Book Review: THE MOMMY CLIQUE

Title: The Mommy Clique
Author: Barbara Altamirano
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Pages: 203
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐

Elise is the queen bee of the Mommy clique. Kelly is her right hand, sycophantic and ingratiating. Ronnie has no place in this adult version of high school, though she has made herself quite comfortable by gleaning secrets about the others. Gail is the wannabe, never at ease with herself.

When Beth returns to her hometown in Connecticut to care for her sick mother, along with her husband and three children, she is lonely. Despite herself, she feels drawn to the Mommy clique, consisting of Elise, Kelly, Ronnie and Gail.

What follows is a series of pranks, all designed as part of a bizarre initiation. Because Elise has decided that Beth is to be the target.

 

I thought it would have been better if we had been introduced to Beth before the other characters. Beth is the protagonist in this grown-up drama; we should have had an opportunity to bond with her first. Instead we meet her after we get to know the other four women.

I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. They were selfish and cold. All in all, there’s too much drama at a school bus stop. It was for the most part meaningless and confusing. I couldn’t see why anyone would want to put up with it.

The writing was tepid and indistinguishable from one PoV to another. It’s hard to keep track of whose PoV it is. As if there wasn’t enough confusion for the reader from five PoVs in Chapter 1, the author decides to hand out titles and then refer to chapter names using the titles, from Chapter 2.

As the book picked up steam, it got better and the voices became distinct, but I still couldn’t imagine grown women behaving like this.

Elise calls Gail’s Halloween party costume “more sedated” than her usual style. More sedated?

The names could have been chosen better. Beth’s husband is Rick and her son is Ricky. This becomes confusing for us.

Going by the title, I had assumed that the book would be about the rivalry in the PTA. This was just too unreal.

The ending was particularly disturbing. In a world in which sexual assault and rape are justified because the woman “was asking for it,” or “deserved it,” the final resolution smacked of insensitivity and cruelty.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)