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One of Those Mothers
The residents of Point Heed keep nice houses and sign up as parent help at the local school. Occasionally they cheat on their taxes. Sometimes they fantasise about having sex with someone other than their partner. And every now and then they do drugs. But that doesn't make them bad people, does it?
When a local father is convicted of the possession and distribution of child pornography, the tight-knit, middle-class community is quick to unravel. He is granted permanent name suppression, and soon friend turns on friend, neighbour delivers up neighbour, and hysteria rapidly engulfs them all. Who among them was capable of such moral trespass?
Bridget, Roz and Lucy have been friends forever. Their lives revolve around their children, their community, each other. With their husbands and kids, they holiday together every year. Every year, until last summer, when everything went so terribly wrong.
They tell you things are never as bad as you fear, but what if they're worse? Worse than you could have ever imagined.
Were they all complicit? Certainly, they were guilty of looking in all the wrong places.
When a local father is convicted of the possession and distribution of child pornography, the tight-knit, middle-class community is quick to unravel. He is granted permanent name suppression, and soon friend turns on friend, neighbour delivers up neighbour, and hysteria rapidly engulfs them all. Who among them was capable of such moral trespass?
Bridget, Roz and Lucy have been friends forever. Their lives revolve around their children, their community, each other. With their husbands and kids, they holiday together every year. Every year, until last summer, when everything went so terribly wrong.
They tell you things are never as bad as you fear, but what if they're worse? Worse than you could have ever imagined.
Were they all complicit? Certainly, they were guilty of looking in all the wrong places.
296 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 14, 2023
33 people are currently reading
693 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
April 23, 2023
It barely needs to be said, but you might want to avoid One Of Those Mothers if you’re particularly sensitive to issues around child exploitation and abuse. But otherwise, I highly recommend this fantastic new read!
My full review of One Of Those Mothers is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
My full review of One Of Those Mothers is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
October 2, 2023
Bridget wasn’t attracted to women – she’d tried it once, just to be sure – but something about Lucy always made her think of sex
One of Those Mothers is another chance to steel myself against the arrows of indignity in the form of light satire. I am one of the main characters – same age, same number of children (if a little younger), resident of a “leafy suburb” (if no beach). Apparently, all I need to do is a few lines of cocaine for this to be about me.
Just your average freaks
’Everyone seems to be these days. Haven’t you heard about those two couples in the junior school?’
‘No. Which couples?’
‘I’m not sure exactly who they are, but supposedly they’ve got an “arrangement”.’
As mentioned, my socio-economic status means I have a lot of points of commonality with characters in One of Those Mothers. However, those characters also need to be able to carry the main plot and to make as many social commentary points as possible. This does make them somewhat “full on”. These characters go to more social events than I would expect to be manageable, publicly emote more strongly, and indulge at the extreme end of drug taking. I just do not believe most parents would take ecstasy while at a bonfire with their children, or turn up to a party full of relative strangers and light up a joint unsolicited.
Despite this, I’m willing to be relaxed about it. The plot runs well and the characters are interesting, if pretty unsympathetic due to all the issues Reed piles onto them. It’s a straightforward and “clean” novel – you’re not struggling to keep a track of things, other than perhaps the less important children, which doesn’t matter because, well, they’re just not that important.
One major criticism of the plot itself is that Reed, in twisting one way then the other, ends up with a situation that implies that prejudice against abnormal/antisocial people is good. Noted, the catalyst is the habits of a “normal” father (albeit the squat unattractive one), but the book rushes itself into a weird situation at the end that feels unsatisfactory. However, the main plot is a background hum to all the social commentary throughout the main narrative, so your mileage may vary as to whether the ending is a problem.
Easy to take the shots that suit
She liked masculine men
A big driver in One of Those Mothers is the hypocrisy of suburban parents, particularly the “seedier side” or the “gutters”, as Reed points out in an interview:
Putting aside the plausibility as to whether some of these activities fall within the mainstream of suburban life, there is one big issue I have with One of Those Mothers:
You are a hypocrite.
I am a hypocrite.
We are all hypocrites.
That people don’t always (maybe not even often) live up to their stated ideals is not news. There is an angle of sorts as to the exact hypocrisy of a particular group but we should be careful not to treat it as particularly novel, i.e. that if we identify ourselves differently from the residents of Point Heed, we are excluded from charges of hypocrisy. I’m wary of books that simply point out how people might not be quite in line with how they present themselves – to what extent does it matter if people have a drink while opposing cannabis reform, or are judgey while going off in their SUV to buy ecostore products – is there actually a deeper meaning to this, or is it just that people can be a bit dickish? Because we already know that.
