Beautiful memoir that reads like a novel. Extraordinary memoir and story of being raised by a narcissist

Fascinating. Loved it.
Amazing story told with great eye for the telling detail and with sympathy for human frailty, even in people who failed the author as a child . Reads like a novel, a really good novel, a page-turner.  Loved it.

NOTE: I received a free Advanced Reader's Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Memoirs like this are the reasons I love memoirs. Because truth is stranger than fiction. The story begins when mom Malabar wakes up 14-year old Rennie to tell her that Ben, Malabar's husband's best friend, just kissed her. And Rennie becomes entwined in Ben & Malabar's secret (or not-so-secret) affair, creating a twisted mother/daughter relationship that will damage Rennie well into adulthood. 

With wonderful writing, we are introduced to lots of secondary characters of friends, lovers, siblings, and more. And, even better, get an inside look into the privileged life of Cap Cod's elite world where any day is an excuse for cocktails and gourmet dinner parties. 

This would make an excellent choice for book club - touching upon the issues of secrets/transparency, a myriad of family relationships (mother/daughter, siblings, husband/wife), the legacies that impact our childhoods and formative years, and more. 

Also note - while most names are changed for privacy, it only takes about two minutes of Googling to find out who Ben and Charles are, but I recommend you hold off doing so until you finish the book.

This memoire will grab you from the start. With a premise like nothing I've ever read before, "Wild Game" is a real in-depth look at the relationship between mother and daughter and how it can change from generation to generation. Fabulous!

I received a free copy of Wild Game from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. 

Wild Game is a memoir that largely centers around the author's mother's affair with a family friend and the role the author played in facilitating that deception. The book begins by describing the family's wealth and summer home in Cape Cod. The first couple of chapters of this book, really put me off. I did not like this family and of course, I especially didn't like the mother. The inappropriate relationship between the mother and daughter sounded like it would be an interesting subject, which is why I wanted to read this book. However, the awful, selfish, narcissistic mother coupled with privilege, wealth, and snobbery was extremely unlikeable and unrelatable for me. To be honest, I probably would have put the book down early on if I were not reviewing it for NetGalley. It's clear that the author's mother Malabar is the type of woman that thinks having wealth somehow makes her better, more interesting or more elegant. In reality though, the woman was classless and trashy. The privilege and lack of awareness was just a bit gross to me. The author includes details bout elaborate meals, their 17 bedroom home, her stepfather's ancestors coming over on the Mayflower. Those things don't interest me. 

 I will say the book is well written, so that made it easier to continue reading and there were some interesting parts to the book. The book is split into three parts and by the time I made it to part 2, I was actually interested in how the affair would play out. I wanted to know if they would continue carrying on, would they get it away with it? Things also are even more complicated at that point when the author adds another layer of complexity to the situation with her own lover. I won't go into too much detail on that point so as to not spoil it for future readers. All I will say is that it adds a lot more awkwardness into the family dinners. Part 2 answered my questions and wrapped up the interesting bits in my opinion, so when I made it to part 3 I didn't really care much anymore. Part 3 is mostly just the author letting us know how she reconciled the deceptions of her past with her present and future self and comes to find her own happily ever after. Overall, this book wasn't really for me.

At the age of 14, Adrienne is awoken in the middle of the night by her mother, Malabar. Malabar tells her that their longtime family friend, Ben, has kissed her after their dinner party. Ben is best friends with Malabar’s husband and Adrienne’s stepfather, the godfather to her stepfather’s children and also married. Adrienne is pulled in as she becomes privy to Malabar and Ben’s illicit affair that spans decades. Teenage Adrienne doesn’t realize the ripple effect her duplicity in their affair will have over the course of her own life, as well as many others’ lives.

