Bossypants Book Club (April 16, 2018): Motherest by K. Iskandrian

Kristen Iskandrian was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she always enjoyed writing and reading.  Some of her favorite childhood authors were Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and  E.B. White.  She journaled in her diary, wrote poetry, and developed stories, but found she really enjoyed writing letters.

As a teenager, she continued nurturing her love for writing and her affection towards music. She sang in church, high school, college and continues today.  After graduating from College of the Holy Cross, she received her PhD. from University of Georgia.  She then worked as a teacher, a freelancer, and has written various works.

Iskandrian began to write Motherest in 2010.  It took four years to fine tune the work to be published. The novel uses various methods to demonstrate the dynamic between mother and daughter.  Letters play a key in painting a picture of the relationship and  the emotions they share.

Motherest by Kristen Iskandrian

It’s the early 1990s, and Agnes is running out of people she can count on. A new college student, she is caught between the broken home she leaves behind and the wilderness of campus life. What she needs most is her mother, who has seemingly disappeared, and her brother, who left the family tragically a few years prior.

As Agnes falls into new romance, mines female friendships for intimacy, and struggles to find her footing, she writes letters to her mother, both to conjure a closeness they never had and to try to translate her experiences to herself. When she finds out she is pregnant, Agnes begins to contend with what it means to be a mother and, in some ways, what it means to be your own mother.