I’m not totally opposed to Reed’s approach because it is fun to point out these things, but I do consider it only a couple of steps above sarcasm in terms of wit. While Reed is better than Catton in terms of flow of conversation and plot, Catton’s satire in Birnam Wood had more bite, because the foibles of Catton’s characters make an impact beyond simply being commented on. For example, Darvish screws over Lemoine because of Davish’s innate Kiwi desire to be seen amongst his mates as having driven a hard bargain with a foreigner.
Reed is also selective in what she considers worth commenting on. To exclude, in the Year of Our Lord 2023, any discussion over NIMBYism, whether pro or otherwise, is one hell of a choice in the present social context. It’s a gaping hole in One of Those Mothers, and leaves me feeling that the main characters have been lobotomized. I get it is the author’s choice and it wouldn’t naturally flow with the main plotline as written but… …I’ve conceded that the plot is not that important. If you see yourself as doing social commentary, I am going to notice when you wish away something your main characters would 100 percent be discussing. It is just that inescapable in the world they inhabit.
Again, you may not really care to read dialogue about height restrictions in a residential zone or whether the local community will band together to burn down the local Kainga Ora development. There is plenty of enjoyable stuff in One of Those Mothers, so if you want to point and laugh at the suburban animals in their picket fence cages*, this is a pretty good book.
*Admittedly my fence is prisoner quarried volcanic rock.
One of Those Mothers is another chance to steel myself against the arrows of indignity in the form of light satire. I am one of the main characters – same age, same number of children (if a little younger), resident of a “leafy suburb” (if no beach). Apparently, all I need to do is a few lines of cocaine for this to be about me.
Just your average freaks
’Everyone seems to be these days. Haven’t you heard about those two couples in the junior school?’
‘No. Which couples?’
‘I’m not sure exactly who they are, but supposedly they’ve got an “arrangement”.’
As mentioned, my socio-economic status means I have a lot of points of commonality with characters in One of Those Mothers. However, those characters also need to be able to carry the main plot and to make as many social commentary points as possible. This does make them somewhat “full on”. These characters go to more social events than I would expect to be manageable, publicly emote more strongly, and indulge at the extreme end of drug taking. I just do not believe most parents would take ecstasy while at a bonfire with their children, or turn up to a party full of relative strangers and light up a joint unsolicited.
Despite this, I’m willing to be relaxed about it. The plot runs well and the characters are interesting, if pretty unsympathetic due to all the issues Reed piles onto them. It’s a straightforward and “clean” novel – you’re not struggling to keep a track of things, other than perhaps the less important children, which doesn’t matter because, well, they’re just not that important.
One major criticism of the plot itself is that Reed, in twisting one way then the other, ends up with a situation that implies that prejudice against abnormal/antisocial people is good. Noted, the catalyst is the habits of a “normal” father (albeit the squat unattractive one), but the book rushes itself into a weird situation at the end that feels unsatisfactory. However, the main plot is a background hum to all the social commentary throughout the main narrative, so your mileage may vary as to whether the ending is a problem.
Easy to take the shots that suit
She liked masculine men
A big driver in One of Those Mothers is the hypocrisy of suburban parents, particularly the “seedier side” or the “gutters”, as Reed points out in an interview:
Putting aside the plausibility as to whether some of these activities fall within the mainstream of suburban life, there is one big issue I have with One of Those Mothers:
You are a hypocrite.
I am a hypocrite.
We are all hypocrites.
That people don’t always (maybe not even often) live up to their stated ideals is not news. There is an angle of sorts as to the exact hypocrisy of a particular group but we should be careful not to treat it as particularly novel, i.e. that if we identify ourselves differently from the residents of Point Heed, we are excluded from charges of hypocrisy. I’m wary of books that simply point out how people might not be quite in line with how they present themselves – to what extent does it matter if people have a drink while opposing cannabis reform, or are judgey while going off in their SUV to buy ecostore products – is there actually a deeper meaning to this, or is it just that people can be a bit dickish? Because we already know that.
I’m not totally opposed to Reed’s approach because it is fun to point out these things, but I do consider it only a couple of steps above sarcasm in terms of wit. While Reed is better than Catton in terms of flow of conversation and plot, Catton’s satire in Birnam Wood had more bite, because the foibles of Catton’s characters make an impact beyond simply being commented on. For example, Darvish screws over Lemoine because of Davish’s innate Kiwi desire to be seen amongst his mates as having driven a hard bargain with a foreigner.
