Book Review: Laura & Emma Empowers Mother-Daughter Bonding
Laura & Emma is like Gilmore Girls in NYC during the 80’s/90’s. Witty, heart-warming, and a nose-dive into how bare it is to be a young woman, a mom, and a growing, human being. Kate Greathead has written a story that genuinely confronts motherhood’s uneasiness.
Through Laura, we gain an approachable heroine. After getting pregnant from a one-night stand with a con-man, her life turns around from being the nerdy, “good girl” to the single mom, at times, treated like she has a hidden, scarlet letter. She is so vulnerable, intelligent, and slightly slighted by a world that cannot accept the the “smart girl” had a foolish fling. If there is one thing that connects Laura to her daughter, Emma, and you, the reader, it is her desire to “let loose”, but I am not talking, solely, sexually.
The pressures of being a mom and a person who is not “the person she wants to be” places Laura in a constant battle of self-esteem and feelings of personal failure. As a viewer you love her; you see her succeeding in being a consistent, strong, and determined maternal figure to her child. Yet, we all are, usually, our own harshest critics, and Laura made me wonder of the many times my own, wonderful mother thought se was less than wonderful. Greathead’s writing feels pasteled with sweet hues of compassion, wonder, and generosity. She loves her leading ladies, and caresses their characteristics with a gentle hand that makes you want to stand up for them.
Emma may be a rougher character to cheer compared to her meeker mother. She can go from “smart” to “smart ass”, but what child does not avoid this transition? Like her mom, she is intelligent, vulnerable, and trying to figure out how to fit in her own skin without feeling buried by it. She can go from brattish to wise, which leaves you, like Laura, trying to understand how a sweet baby becomes a hormonal teenager. When she is cruel to her mom, especially in reflection to her grandmother Bibs, you want to go into this book and send her to her room. Yet, that is a testament to Greathead’s fantastic, vivid writing, and capacity to show we all are learning to better.
Laura & Emma is a book that shows you never stop growing up. Your children push to you grow up as you guide them on what it is to be human being on this earth. From the laughs and kindness our crazy family gives us, Laura’s brother Nicolas, to the way society and culture affect our daily lives (the AIDS epidemic), Greathead shows that every high and low your life hits is temporary. Yet, the bond you share with a few good hearts, like your daughter and mother, can make you feel like eternity, itself. For More Information Laura & Emma and to buy the Simon And Schuster Release on March 13 Click Here.