Brodeur’s depictions of her mother and herself are very in depth and I loved her writing style in her memoir. It is very descriptive and well written as you get pulled into the cat and mouse game that Malabar and Ben created for their families. Adrienne is asked to provide alibis and fabricate situations in order to provide them with more opportunities to be together. Adrienne and Malabar’s mother daughter relationship is explored and the consequences of lacking boundaries between parent and child. I found the chronology of this memoir to be great as well, as the reader gets the whole story across the lives of the subjects instead of just a snapshot. I really enjoyed this memoir that explores what it means to be faithful in romantic as well as familial relationships.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this memoir. The book was beautifully written and engrossing but I had to keep putting it down because I could not stand the narcissist mom. I kept reading to find out if/ when the author would free herself from her mom’s emotional hold. I am glad I read the book but I was really glad when it ended.

I'm so thankful I read this book, it was really inspiring. It made me feel like a better person for reading it. This book was absolutely amazing!

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur is a memoir that reads almost like a novel, albeit one with a lot of dysfunction involved.

I'll start with the writing. It took a while for me to get into the flow of the writing. I was into the book immediately but her style took me a little while to adapt to. Once I did, I came to think that it worked very well here. A lot of detail yet at the same time it almost seemed skeletal. I know, that doesn't make sense, and I should probably find a better way to express it, but I won't. What I want to say to a prospective reader is this: if you don't immediately feel like you're in the flow of the book, give it a little more time, I think you'll be rewarded.

There are many instances where it is easy to just judge and step away from trying to understand these people. Understanding does not require approval, it simply requires the basic senses of compassion and empathy. That said, you will still have many moments where you shake your head and just think, 'are you kidding me.' But many of those moments actually make sense if you have tried to understand rather than judge. With the mother's personality her actions do make sense. Dysfunctional, yes, but to a dysfunctional person it is logical. And a child, well, to feel close to a parent who might otherwise be hard to be close to is worth a lot of compromise. Does that make it right? That isn't the point here, the point is that it happened and it had long term effects.

I found myself anxious to find out what would happen next while also hoping it would not keep going. I was particularly impressed by the way the story is told from the adult's reflective viewpoint but at times almost with the child's perspective.

I would recommend this to readers of memoirs and especially those who enjoy reading about how someone comes to terms with a past that is, to put it mildly, questionable. Also any readers who like nonfiction that reads like fiction will enjoy this.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

I absolutely devoured this incredibly well-written memoir that explores the inappropriate relationship a mother develops with her daughter by molding her into confidante, co-conspirator, and secret-keeper as she embarks on a years-long affair with her husband's long time friend. 

The author explores the mother-daughter bond carefully by describing her own experience as a child, and when older, how she wished to define it as an adult and mother herself. My heart broke for young Rennie and the position her mother constantly put her in while she lied to so many she loved. 

This was a quick summer read for me, and a memoir I would highly recommend.

I put this book on my list after Gretchen Rubin adopted it for her Happier Book Club. It did not disappoint! I don't want to give too much away but I will say this is a fantastical story of the life of a young girl sucked into a crazy world of her mother's choices. This is a memoir and wow does it deliver! Highly recommend.

Heartbreakingly beautiful. This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The  characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming  Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers.

3.5 stars. Wild Game is a well-written, very accessible memoir of the damage a mother can do to her daughter. I read this book in one sitting and thought the author did a brilliant job in presenting a balanced narrative of her relationship with her mother. Although she is aware that her mother making her an accomplice in her extra-marital affair was wrong and extremely selfish, she can also include more positive moments in their relationship.

I also liked how she allowed us to go on her journey of self-discovery with her. We see her grow from a teenager into a mindful adult.

An quick, entertaining, thought-provoking read.

