All My Mothers: The heart-breaking new novel from the author of the Costa-shortlisted debut, THE OTHER HALF OF AUGUSTA HOPE

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the vibrancy of the writing about Spain which is a reminder, if reminder were needed, of why my own life in that country is so wonderful I missed the author's debut novel when it was originally published, but I'm going to remedy that very soon. If it's half as good as this one, it will be wonderful. Déjenme empezar diciendo que AMÉ este libro. Aunque gran parte de la trama se centra en la maternidad, este libro también celebra la amistad entre mujeres. Sobre todo destaca cuánta historia se puede acumular entre dos personas, a tal punto que se convierten en la familia que elegimos para nosotros mismos.

This book, this book is immense. We are following the story of Eva, from her first memories as a four year old starting school and making a best friend, all the way through to adulthood. We see her at her best and her worst, at her highs and lows. This book doesn't pull it's punches. From the start of his career in the early 1980s, Pedro Almodóvar has been fascinated by the Spanish obsession with love and death, with his countrymen’s taste for histrionics and emotional extremes, and the traditional rigidity of sexual identity. But until the past couple of years, I found his films, brilliantly crafted as they are, tiresomely camp. Until Live Flesh (1997), which I consider a minor masterpiece, the only film of his I’d really admired was the 1986 Matador, a schematic thriller about a repressed mother’s boy who wants to become a bullfighter, though he can’t stand the sight of blood, and confesses to murders he hasn’t committed to prove his machismo. All About My Mother, which brought Almodóvar the Best Director award at Cannes and should have received the Palme d’Or, is his finest film to date. In Barcelona, Manuela reunites with her old friend Agrado, a transgender sex worker who is warm and witty. She also meets and becomes deeply involved with several new friends: Rosa, a young nun who works in a shelter for sex workers who have experienced violence and is pregnant with Lola's child, but is also HIV positive; Huma Rojo, the actress whom her son had admired; and Nina Cruz, Huma's co-star and lover, who is struggling with drug addiction. Manuela's life becomes entwined with theirs as she cares for Rosa during her pregnancy and works for Huma as her personal assistant. She even acts in the play as an emergency understudy for Nina during one of her drug abuse crises. From a young age, Eva Martinez-Green feels distanced from her mother, not helped by the fact when she is asked to bring in a baby photo to school, she is told by the woman she suspects is not actually her mother her baby photos were stolen. In fact, the earliest photos they have are when she was three and a half years old. Guided by a book they’re reading at school and her newfound friendship with Bridget Blume, Eva begins her quest to understand her beginnings and where she came from. I absolutely adored the style of the book. It is written from Eva's point of view and it is like you are reading her diary. While it is quite a lengthy book, it doesn't feel like it. The chapters/sections are really short but capture the interest of the reader. I loved the mystery of who is Eva's mother?As Eva enters adulthood, her struggles with endometriosis and infertility whilst in an unfulfilling and controlling relationship were insightful and honest. I’ve yet to come across novels where these issues feature throughout the plot and they resonated with me personally. Manuela introduces Esteban, Rosa's son, to Lola and gives her a picture of their own Esteban. Rosa's mother spots them from the street and confronts Manuela about letting strangers see the baby. Manuela tells her that Lola is Esteban's father, but Rosa's mother is appalled and says, "That is the monster that killed my daughter?!" If you want a beautiful book about motherhood, all the dimensions of it from the POV of a daughter, this is delightful. The innocence of a child who doesn't understand why her mother's negligence and her father's abandonment. The loneliness and deseprate pursuit of validation and love of a teenager, and the understanding and resolution of adulthood. All of these eras painting a beautiufl and deep portrait of motherhood. Por no mencionar, que hay representación de todo tipo (LGBT+, de cuerpos no normativos, religiosa) y se tratan temas de índole femenina como el cáncer de mama o la endiometrosis. Pero, sobre todo me ha llamado la atención la representación religiosa (judía, musulmana y católica) y que se haga tanto hincapié en ella. La mitad del libro está ambientado en Córdoba (la primera mitad en Chealsy, Inglaterra). La representación de todas esas religiones hace referencia al trasfondo histórico de esa provincia andaluza y la diversidad de la que se ha nutrido su cultura. On Esteban's 17th birthday, he is hit and killed by a car while chasing after actress Huma Rojo for her autograph following a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, where Rojo portrays Blanche DuBois. Manuela agrees with her colleagues at work that her son's heart be transplanted to a man in A Coruña. After following her son's heart to its new recipient, Manuela resigns from her job and travels to Barcelona in search of her son's father, Lola, a transgender woman whom Manuela had kept a secret from Esteban, just as she had never told Lola about their son.

