Mother Country (St. Martin’s Press, 2019)
By Irina Reyn
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 274
Via: Library
Short & Long
Okay, peeps. There’s the short version of this book review and then there’s the longer version. The short version: This is one of those books everyone’s supposed to go all ga-ga and googly-eyed over.
So of course we’re doing None of the Above.
Cuz frankly, we’ve seen better “programming” on a TV test pattern. Here’s why. Aka: The Longer Version:
Double Meaning
Mother Country has a double meaning. You’ll get that if you read the book. More on that in a min. But on its face, Mother Country is about an ethnic Russian immigrant to Brooklyn, Nadia. A senior home attendant who’s always in danger of being fired, Nadia is also a part-time nanny for a spoiled brat, Sasha. Sasha’s mom, Regina, has powdered sugar for brains. It takes about 26 seconds for these two characters to get really old. Really fast. Wait. Did we say “26 seconds “? Make that fourteen.
We soon find out that Nadia has left her diabetic adult daughter Larissa back home in Ukraine. With a war raging (the book came out in 2019, before Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine). Meanwhile back in Brooklyn, Nadia finds herself feuding with western Ukranian immigrants who think she’s a traitor.
Putin talks about the “reunification” of Crimea and Russia. But it rings hollow. The Ukranian prez makes promises that are likewise unconvincing. An immigration system that moves with the alacrity of a three-toed sloth doesn’t help. Especially when Larissa’s last access to insulin disappears.
Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz…
Talk about potential. We had high hopes for this book. While it has its moments, Mother Country has more fits and starts than a bad summer cold. It can’t seem to decide what it wants to be when it grows up. One minute we’re rolling our eyes with Nadia at Saint Sasha of Spoiled Rottenville. The next we’re yanked back to Nadia’s memories of Ukraine from her branch of the Big Apple. Like recalling the shelling of the Donetsk airport in between bites of cheese fondue at a French restaurant in Manhattan.
Sideways
It kinda goes sideways when Nadia’s sister Olga drops a bombshell about her niece’s plans. Larissa is peeved over her mom leaving her behind six years ago. Nadia immigrated to America without her daughter cuz Larissa “aged out” of immigrating with mom as a minor. Nadia was to send for her later. But it’s been years. And years. So Larissa tells her Aunt Olga she wants to live in Cleveland with Olga when/if she ever gets to America.
Mom Nadia isn’t exactly turning cartwheels with the news.
Paging Coherent Story Arcs on Aisle Nine…
It also has weird, meandering story arcs. Like when Nadia goes out on a date with Boris, some random dude she met in some dive bar while trying to con another guy into marrying her daughter in order to get Larissa a green card.
What could possibly go wrong??
But next thing ya know, it’s the holidays. So Boris’s idea of a date is planting a cheesy white tiara and veil on Nadia’s head and dragging her from one New Year’s party to the next as “Snegurochka” while he hands out gifts as Ded Moroz. “Dinner” is scarfing down party goodies at every stop. About the best thing you can say about that ridiculous, disjointed and clunky scene is that it’s ridiculous, disjointed and clunky. Kinda like the rest of this book.
Where’s Barney When We Need Him?
And to think we could’ve been watching Agent 99 get the drop on KAOS. Or Barney Fife busting a jay-walking ring in Mayberry.
The Other Hand
On the other hand, the writing is good and offers an in-depth, ‘outside the box’ look at ‘motherhood’ from a variety of viewpoints both chronologically and culturally. It also offers a close look at different types of mother-daughter relationships and the ties that bind and sometimes break.
The author skillfully draws you into Nadia’s dual worlds as she struggles to navigate both her present life in New York and past memories in Ukraine. All this while trying to bring her estranged daughter to the States.
Unfortunately, the story runs out before the pages do. The author bypasses several choice opportunities to the wrap up the book and bow out. The result is an overlong, tedious read that looks like the Energizer Bunny: It just keeps going and going and going. Until we just don’t care anymore. Yawn.
Our Rating: 2.0
Pages & Paws 