Reed is also selective in what she considers worth commenting on. To exclude, in the Year of Our Lord 2023, any discussion over NIMBYism, whether pro or otherwise, is one hell of a choice in the present social context. It’s a gaping hole in One of Those Mothers, and leaves me feeling that the main characters have been lobotomized. I get it is the author’s choice and it wouldn’t naturally flow with the main plotline as written but… …I’ve conceded that the plot is not that important. If you see yourself as doing social commentary, I am going to notice when you wish away something your main characters would 100 percent be discussing. It is just that inescapable in the world they inhabit.
Again, you may not really care to read dialogue about height restrictions in a residential zone or whether the local community will band together to burn down the local Kainga Ora development. There is plenty of enjoyable stuff in One of Those Mothers, so if you want to point and laugh at the suburban animals in their picket fence cages*, this is a pretty good book.
*Admittedly my fence is prisoner quarried volcanic rock.
April 29, 2023
3.5 stars.
Easy to read, over one rainy evening. I actually enjoyed it, I liked the way every second chapter jumped easily back to its own timeline.The end result or lack there of, left a sour note on this book with me
I picked it exactly very early on, but was bitterly disgusted with the ending and feel that it was really in appropriate and not how I would expect genuine concerned parents or decent human beings to have responded.
Lucy thinks she's protecting one child but definitely at the sake of her other children.
The other parents involved should have done better. .
Easy to read, over one rainy evening. I actually enjoyed it, I liked the way every second chapter jumped easily back to its own timeline.The end result or lack there of, left a sour note on this book with me
I picked it exactly very early on, but was bitterly disgusted with the ending and feel that it was really in appropriate and not how I would expect genuine concerned parents or decent human beings to have responded.
Lucy thinks she's protecting one child but definitely at the sake of her other children.
The other parents involved should have done better. .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2023
4.5 stars. Totally addictive and also relatable. Definitely Aotearoa's answer to Lianne Moriarty.
July 18, 2023
Major spoilers here, I'm going to give the entire plot away so stop now if that's a problem.
The story proceeds in alternating chapters, two stories set a few months apart. One story line is a group holiday that somehow leads to the break up of a group of friends. This is bluntly foreshadowed with several chapter ending in "Little did they know this would be the last time..." or the like. In the alternating chapters, a few months afterwards, they read a news story that someone from their suburb has been arrested on child porn charges. The story mainly concerns their guessing and speculating about who it might have been.
It's only in the final chapters of these two story lines we learn the awful secret that tore the friends apart - the accidental discovery on someone's iPad of child porn. And a few months later, in the final chapters when the perpetrator is finally revealed, they are shocked to find it is THE SAME PERSON! And nobody suspected it was this guy AT ALL? How dumb is that?
There is a plot twist - turns out it's the father (who everyone likes) taking the rap for his creepy sociopathic teenage son (who everyone hates). The rest of the characters work this out but then don't bother reporting it to the police because that poor family has suffered enough already. WTF, you'd rather turn loose a pedophile and condemn a good guy to gaol?
I will admit the reader knows none of this until the end so it keeps stringing you along, making the conclusion even more disappointing. The characters are reasonably interesting although there's a strong flavour of "Real Housewives of (insert wealthy suburb)". I'm sure there are people out there like that but I'm just as happy not knowing them.
The story proceeds in alternating chapters, two stories set a few months apart. One story line is a group holiday that somehow leads to the break up of a group of friends. This is bluntly foreshadowed with several chapter ending in "Little did they know this would be the last time..." or the like. In the alternating chapters, a few months afterwards, they read a news story that someone from their suburb has been arrested on child porn charges. The story mainly concerns their guessing and speculating about who it might have been.
It's only in the final chapters of these two story lines we learn the awful secret that tore the friends apart - the accidental discovery on someone's iPad of child porn. And a few months later, in the final chapters when the perpetrator is finally revealed, they are shocked to find it is THE SAME PERSON! And nobody suspected it was this guy AT ALL? How dumb is that?
There is a plot twist - turns out it's the father (who everyone likes) taking the rap for his creepy sociopathic teenage son (who everyone hates). The rest of the characters work this out but then don't bother reporting it to the police because that poor family has suffered enough already. WTF, you'd rather turn loose a pedophile and condemn a good guy to gaol?
