A Mother's Love

by Mary Morris

This compassionate novel--published in paperback in time for Mother's Day--explores how women learn to be mothers and celebrates the resilience of all those who raise children. Abandoned by her mother at age seven, Ivy is a new single mother who must cope with financial difficulties and a demanding infant.

Genres: Fiction, Womens, Literary Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

I was born in Chicago and, though I have lived in New York for many years, my roots are still in the Midwest and many of my stories are set there. As a writer my closest influences are Willa Cather and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I travel as much as I can and travel fuels everything I do. When I travel, I keep extensive journals which are handwritten and include watercolors, collage as well as text. All my writing begins in these journals. I tend to move between fiction and nonfiction. I spent seventeen years working on my last novel, The Jazz Palace. I think I learned a lot writing that book because the next one only took three years., Gateway to the Moon. Gateway which will be out in March 2018 is historical fiction about the secret Jews of New Mexico. I am also working on my fifth travel memoir about my travels alone. This one is about looking for tigers.

Reviews

[Suraj Alva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant portrait of a single mother with artistic ambitions. This book was published more than 25 years ago, and since then, the phenomenon of single mothers has become more commonplace. It illustrated, to me at least, the madness a newborn infant can engender; especially if reared by only one adult.

Children, back in them early days, used to be the responsibility of an entire horde of adults. In post WW2 urban America, not so much. I think Morris captures this well: The highly individualistic nature of modern city life--where one is left to one's own devices, even if saddled by an infant.

The only acts of kindness encountered by the narrator are not from those it is expected of, but from those that are the least likely to perform them.

My heart went out to Ivy. I wanted to take her in and help her, marry her. Maybe it's because I'm gonna turn 30 soon and find myself thinking of having kids. Or maybe Morris is just good at telling a story, making you feel what she wants you to.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, hard book. Not hard in extreme ways, but real, tough, in the way that many people's lives are hard . I feel so much for the narrator, wanted so much for her to find ease and peace. And hopefully she did.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing portrait of the chaos and despair of new motherhood--rare and vivid. Also an interesting example of a plot where not much happens but we're supposed to beleive the character changes. I think for non-mothers this would be a little hard to believe. I didn't feel that the backstory (daughter abandoned at age 7) and the front story (single mother trying to cope) fit together that well, but it was an interesting attempt.

I'd recommend this to any woman who is or has been parenting a newborn who wonders "Why didn't anyone tell me it was this hard?" This book tells it like it is.

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, a little frustrating at time though. While the women in the story is clearly young and has made some silly decisions, I can understand many of the thoughts she relating to being a mother. Many of us experience amazing insecurity with regard to our mothering abilities. The book seemed fairly realistic as far as the challenges a single mother might face which was refreshing. This was s good book and even though I'm pretty sure I got this book from a friend many years ago, I just rediscovered it a few weeks ago and am glad that I picked up it again.

[Nikki Gourneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child Ivy's mother and little sister Sam, leave and Ivy never sees them again. Ivy struggles with her own demons of being abandoned by her mother and the constant thoughts of wondering what happen to her Mom and sister.
When Ivy becomes a mother herself, she is reminded of her childhood and comes to terms what it is to really be a parent.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Run, don't walk, to your local book store or library and get every book Mary McGarry Morris has ever written. She can do no wrong. All of her books are great. A Mother's Love is no exception. A very good read.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young mother ( Ivy) lives with the haunting memory and her missing mother and sister.
She lacks confidence and trust as she is a new mother and not knowing which path of life to choose

[Marc Audet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this book in a free little library on my way to my favorite coffee shop. My intention was to read the first chapter and then put the book back where I found it on way back home. The opening chapters hooked me and I kept reading. The novel has good pacing, and written in the first person through the character Ivy, a single mom living in Brooklyn sometimes in the age before smartphones took over our lives.

I bonded with the main character. As a male reader, the story made me stop and think about how women, especially single mothers, have to deal with day to day issues that constrain their lives with responsibilities that they can't simply leave behind. Ivy's mother took her youngest daughter, Sam, and disappeared. Ivy never say her mother again. Ivy is a talented artist, making her living repairing jewelry for museums and high end clients. If she had been born in money, she would probably be running a gallery in a posh neighborhood, hosting openings and so on.

Ivy struggles with her son's father who will not commit to helping her. She befriends her neighbor, Mara, who's husband has left her, and the two become each other's confidant and friend. The story ends on an upbeat. Ivy's artwork finds an audience, her son matures towards adulthood, and Ivy finds some inner peace through her art which allows her to make sense of her past, as much as this is possible, for her and many of us like her. The story has a satisfying ending, solid, not overblown, introspective.

Other woman writers such as Sally Rooney bring out the inner lives of modern woman. Mary Morris shines a light onto life in middle America, Rooney on post Celtic Tiger Ireland. Morris delves deeply into one person's story, Rooney brings forth a cast of characters with inter-meshing lives that try to fix big world problems. Morris's Ivy is trying to keep herself and her son afloat.

Mary Morris's writing made me think of Richard Yate's "Revolutionary Road", though the stories are based in different decades, and Carson McCullers' "The Heart of a Lonely Hunter".

This book is worth finding and reading. I am holding onto my copy!

[Pam McCallister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Jane Night · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not a bad book but it also wasn’t a page turner. There were many times I could have closed the book and never picked it up again. The main reason I didn’t is that I was curious how the book would end. I wish I could say the ending made the journey all worth it but honestly I felt the ending was anti climactic at best.

Ivy is an interesting character and her story is heart breaking. As a mother I can relate to both wanting to deal with your own mommy issues and also trying to figure out how the heck you are going to care for a very needy child while barely able to take care of yourself.

I think the biggest issues I had with the story were that by the end I hadn’t felt like much had really happened. Ivy hadn’t actually seemed to resolve her issues. She attempted to get back with her child’s father but failed which left her single as she was in the beginning.

From start to finish the biggest changes that occur in the book is that she hires a babysitter and she makes friends with another single mom.

If you are looking for a calm thoughtful reflection on motherhood then you might like this book. If you need a fast paced book with stuff actually happening to keep you reading then this book is probably not for you.

This wasn’t for me.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is also available under the title "A Mother's Love." I wish I had realized that before I had bought it off of Amazon, thinking it was one of Morris' novels I hadn't read. (I hadn't read it as "A Mother's Love," either, but now I have a copy out of the library.)

It was ok. The story of a single mother, whose own mother abandoned her when she was a child, struggling to make ends meet in NY. I like Mary Morris' books a lot, but this was not one of my favorites.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprising read. I often judge books by their cover, and I did not like the cover of this book. But this engaging story of a young, single mother in NYC was well-worth the read. The protagonist was abandoned at age seven by her mother, so she wasn't well-prepared to mother her own child. She had a lot to learn, and not much help learning it. A sad story, but not a hopeless one. I recommend!

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my type of story, but not awful. Did I enjoy reading about the protagonist's childhood? Yes, I am not too familiar with life on a moving trailer, also, I enjoyed how this story wasn't afraid to point that mothers aren't always great. But, I felt frustrated reading it. The details given about the protagonist's current life seemed pointless in a way. It didn't tie together in the end. That's my opinion.

[Meg Clayton]

novel

[Gail Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, so...

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved Ivy's story. The book was well-written, but at times I was skimming, especially toward the end. I can't pin-point why though....

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it tedious, similiar to a long car ride. Great scenery but are we there yet......

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book-but not something that I just couldn't set down. But you did become curious about certain things in the story.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread, still excellent. I so wish she had found her sister.