A deliciously satisfying read, full of wisdom and dark humour in equal quantities.
Feature image credit: Pan Macmillan Australia
Brynn is in her late 20s, married to Eric, and the mother of a young daughter Jenny. Settling down to a suburban existence after a wild adolescence has not been easy for her, but she runs her household with admirable precision. Still by her side is her long-term bestie, Lisa, who harbours a secret passion for Eric, and an equally secret jealousy of Brynn’s life.
One night, Brynn suffers a fall out in the snow, which leaves her in a coma. Upon waking from the coma, she finds she is fluent in French, and cannot speak English without a thick accent. When Eric’s frustration and belief that she is putting it on get too much for her, she decides to lean in, abandon husband and child, and go to France. Meanwhile, Lisa sees her chance and moves in with Eric and Jenny.
Mother Tongue is a thoughtful and darkly humorous exploration of motherhood, but also of the concept of the life-unlived: the road not taken, if you will. On a deeper level it interrogates the idea of personal responsibility, and its doppelganger, blame. The character of Eric takes on an interesting colour as what started as standard white-American conservatism disintegrates further into racism, conspiracy theories, and prepper behaviour, echoing the current movements in US politics.
Author Naima Brown was raised in the US, has lived in Yemen and Afghanistan, and currently resides in Australia. This peripatetic background, along with her qualifications in Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, and Anthropology, brings a richness and a depth of understanding to her writing. Particularly interesting is the way in which she captures how people change slightly (or significantly) when they start speaking another language. She understands how languages are not just collections of sounds all meaning the same thing but just expressed differently. A language is a way of thinking: a way of operating within the world. So the Brynn who moves to Paris is not the same Brynn who was living in suburban USA.
What Brown delivers in Mother Tongue is an intensely readable story, with enough narrative twists to hold interest, but not so many that the themes get lost. It is a work which asks important questions, but does not give glib answers. It is a work of feminism, underpinned by vulnerable humanity. It is also a work of darkly delicious humour.
Her second novel after The Shot, this is sure to confirm Brown as a contemporary writer to be paid attention to.
Distributed by: Pan Macmillan Australia
Released: March 2025
RRP: $34.99
Reviewed by Tracey Korsten
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
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