I will admit the reader knows none of this until the end so it keeps stringing you along, making the conclusion even more disappointing. The characters are reasonably interesting although there's a strong flavour of "Real Housewives of (insert wealthy suburb)". I'm sure there are people out there like that but I'm just as happy not knowing them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2023
THE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME…EVER!
I can sum this book up by saying nothing happens…at all!
I am actually shocked at the positive reviews ???
I am patient, I love a good slow burn. I was a little confused when nothing happened by 100 pages, then frustrated at halfway, then by the last 50 pages I was laughing at this joke of a book. I held on to the TINIEST hope that by the end, all the nothingness would make sense…nope.
Not a single thing happened…until the last few pages, and it was SO obvious from the start you, as a reader, think, ‘oh, well it won’t be that because it’s being shoved in our faces!’ But dear god, it was. There was a ‘small twist’ if you can call a couple of meaningless sentences in the last few pages a twist at all. Author has no idea how to evoke emotion, or, she didn’t even try, ha.
I’ve never in my life read so much detail and foreshadowing that gets tossed out the window, seriously, this author set so much up and did nothing with it. So many missed opportunities.
How did this make it past editing ? Onto shelves in a store?
I am truly baffled. Disappointed. I’d love to talk to the person/s who green lit this book!
I can sum this book up by saying nothing happens…at all!
I am actually shocked at the positive reviews ???
I am patient, I love a good slow burn. I was a little confused when nothing happened by 100 pages, then frustrated at halfway, then by the last 50 pages I was laughing at this joke of a book. I held on to the TINIEST hope that by the end, all the nothingness would make sense…nope.
Not a single thing happened…until the last few pages, and it was SO obvious from the start you, as a reader, think, ‘oh, well it won’t be that because it’s being shoved in our faces!’ But dear god, it was. There was a ‘small twist’ if you can call a couple of meaningless sentences in the last few pages a twist at all. Author has no idea how to evoke emotion, or, she didn’t even try, ha.
I’ve never in my life read so much detail and foreshadowing that gets tossed out the window, seriously, this author set so much up and did nothing with it. So many missed opportunities.
How did this make it past editing ? Onto shelves in a store?
I am truly baffled. Disappointed. I’d love to talk to the person/s who green lit this book!
May 15, 2023
As other reviewers note - highly derivative of Lianne Moriarty with a dash of Lionel Shriver (eww), and clearly written with one eye on possible film/tv adaptions (unlikely). This is why we have so much scenic detail and barely any character development. White middle class aspirations are one thing, but in no way does the ending ring true. The author could have been a lot more brave.
Read
April 28, 2023I hated this novel (strong words I know) but I am hoping that’s the point.
Jacqueline Bublitz is quoted saying good things on the cover and I thought her novel (and the stunning cover) had created characters with real depth that carried the story forward. The quote hooked me but the rest of this novel’s cover is off putting. Quite aside from the author’s name dominating and the image looking more from the 70s/80s, the image of the girl might be innocent, if not on the cover of a story about a community uncovering a child pornographer. It felt wrong. The whole novel felt wrong.
There wasn’t even one character that I could remotely connect to…except maybe Skye, and her almost silent screaming for help which went unanswered by self-absorbed adults which made the other adult characters even more abhorrent. Maybe that was the point. If yes, it’s a grim novel. If yes, it’s the story of materialism, entitlement, and Neanderthal men, who are more focussed on hedonism and how they look, and what they have. Bridget loving Sina’s fridge is a perfect example, coupled with her lack of self awareness about her reason for not allowing the sleep over (reason was sound, ability to articulate ridiculously poor, and the scene illustrated her racism). Bridget almost manages to see herself as a parody when she tells Amanda, “all I want is four beddies, two bathrooms, two living, a pool, and a garage with internal access” but her decision (and the decision of everyone she told) not to act on the information she gains nearing the end just shows she is firmly about image. Hideous. The men were no better. The fact she wanted “wise counsel” from Greg made me almost laugh out loud.
I’m hoping this is the depth Megan Nicol Reed was hoping for. If not, and if you want a nice read, choose something else.
Jacqueline Bublitz is quoted saying good things on the cover and I thought her novel (and the stunning cover) had created characters with real depth that carried the story forward. The quote hooked me but the rest of this novel’s cover is off putting. Quite aside from the author’s name dominating and the image looking more from the 70s/80s, the image of the girl might be innocent, if not on the cover of a story about a community uncovering a child pornographer. It felt wrong. The whole novel felt wrong.
