When Adrienne was fourteen, her mother Malabar wakes her up in the middle of the night at their summer home on Cape Cod and confides in her daughter that Ben Souther just kissed her. Know that Ben Souther is Malabar’s husband’s best friend. What is a flirtatious scandal becomes a drama-inducing affair that has consequences for everyone involved. Adrienne becomes entangled in her mother’s affair and feels that the bomb has been dropped on her. Sooner than later Adrienne is helping her mother coordinate meetings with Ben and going to drastic measures to keep her mother’s affair a secret. Adrienne only later realizes how this has affected her emotionally and which only drives her into an unhealthy marriage of her own. Brodeur’s memoir is a fascinating read that forces readers to think critically about her relationship with Malabar and the lies that we tell ourselves in order to justify the decisions that we make.
To say that this memoir is WILD is an understatement. The whole book felt like fiction. This is one of my TOP 5 favorite books of the year and I really hope you get the opportunity to read it too. The one key element that makes this book so incredibly amazing is Adrienne Brodeur’s writing style. Its extraordinary descriptions make you feel like you can reach out and just smell the ocean breezes on Cape Cod and her mother’s delicious food creations. Brodeur’s novel had me transfixed by the family drama as well. All Adrienne wanted was to be genuinely loved by Malabar, and it took decades for her to understand that what Malabar gave her wasn’t exactly selfless love. Meanwhile, Adrienne thinks that this is the love that she deserves, and puts every ounce of effort into making sure she keeps her mother happy. WILD GAME is such a beautiful, yet heartbreaking novel that teaches us that “life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." - Soren Kierkegaard.
To say that this memoir is WILD is an understatement. The whole book felt like fiction. This is one of my TOP 5 favorite books of the year and I really hope you get the opportunity to read it too. The one key element that makes this book so incredibly amazing is Adrienne Brodeur’s writing style. Its extraordinary descriptions make you feel like you can reach out and just smell the ocean breezes on Cape Cod and her mother’s delicious food creations. Brodeur’s novel had me transfixed by the family drama as well. All Adrienne wanted was to be genuinely loved by Malabar, and it took decades for her to understand that what Malabar gave her wasn’t exactly selfless love. Meanwhile, Adrienne thinks that this is the love that she deserves, and puts every ounce of effort into making sure she keeps her mother happy. WILD GAME is such a beautiful, yet heartbreaking novel that teaches us that “life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." - Soren Kierkegaard.