When The Push was released, I wanted to stand in a bookstore and hand it to everyone who came in and tell them they had to read it. It was a huge-selling book that needed no push to read. I feel the same about The Whispers, which releases on June 6, and I suspect it will be another one that flies off the shelves.
I loved The Push and the thought-provoking themes of the darker side of motherhood Ashley Audrain explored. Nobody writes about motherhood or delves as profoundly into it with the understanding of the pressures women feel as she does. She is brave, honest, bold, and, at times, heavy-handed with themes of motherhood, exploring troubled children and their troubled mothers, along with the secrets they keep and the things we don’t talk about, and I loved it all.
What is going on between the cover
The whispers begin in the backyard after overhearing a scene between a mother, Whitney, and her child Xavier. Months later, the unthinkable happens, and Xavier is in the hospital, and Whitney won’t leave his side. The whispers start again as the neighborhood women try to piece together what happened and Whitney’s part.
My two cents
Ashley Audrain explores the uncomfortable truths of motherhood and fidelity from the contrasting POVS of four neighbors as she explores their private lives. They are different women from each other but are linked in ways they never suspected, and they all feel the demands that motherhood puts on them. We see their unspoken fears, desires, and shame and how that affects them as mothers, wives, and women. The pace is slow as we are told the story with little dialogue, and it took me a bit to get into it. The tension and suspense increase with the knowledge that something awful happened, creating a compelling sense of dread. I clicked the pages as fast as I could to find out what, and I was left speechless when that final line was delivered.
I loved the dynamics between Whitney and Xavier; that added a thrilling element to the story. None of the characters are likable, and they give us plenty to whisper about. The women are not mother-of-the-year material; nothing is redeeming about the men. Whitney is not your stereotypical selfless mother who would do anything for her kids. I loved the honesty of the uncomfortable truths that confirmed that not mothers put their children first or should be expected to be mothers just because they are women. Ashley Audrain reminds me why I love to read and gives me plenty to think about while challenging those traditional expected roles for women and beliefs of motherhood.
I still remember The Push, and I will remember The Whispers, and both are at the top of my favorite list of stories that explore women’s roles. I highly recommend it!!
My Two Cents on The Push
We are expected or think we are good mothers, have the perfect children, and the ideal relationship with them, right? Well, Ashley Audrain boldly challenges that expectation here and shows us a compelling, complex story that explores the bonds of mother and daughters and motherhood’s dark, uncomfortable, emotional realities. The things we hide, burying our heads and don’t push by talking about it. She weaves a well-layered, emotionally intelligent story with suspense elements to create an absorbing psychological drama. The story is told almost entirely in second-person narrative from Blythe to her husband, Fox. Ashley Audrain creates one of the best opening scenes I have read to set up suspense, a sense of foreboding, and an ominous feel to the story. Blythe is a relatable character and Audrain does a good job of putting us in her shoes allowing us to feel with her.
Witch Words 