There wasn’t even one character that I could remotely connect to…except maybe Skye, and her almost silent screaming for help which went unanswered by self-absorbed adults which made the other adult characters even more abhorrent. Maybe that was the point. If yes, it’s a grim novel. If yes, it’s the story of materialism, entitlement, and Neanderthal men, who are more focussed on hedonism and how they look, and what they have. Bridget loving Sina’s fridge is a perfect example, coupled with her lack of self awareness about her reason for not allowing the sleep over (reason was sound, ability to articulate ridiculously poor, and the scene illustrated her racism). Bridget almost manages to see herself as a parody when she tells Amanda, “all I want is four beddies, two bathrooms, two living, a pool, and a garage with internal access” but her decision (and the decision of everyone she told) not to act on the information she gains nearing the end just shows she is firmly about image. Hideous. The men were no better. The fact she wanted “wise counsel” from Greg made me almost laugh out loud.
I’m hoping this is the depth Megan Nicol Reed was hoping for. If not, and if you want a nice read, choose something else.
August 5, 2023
Strong 3.5 stars. I couldn't put it down, despite challenging content.
October 12, 2023
Tbh I thought this would be better. The writing was a bit over the place and the main character wasnt very likable. I dont enjoy the "I'm so messy and woman with fake boobs are so snobby" woman hating vibe. The ending wasnt very good either
August 23, 2023
Excellent as an audiobook. Don’t agree with the decision she made at the very end.
October 26, 2023
One of Those Mothers is my book club read for the month and what a pick it is! An absolute page turner, I read it in a single day – which doesn’t happen too often with me. It sits within the domestic drama/noir sub-genre, alongside authors such as Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth, but offers a fresh voice, from New Zealand, and this set it apart for me. I enjoyed the New Zealand experience, kind of same, same, but different, if you know what I mean.
This story orbits around Bridget, her family, and her friend group. It’s a close examination of female adult friendship, the dynamics that evolve with balancing close friendship as parents with different expectations, different values, and very different children. Less concerned with the big reveal or twist, this one unfolds in pieces, a back-and-forth narrative that is headed in a direction you become vaguely certain of early on in the story. The shock comes from the attitudes expressed and the implications more than any twist of who or what.
There’s plenty of thought-provoking material in this one, making it perfect as a book club read.
This story orbits around Bridget, her family, and her friend group. It’s a close examination of female adult friendship, the dynamics that evolve with balancing close friendship as parents with different expectations, different values, and very different children. Less concerned with the big reveal or twist, this one unfolds in pieces, a back-and-forth narrative that is headed in a direction you become vaguely certain of early on in the story. The shock comes from the attitudes expressed and the implications more than any twist of who or what.
There’s plenty of thought-provoking material in this one, making it perfect as a book club read.
September 29, 2023
Three and a half stars rounded up, I enjoyed almost everything about this book.
Set in New Zealand, the lives of these well written, middle-classed, middle-aged characters read with a great level of familiarity, given my middle-classed, middle-aged, Australian background.
Three couples, a close circle of friends, return home following a falling out on holiday together. Fast forward 9 months and newspapers reveal a paedophile residing in their community has had their identity supressed. This results in suspicion and rumours begin to circulate within the neighbourhood.
The story is filled with the kind of domestic drama and mystery that had me turning pages itching to find out why the falling out? Who is the child predator? How well do we really know our closest friends? Is it ever okay to question the parenting of another mother's child? And what does it really mean to protect a child?
Set in New Zealand, the lives of these well written, middle-classed, middle-aged characters read with a great level of familiarity, given my middle-classed, middle-aged, Australian background.
Three couples, a close circle of friends, return home following a falling out on holiday together. Fast forward 9 months and newspapers reveal a paedophile residing in their community has had their identity supressed. This results in suspicion and rumours begin to circulate within the neighbourhood.
The story is filled with the kind of domestic drama and mystery that had me turning pages itching to find out why the falling out? Who is the child predator? How well do we really know our closest friends? Is it ever okay to question the parenting of another mother's child? And what does it really mean to protect a child?
September 4, 2023
I'm unsure how this book made it onto the Whitcoulls Top 100 list because the subject matter is seriously disturbing. This definitely isn't a story revolving around an adult scandal like Big Little Lies and any attempt to compare the two is just ridiculous. This is a book about incompetent f*cked-up adults and an extremely troubled primary school aged CHILD with a potential brain injury after being exposed to drugs in utero. So disappointing to read that others think this is the real NZ!! Not to mention the mixed up setting - I've never heard a New Zealander call someone a wombat... I originally gave this book one star but I've upped it to two because perhaps (maybe?) the author meant the story to invoke such strong feelings as mine (although I can't see that reflected in other reviews) ⭐️⭐️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2023
Well written and relatable. Reminded me a lot of Big Little Lies. Hard to put down.
