2017 USBBY Outstanding International Books
Bibliography
Downham, J. (2016). Unbecoming. New York: David Fickling Books/Scholastic Inc.
Plot Summary
Three women. One family.
When Katie’s estranged grandmother comes to live with her family, she finds herself drawn to the woman and the life she has lived. In helping care for her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, while her mother frantically tries to find a way to rid herself of the woman, Katie begins to unravel the past and learn family secrets. She also learns what it means to love oneself.
Critical Analysis
The writing in this novel is absolutely stunning, particularly when Mary is struggling with her memories.
“The panic builds slowly. It’s as if the world widens out to include things that don’t belong…” “Where is she? What year is it? The hands are the best clue. Folded like origami around her handbag. She lifts them in front of her face to look. They are lined and dry. She is ancient. The world shifts once more.” (pg 78)
The narration flips between Katie, present day Mary, and past Mary beginning in 1954. Mary was carefree. She liked makeup and boys, but her father and sister did not approve of her openness. She becomes pregnant at a young age with Katie’s mother, Caroline. Her personality still shines through despite Alzheimer's affecting her memory. This may be what attracts Katie to the woman. Mary is everything her mother isn’t.
Caroline has been affected by her mother’s absence as a child. Mary's sister, Pat, took Caroline in and raised her as her own while Mary went out and became an actress. Now, Caroline is a control freak. Her expectations for Katie are high, especially since the novel takes place during exams, and she has a son with special needs to care for. Taking care of her mother is not a part of her plan.
Katie is stuck in the middle of the two personalities. For one, she is struggling with her sexuality. After confessing, in a way, to her best friend Esme, she is shamed by the other girls in her grade. She wants to be accepted but cannot figure out how. The expectations her mother has of her is beginning to burn her out. Why can’t her mother lighten up? And then there is Simone, the girl everyone in school knows is a lesbian. She works at the cafe Mary insists on going to every day.
The novel takes place in England. Katie is busy focusing on her exams which students could identify as finals. Mary is obsessed with the sea because Robert had a caravan by the sea that she visited. Caroline must jump through hoops in getting her mother into a care facility due to government requirements. Caroline is referred to as Mum, and when Katie does come out, she knows that her sexual identity is not accepted by the United Kingdom like it is in other places. This could contribute to why she hid it from herself for so long. However, she accepts herself by the end of the novel.
It’s an interesting move on Downham’s part to not include the mother in the narration considering that it’s a multi-generational story. Instead, Caroline’s motivations are really revealed until the second half of the novel through conversations with Mary and Katie, and when Mary’s blue blank is filled in.
“A story, Katie decided as she crossed the courtyard to the gate, is like a bolt of material or a woolen scarf, and you might pull out a threat and look at it boldly because there it is sitting in your palm. But there are countless threads tangled together and some belong to you and some belong to other people, and incoherence and inconsistency become part of the narrative.” (352)
Each woman is completely different from the other in this novel and shaped in some way by their relationship with their family. Mary’s perspective of how she was as a mother is certainly different than what Caroline remembers. This is apparent when Mary finally had custody of her daughter and wanted to show her off but Caroline wasn’t interested. And Caroline wanted stability for her own family because it was one thing she never had with Mary, and Pat suffered from depression. In the end, she suffocates her children and marriage.
Many different themes are present in this novel. Sexual identity, depression, suicide, familial obligations, mothers, and forgiveness.
Review Excerpt(s)
2017 USBBY Outstanding International Books
Stonewall Book Award Nominee for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (2016)
YA Book Prize Nominee (2016)
"Her prose gets right down inside human fragility, tenderness, fury, gusto, and strength -- leaving sweet, sharp images that are impossible to forget. Exceptional." --Kirkus Reviews
Connections
Activities
- What memories would you be most upset to lose?
- In the novel, Katie notes that when she was younger, she was assigned to complete a family tree. It was difficult for her to do due to her mother’s unwillingness to discuss the truth. Complete your own family tree and see how much you can fill in. Ask your parents or the adults in your family if they can help.
- Create a class mural with chalk outside the building to represent everyone in class and everyone’s perspective.
- Write out a memory you have with another person - a friend, a family member, a teacher, etc. Have them write down what they remember about the event as well. Compare notes. How are your accounts similar? How are your accounts different?
- Interview your parent(s) or grandparent(s) about how they were raised. How did they raise their own children differently?
Another Multi-generational & Multicultural YA
No comments:
Post a Comment