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The Mothers
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Women's Fiction
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Publisher's Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Bittersweet, sexy, morally fraught.” (The New York Times Book Review)
"Luminous… engrossing and poignant, this is one not to miss." (People, Pick of the Week)
"Fantastic… a book that feels alive on the page." (The Washington Post)
The beloved New York Times best-selling novel about young love and a big secret in a small community, from the author of The Vanishing Half.
Set within a contemporary Black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret.
"All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season."
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, 17-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is 21, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance - and the subsequent cover-up - will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.
In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.
What the critics say
"Brit Bennett's absorbing debut novel, set in Southern California's Black community, gets a sensitive narration by Adenrele Ojo... Ojo's voice is smooth as honey and prickly as thistles when portraying the gossipy mothers who relentlessly poke at the secret until nothing remains hidden." (AudioFile)
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What listeners say about The Mothers
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tania Haas
- 2021-08-04
beautiful narrator for beautiful story
loved every minute! story arc, characters, voices, everything! highly recommend and no I don't think this a pro-choice or pro-life book. it's a story about choices and the honest impact of life's hard choices.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-01-19
Moving
An absolutely moving story about love, loss, sacrifice, and growing up and moving on, with the bittersweet reminder that some things can never be let go of.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jlang
- 2020-09-22
Really enjoyed.
Just finished this & I really enjoyed the story & also the narrator was wonderful and has a beautiful voice.
I wanted to make a little note about the other reviewers saying this book was "pro life propaganda" and I actually have to disagree. I just think it was pointing out the reality that some people get an abortion & regret it...Or have a hard time moving on from that decision. There are negative abortion comments, from the church women, but most Christians (especially elderly ones) are against abortion.
I just wanted to note that as I was listening to this I didnt feel like it was preachy or pro life.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- T
- 2019-06-26
anti abortion message dampens the enjoyment
First of all, the prose is lyrical and beautiful, and the narration is solemn and coy. These are interlocking charactef storylines whivh are realistic and at times overbearingly spiritual. it speaks to a subculture that is dying as previous earlier generations leave this plane of existence. That said, the anti-abortion sentiment leaks throughout. Consistently, it is associated with shame, regret, and wondering of what could have been . . . it is referred to as a sin over and over, and the character who chooses reproductive freedom is ostracized from her community and family. Because of this, I am not sure I can recommend this book in good faith because I feel that too much of popular culture ferishizes and celebrates what is a alreqdy a heavy private decision. It is too easy to portray this aspect of abortion and many many many times the author felt it necessary to repeat these sentinents in an unnecessary way. The book is beautiful and ugly simultaneously, but in attempting to portray the nuances, the author relies too much on the negative aspects.
36 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Valerie H.
- 2020-08-20
Disappointed
This book is nothing but pro life propaganda. If I had known this I would not have wasted my time and listened to this book. It is a good thing that I read The Vanishing Half first because that book was excellent. This book is a total waste of time. However the narration was very good.
16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LLC
- 2018-04-30
Great story!
Great story about innonence, regrets and life coming full circle. Great addition to my audible collection!
11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A
- 2019-01-24
An amazing story that takes you on a ride
I loved this story and this audio book! The author took me on an emotional roller coaster of a girl growing into a woman, the mistakes she makes, the relationships she develops, and the acceptance of the life and choices she has lived.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Linzie Ezzell
- 2018-02-07
Like Looking in a Mirror
The book is beautiful in a tragic, train-wreck-you-can’t-look-away-from sort of way. Listening to this book felt like exactly what it feels like to grow up as a Christian-adjacent woman. I’m not a black woman, but I strongly suspect Ojo got that feeling exactly right too. I was saddened by my own life while listening to the character’s lives play out before me. It makes me want to assign this book to men in Feminist Studies classes in college.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Dario Sartori
- 2016-12-27
anti-choice propaganda
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
it should come it a warning. it is for the anti-choice public only...and one that heavily leans misogynistic at that
Has The Mothers turned you off from other books in this genre?
no
How could the performance have been better?
by not implying the the life of a successful, well traveled female lawyer life would have been better if she stayed behind with her looser drunk boyfriend
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
no, no redeeming qualities. how can one prescribe the idea of dismissing academic and career success that elevates one above their conditions. horrible message for girls. that hard work ans success will not give you happiness... only babies can do that. ouch!!!!
Any additional comments?
I kept listening the book thinking, that the story would turn around, surely... it did not.
24 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dcm
- 2018-02-22
Great book
I was able to relate to so much in this book. great voice and writing.
7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LATOYA LEWIS
- 2019-05-02
Why friendships go awry over a man
"We all have loved an ain't shit man. 2 types of men in this world, men that are and men who ain't about shit. A girl nowadays got get up close to tell if her man ain't shit and by then it may be too late. It's something to love somebody that can never love you back... it's kind of freeing in it's own way. Ain't nothing wrong with loving an ain't shit man as long as you get it out of your system. " This book is my far one of the best books I've read this year. I'm beating myself up for overlooking it. Two friends Nadia and Audrey, go through some of the worst things, like molestation, and death of a mother. Nadia and Luke the pastors son, messed around when they were young and got pregnant, not wanting to disappoint their family they had an abortion. Luke's parent's give him the money for the abortion, and his mom starts to treat Nadia bad. Aubrey came into the picture after her mother's boyfriend was molesting her, she left her moms and went to live with her lesbian sister and mate. The girls became the best of friends, then Nadia goes off to college and lives a great life. while away luke and Aubrey starts dating, later getting married. Time had flown by and they never told Aubrey that they had something between them. The story gets juicier......I'm not gonna tell you it all, go get you a copy and read this book. #book21of2019 #bookworm #whatsnext #highlyrecommended
4 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- A. Fenrick
- 2016-10-27
Preachy Cautionary Tale about Abortion
While the story was engaging enough, ultimately it was too preachy for me. The chapters start with church mothers talking but honestly those sections detracted rather than added to the story. The characters weren't really believable to me. I didn't care for the way the reader over enunciated words. In sum, I just didn't like this book
14 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Rebecca Archer
- 2017-07-31
meh
interesting and engaging story. but felt it was emotionally manipulative and had an anti-choice agenda.
3 people found this helpful
