She had strong feelings about what it means to be and to have a mother. It was if she had this ideal of motherhood that could never be realized. I think of children who are abused mentally and physically that still hold onto anything resembling love that they can. I have been there. Well, I have finished the novel tonight, and I have to heartily disagree with my Sparks-detesting partner.
Gibbons is a fine writer, a much higher caliber than Sparks.
In fact, the two are not in the same category at all. This is a wonderful sentence and is typical of Gibbons. She is capable of speaking volumes with only a few words. She also masterfully recreates her mother's mania. She soon forgets why the canisters are soaking, so she drains the sink and throws them away.