February 10, 2024
literally nothing happened until the last line 3-4 chapters and the main character’s pov was insufferable
July 21, 2024
Easy read, but an easy out.
Beware, spoilers ahead. I have a lot of criticisms of this book, so let's get the positive one out of the way: One of Those Mothers is one of those books you can, as other reviewers have said, read in a day or two. And so credit is due for its easy readability.
So easy, in fact, that you see who the supposed perpetrator is right from meeting the adult group. I don't know if this was the author's intention, as a means of saying, 'The answer is often right in front of you' or something of the like, but the actual twist of the perpetrator being Zachariah was very 'Ha, I said it was a Dad!!!! So you had no way of seeing this coming!!!!' Like yeah, obviously that was an intentional blindside, but that doesn't mean it's a clever one. Lucy admits to using drugs while pregnant with Zachariah, which is never explored, despite it being a supposed kind-of-explainer for the boy's predatory behaviour.
OK, so I haven't seen any other reviews point this out yet, but the way Nicol Reed writes about other races and cultures is, frankly, bizarre. One brown mother is called Moana, because of course, while another is named Sina. It must be noted that these are both names from the Disney film Moana. Like, really? Neither character is given any actual heritage, just slapped with the term 'Pasifika' at one point. Sina is given a total cop-out of a background story, presumably because Nicol Reed doesn't know how to write brown characters. Ah, yes, a Pasifika mother disconnected from her culture, caught in the trappings of middle-class wealth. Sure.
And then we have Marcelle (of course), a French immigrant mother who is constantly speaking in French at the beginnings or ends of sentences, drops a 'How you say...' and supposedly talks baguettes with the protagonist.
Saving the most egregious for last, we have the Shins, immigrants from South Korea who, of course, speak in broken English which Nicol Reed ACTUALLY WRITES OUT. (p251 'Jung-seo friends tell him about this story... This his first Halloween. Maybe just go one hour. Until night?') Of course, it's easier to write immigrants this way rather than do any actual research into the immigrant experience. However, looking at Nicol Reed's columns written for local lifestyle magazine Canvas, (featuring high-calibre takes such as 'I read this and I felt kinda stink', and 'Mother's Day was pants'), it's clear that she is most comfortable speaking from her own Pakeha middle-class perspective; reading her columns in Bridget's voice comes completely naturally.
But anyway, back to this book - it's incredibly slow-moving, most chapters ending with some cryptic allusion to The Big Fallout On Hine's Island, which is intriguing until, like, the fourth time where you can already tell that Tristan is the supposed culprit so can we just get on with it?
As a lesbian, it is difficult (and almost laughable) that heterosexual authors are always writing about how they can't stand their husbands or sex or their children and marriage is a chore. Maybe this book rings true for mothers (of which I am not), but it makes it hard sometimes to sympathise with the protagonist when you can hear her mean inner dialogue.
Aside from using obscure terms like "search me" instead of "beats me", some of the dialogue is simply unrealistic and forced me to put the book down and sigh loudly in the direction of my poor wife. (p134, Greg recalls taking acid as a teenager - 'I was convinced that the bus was alive. I remember pressing my ear to the cracked vinyl, sure I could hear the seats breathing. "Just go with it," one of the girls said. "Just flow, man."') Who talks like that? It takes you out of it completely.
Alongside a lot of regrettable sentences about sex, this book also contains one of the worst sentences ever written of the topic - "Her groin clammy with Greg's semen". This line wakes me up at night. HER GROIN CLAMMY WITH GREG'S SEMEN. WHY WOULD YOU WRITE THIS, MEGAN NICOL REED?
The ending of the book is disappointing. The book builds towards some kind of conflict, some resolution, but ends with Bridget being too self-absorbed to do anything meaningful (TL;DR, Abigail stopped having those disturbing dreams so I actually won't take her to a psychologist because it's easier for me, despite my best friend surviving child sexual assault and knowing secondhand how deeply it impacts the rest of a survivor's life). And maybe this kind of ending is more realistic, but it cheats the reader of the experience promised from the get-go.
