But what, I wonder, could be at the heart of that disease? Well thats what Koren Zailckas looks at here – a family dynamic – and something at its core that is eating away at the whole. No indeed tell me about it! All is certainly NOT well with the Hurst family. The denouement comes as Violet returns home after being released from the mental facility. She is scariest when she speaks in double negatives.

If Will displeases her in any way, she punishes him by giving him the silent treatment and by making him decide for himself what clothes to wear (the horror!). She still lays out his clothes each day, bathes him, brushes and flosses his teeth. It is the relationship between Josephine and Will that is the most disturbing. He is little more than a bystander where the kids are concerned. The father is weak, an on-again-off-again recovering alcoholic. He is very protective of his mother, and will do anything not to disappoint her. Home-schooled, he is rarely out of sight of Josephine. Will, who may or may not be slightly autistic, is held firmly in the clutches of mommy dearest. Josephine finds a way to get her committed to a mental institution when Violet starts openly defying her. Violet trips on psychedelics, meditates, reads books with lotus blossoms or puffy clouds pictured on the cover, and dabbles in excessive fasting. This leaves 16 year old Violet and 12 year old Will in the fray.

Rose has just turned 18 and has finally made her escape from the home, pretty much disappearing from their lives after leaving a note of her intent to live with her boyfriend. She specializes in keeping her family off-balance and questioning themselves, always fearing her reactions.Įach of her three children attempts to survive in his or her own way. Josephine is the mama, a full-blown narcissist who plays nasty little mind games to manipulate her brood, with varying degrees of success. I am a hopeless thrall for bad mommy books, and Mother, Mother does not disappoint.

Mother mother by koren zailckas