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The last day of maternity leave, and the unnamed mother of two children has decided to make a “yes day”, full of feasts and positive thoughts. Reality does not go according to plan: actions are limited, misunderstood and underappreciated; Good feelings are brief, quickly reinforced by anxiety, guilt or shame. This popular story is a simple but entertaining take on Lisa Owens’ second novel, following her first comic book series for contemporary women, 2016. Not Working.
Educator E Ann Kaplan once wrote that “motherhood is the greatest experience of my adult life” – a valid observation, and the reason why some writers may deviate from the whole experience. But by using it as a narrative, it aims to present the crowded but lonely world of motherhood in a new way, drawing on the power of honesty and misunderstanding to make a common, universal journey into a single and unforgettable experience.
The day starts at 5am, when Felix is woken up by his brother Rudy, sending the “Three Musketeers” – the mother and his two boys – to the kitchen to have a “special” breakfast. The father and husband, who has not yet been named, are at a health conference in Barcelona, and remain in the shadows, full of this book, which looks at “different packages of irritation” including suspicions of adultery and gaslighting, based on what his wife has experienced each time. For many people – doctors, bankers – they have a name: “Mother”, that’s how they are called during the difficult time in the store where Felike is violent, and later during the hospital that takes up the second half of the book. This hidden, ambiguous voice is an example of what Owens achieves in her account, in which a woman’s identity is captured by the immediate needs of her children; He is “unprejudiced, presumptuous as a man, without good looks or good”.
It is the people who are closest to “Mother” who have the strongest colors of the book. His retired parents are very attractive, at the same time playful and in control of the situation, while the children are full of fun and excitement, which comes from their content, and how they like it. The cruel moments of the mother’s beating, like “Felix’s bike abuses his wings every meter” when he pushes the cart in the rain, are in motion according to the endless description: the fit of anger and forgiveness of the little boy, “the moisture of love in his winter coat”. It’s not easy to get kids into books, but when they do it right they’re a winning charm.
As we follow the Three Musketeers through their day-to-day trials, there are moments when the minutiae of parenting are more precise, more sensitive, and we’re more drawn into the situation, like the details of finding baby gear from Gumtree and what’s in the fridge. This causes the Natural Disaster to lose a little, but also, it can be argued, part of its reality: the delay of time that motherhood can bring, the length of the day that can reduce a person’s thoughts to focus on daily activities while the “active” world wanders outside. Owens wrote: “His whole personality is affected by all his mistakes,” he is waiting for his personality to return to work, “but a large part of him was hungry to return”, to escape “the black hole of apathy of dead eyes”, as “a twisted, twisted, empty man”.
Between the humor and the viscera of marital conflicts, accidental writings, the mysterious tampon and breastfeeding in the toilet, important issues are addressed about the effective and emotional responses of the modern woman to “having it all”, and whether any real satisfaction can be found in that way. Is it better to only think about your children until they reach the age of school, or to try to use babysitters and children, it is possible to give birth to brave and courageous children? Is it possible to remain conscious of ourselves in the wonders and tragedies of rolling women, or do we change forever, become outlines, waiting to be filled again? These are the eternal, recurring questions, and Owens does not attempt to answer them, but only reflects on one’s personal and emotional experiences. Both fascinating and entertaining, this book is a powerful addition to the literature on live reproduction.
Diana Evans is the author of I Want To Talk To You: And Other Conversations and Alice’s house.
