Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
1/5
Audiobook6 hours
How to Love Your Daughter: A Novel
Written by Hila Blum
Narrated by Cassandra Campbell
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
“A stone-cold masterwork of psychological tension. Its final pages had me holding my breath.” —Flynn Berry, New York Times Book Review
The seemingly inexplicable estrangement between a woman and her grown daughter opens up a troubling question: What damage do we do in the blindness of love?
Thousands of miles from home, a woman stands on a dark street, peeking through well-lit windows at two little girls. They are the grandchildren she’s never met, daughters of the daughter she has not seen in years.
At the center of this mesmerizing story is the woman’s quest to understand how a relationship that began in bliss—a mother besotted with her only child—arrived at a point of such unfathomable distance. Weaving back and forth in time, she unravels memories and long-buried feelings, retracing the infinite acts of parental care, each so mundane and apparently benign, that in ensemble may have undermined what she most treasured. With exquisite psychological precision, Blum traces the seemingly insignificant missteps and deceptions of family life, where it’s possible to cross the line between protectiveness and possession without even seeing it—and uncertain whether, or how, we can find our way back.
The seemingly inexplicable estrangement between a woman and her grown daughter opens up a troubling question: What damage do we do in the blindness of love?
Thousands of miles from home, a woman stands on a dark street, peeking through well-lit windows at two little girls. They are the grandchildren she’s never met, daughters of the daughter she has not seen in years.
At the center of this mesmerizing story is the woman’s quest to understand how a relationship that began in bliss—a mother besotted with her only child—arrived at a point of such unfathomable distance. Weaving back and forth in time, she unravels memories and long-buried feelings, retracing the infinite acts of parental care, each so mundane and apparently benign, that in ensemble may have undermined what she most treasured. With exquisite psychological precision, Blum traces the seemingly insignificant missteps and deceptions of family life, where it’s possible to cross the line between protectiveness and possession without even seeing it—and uncertain whether, or how, we can find our way back.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPenguin Audio
TranslatorDaniella Zamir
Release dateJul 18, 2023
ISBN9780593684153
Author
Hila Blum
A native of Jerusalem, Hila Blum has also lived in Hawaii, Paris and New York. Formerly a journalist, Originally a journalist, she has been a fiction editor for over twenty years. Her first novel, The Visit, was longlisted for the 2012 Sapir Prize. How to Love Your Daughter, her second novel, won the same prize for 2021. Photo credit: Omer Armoni
Related to How to Love Your Daughter
Related audiobooks
Dancing on My Own: Essays on Art, Collectivity, and Joy Scrap Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Discomfort of Evening: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5She's Always Hungry: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bodies of Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Capital of Dreams: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Creep: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She's a Lamb! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hearing Test Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSave Me, Stranger: Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagma: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mystery Lights Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Idle Grounds: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Soft Core: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Private Rites: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Brutes: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Snake Oil: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dance of the Dolls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pew: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mood Swings: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cousins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woodworm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deliver Me: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What I’d Rather Not Think About Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elegy, Southwest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Happens at Night Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hellions: stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost on Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Family Life For You
The Idea of You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God of the Woods: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Women: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Racing in the Rain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count My Lies: A GMA Book Club Pick! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Colors of the Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winter Garden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Margo's Got Money Troubles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Found You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Echo of Old Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Regretting You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reminders of Him: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Where the Forest Meets the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Minutes: A novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe in Another Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sandwich: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People We Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She's Come Undone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forever, Interrupted: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Regrets of Clover: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humans: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
BLOODY BOOK CLUB • Eliza Clark (Boy Parts, Penance) 0% found this document usefulOur Wives Under The Sea - Part 2 (pg.56 - 113) 0% found this document usefulRivers Solomon (Model Home) feat. Margaret Cho, Guest Gay Reader 0% found this document usefulOur Wives Under The Sea - Part 1 (pg. 1-55) 0% found this document usefulCristina Rivera Garza: Liliana’s Invincible Summer 0% found this document usefulCoco Mellors on Blue Sisters 0% found this document usefulA Little Life 0% found this document usefulE116: THE FOX WIFE Interview with Yangsze Choo 0% found this document usefulHolly Gramazio (The Husbands) 0% found this document usefulMarie-Helene Bertino 0% found this document usefulEpisode 3.2: ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad 0% found this document usefulDeath of a Bookseller by Alice Slater with Eliza Clark 0% found this document usefulOttessa Moshfegh 100% found this document useful[encore] 923: A Funeral Ending with Beyoncé 0% found this document usefulTwo books examine masculinity and mental health in immigrant families 0% found this document usefulTommy Orange follows 'There, There' with 'Wandering Stars' 0% found this document useful
Reviews for How to Love Your Daughter
Rating: 3.6363636363636362 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
22 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Dec 2, 2023
A lovely, poignant, beautifully written novel in an episodic style about a fierce love between mother and daughter until the daughter leaves home without explanation. I especially appreciated the way everything was not explained, as mother/daughter relationships are often mysterious. Only slight quibble is the absence of a sense of place - it even took awhile to figure out the place was Jerusalem. Nevertheless, 5 stars.