The Supper Club Saints by Claire Swinarski
When prodigal daughter Cass Simon returns home after years away, the Simon family’s fragile peace is disrupted. Cass, a young mom previously living in a cult-like “Mommune” and working for a popular mom-fluencer, has come back under questionable circumstances, but is intent on starting fresh. As Cass gets work writing advice for a parenting website, her mother and sisters chip in their own wisdom from personal experience—of troubled pasts, heartache, and issues with infertility.
As the story unfolds through past and present, the Simon family women come to understand their own relationships to mothering and forgiveness—and what it truly means to be a “good” mother.
Review: Thank you to Avon Books for an ARC of this novel!
First, before reading this, I wasn't familiar with the Wisconsin tradition of supper clubs, which apparently are popular in the state. They typically feature multiple courses and instead of just going for dinner, guests would spend the whole evening there enjoying a leisurely meal. The family in this book, the Simons, have owned a supper club for generations. When the prodigal daughter, Cass Simon, returns after several years away, the family dynamics are once again upended. Cass has been living in a cult-like commune, working for an influencer who soared to popularity for her online mothering opinions and advice.
The theme of this book is truly pondering what it means to be a good mother. Cass is so consumed by the need to be a perfect parent and avoid all risk to her daughter that she ultimately falls prey to the cult like lifestyle she has been living. She is contrasted with her mom, her sister, and her sister-in-law, all in different phases of motherhood and all with very different mothering styles.
This is a very character driven novel, with the perspective shifting throughout the book. I typically really enjoy family sagas, and I love getting to see the different perspectives of different family members. I did feel like some of the plotlines were more built out than others. It felt like Cass with the central character and the other family members mostly reacting to her reappearance. The narrative also jumps back and forth in time. In many ways this is helpful for reader understanding, such as the chapters that show Cass living in the "mommune", but others felt out of nowhere, specifically the chapters that go back to the mother Remy's teenage years. While the reason these were included was clear by the end, I was taken aback at first and her teenage story was so upsetting and outrageous it felt like I was in a dystopian novel for a bit.
I also thought it was interesting to include an influencer and the effects of social media and online fear mongering on things like dye in food, trampolines, etc. and the impact this can have on parents. This is contrasted with the column Cass writes, where she promotes forgiveness to moms, who she says are all trying their best. It's only through writing this column that she comes to see the validity of the message she is sharing with other moms. I was a little disappointed that there weren't ultimately more details shared about the influencer/abuse situation, but at the same time, given that child abuse could be extremely triggering for some readers, this is probably for the best.
I also thought the supper club would feature a little more in the plot. There are lots of references to how long it's been in the family and how sad it is that it won't be any longer, but no one actually seemed that sad about it and it didn't feel that instrumental to the family or plot.
At heart, this is a mediation on motherhood and evolving family dynamics: "She was beginning to think that everyone messed up their children, even or perhaps especially those for whom that was their worst fear" (316). I was really torn between 3 and four stars for this one, but I'll be generous and give it four because ultimately it was a unique story unlike any others I've read.
Stars: 4
Comments
Post a Comment