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an ARC for an honest book review.
Adrienne Brodeur has written a gripping memoir that evokes insightful moments and a myriad of emotion.
Rennie is a 14 year old girl, sleeping soundly on a summer’s night when her mother (Malabar) wakes her to reveal that she has just been kissed by her husband’s best friend. Deeply attached, Rennie is thrilled to be her mother’s confidante. In that moment and with that decision, Malabar’s manipulation will become unfathomable and very difficult to accept. Rennie’s complete devotion and love for her mother will break your heart as the reader sees Rennie lose her childhood as Malabar manipulates and uses her as a cover and provider of excuses and alibis so this secret affair can continue. 
This is a beautifully written saga of generational dysfunction, of wealth and mistakes. After many years of struggle, Ms. Brodeur’s breaks the chain and makes the conscious choice to walk a different path.  With healing, self-discovery and reflection Ms. Brodeur has finally found her well deserved peace.

This was a very intriguing tale about how a young girl got caught up in her mom's affair starrinf at age 14. It was a very quick read, well written and engaging. I found myself wanting to know what happened and NOT know what happened at the same time; I felt so bad for the author. 3.5 stars, rounded up.to 4.

Wild Game is a vivid, insightful daughter-mother memoir that explores the author's journey to know, understand and accept her beautiful, dynamic and unusual mother. Though the story is steeped in the unique details of the author's experience--a mother who commands attention and adoration but seems always just a step away from her daughter--it tells a universal story. 

I enjoyed the style of writing, and taking me back to another time. It is refreshing to see a daughter who went through a lot of soul searching to find the way to love a mother for who she was, even if it meant recognizing that the person who was her ‘mother’ was not quite what you would expect. Adrienne Brodeur writes the book without contempt. As she peels away the layers of illusion and drama surrounding her mother, the author grows into her strong and talented womanhood. Loved the book...Highly recommend.

WILD GAME is a stunning memoir. The writing is exquisite, the food and the landscape of Cape Cod is described so vividly, and the family drama is riveting.

It follows the life of Rennie, who, at 14, is awakened by her mother, Malabar, with news that Malabar has just been kissed by a family friend. This launches a decade-long affair, for which Rennie is a co-conspirator, constantly maneuvering to help keep her mother’s secret, descending into bigger and bolder lies as the two families become more entangled. And the fallout has consequences for decades beyond the affair.

As a reader, you witness a narcissistic mother taking advantage of her daughter, who is constantly striving to win her mother’s affections, struggling to form her own sense of self while her focus is wholly on her mother’s love life. But you also see the nuance—the series of traumas that led Malabar to be the way she is, the things that are passed from mother to daughter generation after generation.

What left me dazed at the end of this book was the complexity of emotions inherent in any mother-daughter relationship (even the healthy ones). How we swing between hurt and forgiveness and vows to do better with our own daughters. This story was painful and gorgeous and I couldn’t put it down. “Compulsively readable,” as they say.

I absolutely love memoirs that detail the author's murky/unique/disturbing past, so I was of course excited to read "Wild Game" by Adrienne Brodeur,

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the detached form of writing - in a memoir, I want to be able to feel what the author was feeling, or at the very least empathize with them. Due to the hollow writing, I found empathizing with Ms. Brodeur to be tricky.

In exquisite detail, Adrienne Brodeur recounts her childhood, which was marred by secrets, unhealthy boundaries, and manipulation imposed upon her by her mother. The reader is then immersed in the author’s journey as an adult as she struggles to differentiate herself from her mother and to form her own identity. Her description of her mental health, anguish, and guilt is incredibly raw and honest. Although this is not an action-packed memoir and can be somewhat slow at times, the reader is allowed an intimate glimpse into the author’s experience that makes it gripping and emotionally impactful. Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This memoir was very well-written and kept me wanting to read until the end. In fact, I read it on and off in a 12-hour period. The only thing is when I got to the end, I wondered why it seemed so captivating, since it’s very much a self-centered small story in a much bigger world type of tale. Yes, it was more unique than the average narcissistic mommy memoir, or the child having to be the adult in the family memoir, but it’s uniqueness seemed a bit exclusive. Moreover, morality took a backseat, which left a bad aftertaste. Nevertheless, the author finally did realize as an adult that life could have meaning without daily drama, and definitely did learn the hard way that a parent should never turn a child into a confidant or an accomplice in adultery.