Review: Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber

Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 

Pages: 240 

Format: ARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon  

Goodreads:  Mothers— both reluctant and euphoric — ride the familial tide of joy, pride, regret, guilt, and love in these stories of resilient and flawed women. In a battle between a teenage daughter and her mother, wheat bread and plain yogurt become weapons. An aimless college student, married to her much older professor, sneaks cigarettes while caring for their newborn son. On the eve of her husband’s fiftieth birthday, a pilfered fifth of vodka, an unexpected tattoo, and rogue teenagers leave a woman questioning her place. And in a suite of stories, we follow capricious, ambitious single mother Ruby and her cautious, steadfast daughter Nora through their tumultuous life—stray men, stray cats, and psychedelic drugs—in 1970s California.




Kritters Thoughts:  A collection of stories where some of them are connected with characters that show up in a few stories, but there were stories that didn't have these characters.  Maybe I just didn't get it, but I really enjoyed the characters of Nora and Ruby that were in a few of the stories and was confused that they were not in all of the stories.


Although all the stories centered around the mother/daughter relationship, I couldn't get past where Nora and Ruby where in the few stories that they did not make an appearance.  I loved meeting Ruby before Nora arrives and then reading about her through the pregnancy and then into adulthood.  The collection of stories enabled the reader to get glimpses of the pair throughout their relationship, I loved it.


I stand on the fence on this book, the stories with Nora and Ruby where great, but the others were a little disjointed.




Rating:  enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.


Other tour stops:

Tuesday, June 26th: Bibliophiliac

Wednesday, June 27th: she treads softly

Thursday, June 28th: Book Him Danno!

Monday, July 2nd: A Bookish Way of Life

Tuesday, July 3rd: The Betty and Boo Chronicles

Thursday, July 5th: lit*chick

Friday, July 6th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]

Monday, July 9th: Book Reviews, Fiction Reflections, ‘n More!

Tuesday, July 10th: Kritters Ramblings

Wednesday, July 11th: a novel toybox

Thursday, July 12th: Bookstack

Friday, July 13th: West Metro Mommy

Monday, July 16th: A Worn Path