[LOVE] RACHEL

Literature and writing teacher Painter recounts the remarkable life of her mother while seeking to understand the roots of her own fraught relationship with her.

For much of her life, the author thought that her mother, Rachel, had lost her true love due to a telegram-related blunder during World War II, which precipitated a life of inevitable struggle and dissatisfaction. However, in this extensive debut memoir, Painter examines the past to find the truth about her enigmatic mother’s choices, regrets, and ideologies; along the way, she also shows how her mom broke her heart. The book ranges over a wide array of times and places, including Interwar New Zealand, a Washington commune-turned–berry farm in the 1950s; Columbia University in New York City in 1969; and beyond. At the core of her recollection is her mother’s stalwart belief that Painter does not love her, despite the latter’s professed devotion. The author also touches on the lives of her grandparents, family friends, siblings, and several stepfathers to flesh out a family saga that bristles with intellectual rigor, fierce resolve, and deep spiritual compassion, but is also weighted by accounts of emotional neglect, mental illness, and perceived isolation. The author does have a tendency to reiterate and rehash certain events with excessive detail. Overall, however, she shows commendable skill in intertwining her own experiences with her mother’s, winding through key moments in both their lives, and hinting at future revelations, which she later explores with nuance and emotional maturity. Although this isn’t the story of a well-known figure, it still has an epic feel as it dives into the complicated and messy ways that people can misunderstand each other. (Includes black-and-white family photos.)

A sweeping chronicle of two lives altered by love and loss.