Status Updates From This Brutal House

So I was right; a gun backfired. It was nice hearing about the mothers and their excitement over the prison custard but it was also uncomfortable reading about their humiliation and being stripped of their identities. Teddy was supposed to good and was supposed to be their backbone, but he failed them. And even though there was no justice for the missing children, the Mothers have become patron saints.

I’m worried about Teddy and the gun. His voice and narration whilst drunk, wandering the streets added a more truthful and direct tone from his character but involving a gun (unidentified too) is very dangerous and could backfire. I hope the Mothers’ efforts don’t go to waste.

Teddy’s reunion with some of the other people he grew up with and how they criticise the Mothers. It’s been nice seeing the story from Teddy’s perspective after the introduction of the situation from the Mothers. He does so much for them and his community whilst wearing himself out.

The police dehumanising, accusing, mocking. Continuous descriptions and high tension. Teddy fighting back, angry, the first time he’s not been meek or sheepish in his life. How he searches for her in every stranger and at every street corner. The irony that the police sound just like them when they talk.

I didn’t like this chapter as much. The pages of “Category:” grew tiring and I skipped those pages. It would have been nice if it was just a couple of pages but it was at least 4 and then I started to feel like it took away from the book. I also liked the descriptions of the ball but then that dragged too and grew tiring.

The descriptions and narration of Teddy’s story was beautiful, taking the reader back into the past. The lying stranger and the last time he saw Sherry. His love and admiration for her and his regret at not calling after her loud enough. How he lied to reassure the Mothers while he has to live with the grief and pain of not knowing what happened to her.

The complexities of family and community through the character of Teddy and Sherry were quite interesting and realistic.

I liked the freedom in the description of them running around free as youth after a ball. The descriptions of danger and how they’ve had to face it or have become vulnerable to it are moving and unfortunately very real.

I really like how the narrator doesn’t sound like one singular person, but rather a united set of voices from the 5 Mothers as they discuss their experiences and struggles.