A debut novel set in contemporary California which centers on three African-American friends dealing with their community's expectations and their own mistakes.
...[a] fantastic debut novel ... The genius of The Mothers is how Bennett uses those feelings in service to a story that could take place in any part of American society ... Bennett takes the common experience of unwanted pregnancy and makes it newly significant through the lens of a tight-knit community still blinking from its emergence into safety and prosperity ... Bennett has written that rare combination: a book that feels alive on the page and rich for later consideration.
...both gripping and tender toward each of its characters, if burdened with the occasional overwrought metaphor, which may distract some readers ... The Mothers brims with psychological insight and thoughtful commentary on the pain of loss and what motivates us to take actions maligned with our beliefs.
[Bennett's] ferociously moving debut lives up to its title, never once allowing readers a simplistic view of the maternal pain at its center ... Bennett sets up a delicious trick by allowing the mothers their say and then immediately shifting to the perspective of a single character ... Despite Bennett’s thrumming plot, despite the snap of her pacing, it’s the always deepening complexity of her characters that provides the book’s urgency.