It's clear that this was written in the hopes of a mini-series or film adaptation. If that ever happens, I can only hope it explores the themes and subject matter with a different lens. I guess what this book is saying is Porn Is Bad And We Are All Responsible. Once again, I'm not a mother, so maybe this book just isn't for me, but I can't imagine this being a satisfying read for anybody. Nicol Reed could have been braver and more committed to seeing the story through. For now, maybe her/Bridget's voice is better lent to Canvas columns.
Beware, spoilers ahead. I have a lot of criticisms of this book, so let's get the positive one out of the way: One of Those Mothers is one of those books you can, as other reviewers have said, read in a day or two. And so credit is due for its easy readability.
So easy, in fact, that you see who the supposed perpetrator is right from meeting the adult group. I don't know if this was the author's intention, as a means of saying, 'The answer is often right in front of you' or something of the like, but the actual twist of the perpetrator being Zachariah was very 'Ha, I said it was a Dad!!!! So you had no way of seeing this coming!!!!' Like yeah, obviously that was an intentional blindside, but that doesn't mean it's a clever one. Lucy admits to using drugs while pregnant with Zachariah, which is never explored, despite it being a supposed kind-of-explainer for the boy's predatory behaviour.
OK, so I haven't seen any other reviews point this out yet, but the way Nicol Reed writes about other races and cultures is, frankly, bizarre. One brown mother is called Moana, because of course, while another is named Sina. It must be noted that these are both names from the Disney film Moana. Like, really? Neither character is given any actual heritage, just slapped with the term 'Pasifika' at one point. Sina is given a total cop-out of a background story, presumably because Nicol Reed doesn't know how to write brown characters. Ah, yes, a Pasifika mother disconnected from her culture, caught in the trappings of middle-class wealth. Sure.
And then we have Marcelle (of course), a French immigrant mother who is constantly speaking in French at the beginnings or ends of sentences, drops a 'How you say...' and supposedly talks baguettes with the protagonist.
Saving the most egregious for last, we have the Shins, immigrants from South Korea who, of course, speak in broken English which Nicol Reed ACTUALLY WRITES OUT. (p251 'Jung-seo friends tell him about this story... This his first Halloween. Maybe just go one hour. Until night?') Of course, it's easier to write immigrants this way rather than do any actual research into the immigrant experience. However, looking at Nicol Reed's columns written for local lifestyle magazine Canvas, (featuring high-calibre takes such as 'I read this and I felt kinda stink', and 'Mother's Day was pants'), it's clear that she is most comfortable speaking from her own Pakeha middle-class perspective; reading her columns in Bridget's voice comes completely naturally.
But anyway, back to this book - it's incredibly slow-moving, most chapters ending with some cryptic allusion to The Big Fallout On Hine's Island, which is intriguing until, like, the fourth time where you can already tell that Tristan is the supposed culprit so can we just get on with it?
As a lesbian, it is difficult (and almost laughable) that heterosexual authors are always writing about how they can't stand their husbands or sex or their children and marriage is a chore. Maybe this book rings true for mothers (of which I am not), but it makes it hard sometimes to sympathise with the protagonist when you can hear her mean inner dialogue.
Aside from using obscure terms like "search me" instead of "beats me", some of the dialogue is simply unrealistic and forced me to put the book down and sigh loudly in the direction of my poor wife. (p134, Greg recalls taking acid as a teenager - 'I was convinced that the bus was alive. I remember pressing my ear to the cracked vinyl, sure I could hear the seats breathing. "Just go with it," one of the girls said. "Just flow, man."') Who talks like that? It takes you out of it completely.
Alongside a lot of regrettable sentences about sex, this book also contains one of the worst sentences ever written of the topic - "Her groin clammy with Greg's semen". This line wakes me up at night. HER GROIN CLAMMY WITH GREG'S SEMEN. WHY WOULD YOU WRITE THIS, MEGAN NICOL REED?
The ending of the book is disappointing. The book builds towards some kind of conflict, some resolution, but ends with Bridget being too self-absorbed to do anything meaningful (TL;DR, Abigail stopped having those disturbing dreams so I actually won't take her to a psychologist because it's easier for me, despite my best friend surviving child sexual assault and knowing secondhand how deeply it impacts the rest of a survivor's life). And maybe this kind of ending is more realistic, but it cheats the reader of the experience promised from the get-go.
It's clear that this was written in the hopes of a mini-series or film adaptation. If that ever happens, I can only hope it explores the themes and subject matter with a different lens. I guess what this book is saying is Porn Is Bad And We Are All Responsible. Once again, I'm not a mother, so maybe this book just isn't for me, but I can't imagine this being a satisfying read for anybody. Nicol Reed could have been braver and more committed to seeing the story through. For now, maybe her/Bridget's voice is better lent to Canvas columns.
