Of Men and Their Mothers by Mameve Medwed - Book Review

Mameve Medwed has a true gift for bringing real families to life. Reading this book felt like sitting down for tea with a friend who invites you into her family with warmth, humor and a hug as you share heartaches and joy.

This book opens with Maisie, a single mother of a teenager who is scorned and hated by her Mother-in-Law, the feelings are mutual and then some. The mother-in-law, Ina Pollock wrecked Maisie's marriage to her son, Rex, the darling who could do no wrong in Ina's eyes. The very man, a mama's boy, who could not ask his mother to step out of the delivery room at Maisie's request, the event, one of many that led to the demise of their marriage.

While steaming with anger over another failed relationship, Maisie bonds instantly with a young single mother, Darlene who makes bad choices in men and is traumatized by her own mother-in-law.  The two become fast friends as Maisie takes her into her own business. Darlene teaches her compassion and nurtures all those around her, including Maisie's charming and eclectic clients and most of all Maisie, though she herself would like to think she is one who is mentoring Darlene.

When Darlene comes face to face with her arch nemesis, Carlene in a hearing to decide the fate of Anthony Vincent, her son, it is Maisie who is there for Darlene lending a supportive presence.  And Darlene proves the hero, making peace with her enemy, something that Maisie doubts she'll ever be able to do. 

What challenges Maisie the most is her son's love interest, September Silva, a girl from "the wrong side of the tracks,' in the words of the old MIL, a sentiment Maisie agrees with at first, though she'd never verbalize it. So begins Maisie's greatest test; can she rise above her own disdain, past hurts from battles with Ina and her own notions of motherly love and what she wants for her son. As she ponders this she grows to understand that all Mother-in-laws want what's best for their sons, but some like Ina, the Mother-in-law from hell push their agenda through at all cost, leaving a train wreck of hurt feelings along the way and repeating history time and time again.   

Maisie faces her own challenges and notions of family. It's a family she reshapes with love, and lessons learned from her son, Tommy and his girlfriend, September and a new man in her life, one the old Maisie would never have liked, but one that suits her just right. Through it all, Maisie's wit and compassion reaches out to readers as if they're also a part of her family. And that's the charm and gift of this novel. It's a story of what family love is and how it reinvents itself warts, bumps and all.