Mother, Stranger

by Cris Beam

Author Cris Beam left her mother’s home at age 14, driven out by a suburban household of hidden chaos and mental illness. Her mother, a distant relative of William Faulkner, told neighbors and family that her daughter had died. The two never saw each other again. Nearly twenty-five years later, after building her own family and happy home life, a lawyer called to say her mother was dead. In this story about the fragility of memory and the complexity of family, Beam decides to look back at her own dark history, and for the secret to her mother’s madness.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

42 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Cris Beam is a journalist who has written for several national magazines as well as for public radio. She has an MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University and teaches creative writing at Columbia and the New School. She lives in New York.

Reviews

[Jamie Bergstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing

I can understand why the author would want to write a book about her mother and childhood; there are many emotions and serious issues her mother faced. However, this book could have been summarized in a short article. It was all over the place with Faulkner references and her relationship with her brother. There was no true detailed stories to backup the generalizations about her mother’s illness and emotional stance. I powered through but afterward wish I hadn’t read it.

[michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abuse by a,mother. Good read.

It was a great story about a woman's abuse by her mother. She by writing it was letting go of some of her feelings for her.

[Tara Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, disjointed in places. I feel this was probably related to the disturbing and neglected childhood.

[Alicia Delvaux steindam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am usually loathe to give a negative review, and I can't decide if this actually deserves two stars or maybe one and a half, but this book was really disappointing. Here is the description that originally drew me in:

"Author Cris Beam left her mother’s home at age 14, driven out by a suburban household of hidden chaos and mental illness. Her mother, a distant relative of William Faulkner, told neighbors and family that her daughter had died. The two never saw each other again. Nearly twenty-five years later, after building her own family and happy home life, a lawyer called to say her mother was dead. In this story about the fragility of memory and the complexity of family, Beam decides to look back at her own dark history, and for the secret to her mother’s madness."

I enjoy reading about personal journeys with mental illness AND family relationships, but that review is about the limit of the details the author reveals in this book. The author of this memoir, Cris Beam, has apparently written other books and is a successful college professor, and I'm curious to check out the nonfiction work on transgender teens she did, BUT her memoir was lacking in a lot of areas. It is a good example of someone who has a good story to tell, but cannot convey it appropriately through writing.

- The plot jumps around enough that there are a few moments where she backtracks to explain something that was previously mentioned.
- Devastating family secrets are stated but never expounded upon.
- Lots of emotional content that she never delves into.
- It appears that her father refused to appear in the book so entire sides of the story are omitted.

Her mother and other relatives have passed away, so maybe that's why she felt she could/should write this book. It seems like it was partly cathartic for her. But it feels like a summary and not a story, and we never really get a deeper look into the interesting story that happened. Her stance is that her mother had undiagnosed dissociative identity disorder, which could be fascinating, but wasn't in her telling.

To summarize, it sounds like this author has a great life story to tell, but the book was poorly done. I know it's just a Kindle single, and it takes about an hour or less to read, so maybe my expectations should be lowered, but I've read a few great Kindle singles so I don't think it is the format.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened upon this piece as an article in a literary newsletter I get in my email. I waited a while to read it but I knew I would enjoy it. Well, not enjoy it so much as be interested, given the subject matter. I read it this morning in an hour or so and couldn't stop. It was gripping and sad. Mother/daughter relationships continue to fascinate me, including my own.

https://magazine.atavist.com/mother-s...

[Moira]

Too many 'books' nowadays are punched up from article length pieces into short books and it shows, but this might have actually benefited from the longer period of research and reflection that kind of expansion requires. As it is, it's something that might seem touching in glossy pages, but has no weight on its own, and not a lot of depth, either.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing

There were so many things left unsaid. I want to know about the supposed molestation. I want to know about the mom's life after the children left. I want to know how the brother was treated by the mother after the sister left. I want to know why the brother isn't resentful that the sister left him alone with the mother.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, no doubt. They style of writing was sometimes hard to get into, and at points read like a high schooler complaining about a hard life (no disrespect to the nature of the story with comment though, it was at points hard to read some of the things that happened to this author).

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a short story on Kobo Vox. It's a true story of a child whose mother may have had multiple personality disorder, and who abused her and her brother. Very short, read in 1 sitting. Not bad, not great.

[Amber Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable! I could not look away. From page one to page last, I was hooked. For only $1.99, I don't think I could forgive you if you didn't read this.

[Lauren F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sad" doesn't begin to describe it. I couldn't put it down while I was reading it, and now I can't stop thinking about it. Haunting.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad, honest, and difficult look at the cycle of abuse and the damage and pain lasting generations.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, disturbing, moving. Impeccable. I wish it hadn't ended.

[Jeannie Tillery · Rating 2 out of 5]

short story...should have been a book...

[Cheryl Boer · Rating 1 out of 5]

She should have gone more in to details about what she went through. There was no detail. It was a short story luckily because it was boring.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a short book, I really was taken by her strength to live and at the same time love her Mother. I hope she writes a lengthier book at some point.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring, had no real story to it.

[Cassandra Hough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have lived every single moment of this story. It was actually bordering on too painful to read, because the author's experience mirrored my own so much. Sad, but brilliant.

[Ranjit Powar · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only recommendable thing about this book was that it was short.A psychological problem was portrayed very inadequately and with little insight.

[Patrick Strickland · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.44/5. This is an interesting, brief memoir, published as an online magazine article. The author is smart, writes strong sentences, and can recreate strong scenes.

[Cambria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story, obviously a quick read. Disjointed re-telling of childhood abuse.