August 27, 2023
Totally fabulous. Made extra special by the fact it was set in NZ and written by a kiwi.
Megans depiction of parenthood and life in a close knit community was spot on. Real characters, real situations and a good amount of intrique and tension to spice it up. A real page turner. Loved it.
Megans depiction of parenthood and life in a close knit community was spot on. Real characters, real situations and a good amount of intrique and tension to spice it up. A real page turner. Loved it.
August 22, 2023
This was a great read, and I really appreciated all the Kiwi-isms and NZ references. The mystery and threading together of the two parts of the story were clever and enough to sustain the suspense right 'til the end - although the end was a bit abrupt. I could've done without the graphic descriptions of bodily functions.
May 27, 2023
Translated (in my head) from its original New Zealand English, (you’re gonna be okay if you know what jandals, chilly bins, togs etc are), this Under The Microscope novel about the school mums, (you know the tribes), and those perfect suburbs that float along in their smug selfsatisfiedness, until one day, it doesn’t. Point Heed is aspirational, safe, a few parents out of the ordinary, but then, where are the places where there aren’t outliers? Then, a small byline in the paper about a man charged with child pornography offences in the heart of their safe suburb, and the cracks soon appear.
Bridget, the main character, is friends with Roz and Lucy, and jumping between a beach holiday with all three families in summer, and the now time, where Lucy has dropped off the radar, we examine parenting, friendships, loyalties, and the impact of small town gossip. Well written, and page turning, this is an author worth keeping an eye out for.
For anyone: CW (child pornongraphy)
Bridget, the main character, is friends with Roz and Lucy, and jumping between a beach holiday with all three families in summer, and the now time, where Lucy has dropped off the radar, we examine parenting, friendships, loyalties, and the impact of small town gossip. Well written, and page turning, this is an author worth keeping an eye out for.
For anyone: CW (child pornongraphy)
April 19, 2023
The writing is very busy, with lots of short, sharp sentences. The book was quick to read and the chapters were short (read it in one day). I found the characters very relatable. The book might not be an escape for parents, because it describes the chaos they are probably trying to escape from. Two things keep you reading from the start: what happened at the lake & who is the pedophile in town? All the drama unfolded right at the end of the book & wasn’t too surprising.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2024
finished out of spite
Genuinely confused as to why the irritating main character of this story didn’t figure out the ending sooner seeing given her miserable overthinking tendencies and flair for the dramatic.
Unlike a lot of the unliveable main characters whose stories I’ve read, Bridget particularly repulsed me. I get that we aren’t necessarily meant to be on her side but? At least make her insanity likeable if you’re not gonna give us a positive trait.
Genuinely confused as to why the irritating main character of this story didn’t figure out the ending sooner seeing given her miserable overthinking tendencies and flair for the dramatic.
Unlike a lot of the unliveable main characters whose stories I’ve read, Bridget particularly repulsed me. I get that we aren’t necessarily meant to be on her side but? At least make her insanity likeable if you’re not gonna give us a positive trait.
May 18, 2023
I listened to this book so maybe the audio swayed my perception but I didn’t vibe with this. The main character was a mixture of being annoying and then extremely overbearing (in contrast to the other character). The drama unfolded at the end in an anticlimactic way. Fairly easy to read/ listen to though
April 14, 2023
Her descriptions of every day middle class life are painfully familiar. Fantastic tension building with every chapter. Finished a little abruptly, but I think that’s because I was enjoying reading it.
April 29, 2023
Solid domestic noir, very Big Little Lies-esque. Despite being set in a fictional town in NZ, it reads like it could be set anywhere - which I get is a marketing ploy to make the book more appealing to international readers - but it made it a bit flat somehow.
November 5, 2023
The slowest paced book I have ever read. This is what happens when you take a short story and turn it into a 9 hour audiobook. The end was interesting but it did not justify the excruciatingly long means
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2023
Brilliant debut. I look forward to what is to come.
April 1, 2023
5 stars as I enjoyed it. If you liked Big Little Lies this is probably one for you. Only wish I'd read on the beach.
April 2, 2023
Friendships, marriages, children……life…..so entwined, complex and flawed…..a quite distressing and emotional read 📚
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 🌟 💫
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 🌟 💫
July 4, 2023
A great slice of NZ life - plus an awesome plot line. Read it.
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