Memoir novel (Danish)
Malene Lei Raben: Fruen, 2019
How to live a life when as a child you loved your strong and freedom-seeking mother through the youth rebellion in the 1970s, then as a young woman you are left in the throes of the same ambitious, troublesome and egocentric mother who clearly shows that she hates her own daughter? How is it as an adult to experience slander from your mother and watch your own children turn against you? How do you look after yourself in the middle of a new millennium when you have chosen the same career strategy as your mother but can never make her content or proud? How do you survive your mother’s course of illness when you have a giant pleaser gene and are in a double bind trap with your dying mother who chooses the victim role and accuses her daughter of always failing? You hit bottom and slowly lick your wounds knowing that you have tried everything you could out of love and loyalty, even if you were misunderstood. Read this angry but also forgiving memoir about a difficult and fiercely challenging relationship between a daughter and her mother.
Picture from JP – Politikens Hus.