I just loved it. Eva (as in forever, not evil, she tells us early on) is searching for something. She knows that something is missing but isn’t entirely sure what. She just knows that she doesn’t belong in her family. This book chronicles her life and her desire to find love and happiness. Eva makes wonderful friends and I loved them all. It felt rushed, and it lost it's punch in the most critical moment. Again, using my spainard card here, the whole bought baby moment could have been So Much More Magnanimous. There was an epidemic of doctors and nurses (nuns) that flat out stole babies from their mothers (single mothers, republicans, poor women, romani women, you get the gist) and gave said babies to rich families under the fascist wing. So yeah, by romanticising nuns who literally took away a baby from a muslim woman (with the very same practice used by fascist, stealing nuns) it doesn't really leave a good taste in my mouth. Eva gives and receives all her emotional support to her friend Bridget and they vow to be life-long friends. She is ‘adopted’ by Bridget’s family and forms a very strong bond with her mother. This is the story of Eva Martínez-Green, from the day she began school, and for the next 30 years of her life. It's a story about mothers - for anyone who has been a mother, has had a mother, wants to be a mother, or even just knows a mother. It's a totally immersive story, at times painful and at others joyful, that had me ugly-crying for the last two chapters. I loved it. Stop arrêtez tout ! Des fois je lis un livre et je *sais* que je ne lirais pas mieux avant un long moment. C’est le cas avec All My Mothers. J’ai mis 5 étoiles mais en vrai je veux en mettre 6, 8, 12. Je n’ai pas peur de le survendre. J’essaie d’organiser mes pensées.No hay cosas que me guste más que adentrarme en una historia completamente a ciegas, sin tener referencias de nadie. Simplemente dejarte llevar por esa vocecita que te dice "este libro es para ti". Y lo mejor de todo es así es: este libro llegó para quedarse. Throughout her life Eva has felt that there is something missing in her life. She feels the outsider even when people go out of their way to show her love. Her mother is distant, undemonstrative and spends most of her time in bed. She is neither a loving mother, nor a supportive mother – she is an absence. An absence that is hard for a small girl to understand. Her father is everything and she adores him. When school requires her to bring a photo of herself as a baby she discovers there are no photographs. As she grows she learns that there is nothing of her before the age of three and a half – another unexplained emptiness. An absence that is compounded when her father leaves and her mother is moved to hospital. Almodóvar recreates the accident scene from John Cassavetes' Opening Night (1977) as the epicenter of the dramatic conflict. [2] Having the nuns be "the real mothers all along" feels wrong when one knows the true picture of what was happening. The religious subtone was excellent, don't get me wrong, and at the end it made sense, but it also got pushed to the front, instead of other areas that could be explored like fragile masculinity, or Pink Mother's mental state. Between her emotionally absent mother and her physically absent father, there is nobody to answer them. Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why are there no baby pictures of her? Why do her parents avoid all questions about her early years?

This book, this book is immense. We are following the story of Eva, from her first memories as a four year starting school and making a best friend, all the way through to adulthood. We see her at her best and her worst, at her highs and lows. This book doesn't pull it's punches. When her parents’ relationship crumbles, Eva begins a journey to find these answers for herself. Her desire to discover where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning decades and continents – and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be, and who will change her life forever… Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.Its been at least a year since a book left me in tears but here we are. All My Mothers is a life story. It’s a brilliant and heartfelt exploration of motherhood, grief, friendship and the importance of platonic love. One of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn’t bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears’ STACEY HALLS I simply loved this book.. It made my heart break at some parts, and made me stifle laughter at others. I literally stayed up all night to finish it, and now I have work in three hours and can't wait to recommend this book to others. I think the character development is done so well and Eva becomes such a strong woman and has such a strong voice. She’s definitely a character that will stay with me for a long time. a b "Festival de Cannes: All About My Mother". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011 . Retrieved 8 October 2009.

With these new points of comparison, Eva begins to feel the differences and shortcomings in her family more keenly, perceiving an absence of love and shared history compared to the other children, especially her new best friend Bridget. Eva adores Bridget and her family, realising her wonderful mother is exactly the mother Eva wished she had. A truly glorious life-affirming book, in which love, hope and friendship trump sorrow’ DINAH JEFFERIES Eva is an only child, introverted and lonely. Her parents, though wealthy, don't seem to have much time for her. When she starts school she doesn't feel like she fits in, especially with her brown skin, but is overjoyed to make a friend at last. Had me absolutely sobbing – a beautiful, beautiful book’ JO BROWNING WROE, bestselling author of A TERRIBLE KINDNESSThe characters throughout are wonderfully written. Even the women who are difficult and unpleasant are written in a way which allows us to understand them. Eva finds women to love and appreciate; mothers of different types who all teach her and encourage her to love. Esta novela lo tiene todo: un plot interesante, una estructura que agiliza el ritmo de la lectura, personajes que extrañas en el momento que cierras el libro y frases que se quedan contigo. Llegar a la última página me dejó con un vacío gigante (de esos que se tienen cuando se termina algo muy bueno) y con muchísimas ganas de visitar Córdoba algún día.