Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me

by Adrienne Brodeur

Book Overview

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER. A daughter's tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity.

NAMED A BEST FALL BOOK BY People * Refinery29 * Entertainment Weekly * BuzzFeed * NPR's On Point * Town & Country * Real Simple * New York Post * Palm Beach Post * Toronto Star * Orange Country Register * Bustle * Bookish * BookPage * Kirkus* BBC Culture* Debutiful

On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was fourteen, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five simple words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me.

Adrienne instantly became her mother's confidante and helpmate, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband's closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne's life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her life--and her mother--on her own terms.

Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. It's a remarkable story of resilience, a reminder that we need not be the parents our parents were to us.

"Exquisite and harrowing." --New York Times Book Review

"This electrifying, gorgeously written memoir will hold you captive until the last word." --People

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1328519031
• ISBN13: 9781328519030
• Release Date: October 2019
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Really boring

Couldn't make it to finish as it was sooo boring!

Wild Game

It was okay. I had expected a little better based on the reviews I'd read from other readers. It was just okay

Dysfunctional and so good

A superbly rendered memoir, Wild Game is an insightful, candid examination of the author's particularly strange journey from late childhood into womanhood. Raised in the privileged world of the affluent Northeastern class of large homes, summer retreats, and an Ivy League education, the author digs deep into her relationship with her myopically self-centered mother. Of course, this sort superbly rendered memoir, Wild Game is an insightful, candid examination of the author's particularly strange journey from late childhood into womanhood. Raised in the privileged world of the affluent Northeastern class of large homes, summer retreats, and an Ivy League education, the author digs deep into her relationship with her myopically self-centered mother. Right at the start, there commences a passionate, romantic affair between her mother and her husband's (the author's stepfather) best friend, leading the mother to co-op her daughter into schemes to protect the affair at essentially all costs--to family, friends, relationships, and normal behavior. Of course, this sort of betrayal story is all fairly dramatic, filled with conflict and tortured decisions; and unlike fiction, the resolutions do not play out neatly or predictably. The author's honesty and power of self-appraising reflections offer the reader a solid and reliable place to manage the story's details and its twists and turns. Though Wild Gam of betrayal story is all fairly dramatic, filled with conflict and tortured decisions; and unlike fiction, the resolutions do not play out neatly or predictably. The author's honesty and power of self-appraising reflections offer the reader a solid and reliable place to manage the story's details and its twists and turns.

I loved this memoir

If you are a looking for nonfiction that reads like fiction, look no further! As a fair weather nonfiction reader myself (although I’ve definitely upped my game lately) I’m always looking for pace and intrigue with my nonfiction and Wild Game is just that. This memoir has family drama in spades, but consider this a trigger warning if infidelity bothers you. This was one of the rare memoirs I could read about a privileged white family that didn’t make me cringe. And bonus: foodies will LOVE the descriptions of certain dishes and meals in Wild Game. Also, I can’t say for sure but I found out the audiobook is narrated by Julie Whelan, my very favorite narrator so I have to imagine that is amazing as well!