Review: Debut novelette
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 19, 2013
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this novelette.  It’s not the type of story I’m immediately drawn to and I wouldn’t label this book as “romance” but it certainly holds your attention as cringe-worthy as it may be.  This is the story of a gal who is scarred in every sense of the word by her mother and I just wanted to scream the famous line, “NO WIRE HANGERS” from the movie Mommy Dearest.  This is that book.  It’s so intense that it makes you absolutely uncomfortable.Rebecca Berto does not gloss over mental illness one bit and she shows the ugly side of someone suffering from a disease that cannot be touched.  There is not one redeeming quality that I found in Kate’s mother and this was a character I despised the moment she was introduced. This novelette takes a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship to a whole different level and to witness it is absolutely exhausting!The first few pages were a bit confusing for me to follow and I found myself going back a page or two to make sure I understood correctly.  Once the story got going that confusion stopped and the plot started to progress quickly but almost too quickly.  There is a certain poetic flow to the story that I absolutely enjoyed and I think that speaks volumes about the author’s ability to write something painfully beautiful.My final two cents: I’m glad I had the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and experience the debut novelette by Rebecca Berto!