Ultimately, there are devastating consequences (which you would expect) and Adrienne's life is hugely impacted.
I started out thinking this book was interesting, and by the time I was about 3/4 of the way through, I found it tiresome. Which didn't keep me from finishing it, but it was only because I wanted to see how it finally ended. Brodeur's mother is kind of unbelievable --- she's the kind of person that you'd expect to be in a dramatic movie starring Joan Crawford or Bette Davis. Her self-centeredness is matched by her relentless dramatic impulses, and need to be the constant center of attention. It's disturbing that she never seems to realize the impact her behavior has on her daughter, but that's what makes this an interesting memoir, I guess.
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