The Crooked Branch

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But there was quite a lot that turned me off about this book. For one thing, Majella just isn’t likable. I realize that she is a new mother experiencing some form of postpartum depression, but she also seems to have a self-awareness about her that she isn’t behaving well, especially when she’s engaging with her mother. It’s a situation that has played out over years during their lives, and Majella herself notices that she’s reverting to her moany teenage persona when she calls her mother. I also found it odd that it was only Jade that was able to point out to Majella that the reason her mother is the way she is may be because she’s hiding a huge, deep, painful wound. You’d think at least her husband Leo would have noticed and said something to Majella. Majella seems to be extremely self-centered even before she had her daughter, though she has all my sympathy for dealing with postpartum depression. I only persisted with this book as I had been recommended it and the Irish Historical genealogy theme is an interest. I found the early chapters, heavy in dialogue very hard going. Reading it actually made me cringe. Felt very inauthentic. Majella’s labor is long and difficult, and results in her giving birth to Emma by c-section. Do these factors affect how she adjusts to motherhood? Is her transition into motherhood a particularly bumpy one, or is it fairly normal? Would you describe her as having postpartum depression? When Leo and Majella found out they were expecting Emma, they left their apartment in Manhattan, and moved in search of a more suburban lifestyle in Queens. Were they right to make that move? How would Majella’s experiences as a new mother have been better or worse if they had stayed in Manhattan, or if they had selected a more neutral setting than the house where Majella grew up? With the ravages of the famine upon her, a terrified and distraught Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America. Although she was eventually able to acquire passage for herself and her children, not all of Ginny's family were able to escape and to start over fresh in their lives. So, what actually happened during those harrowing years, and just why does Ginny continue to call herself a killer?

Book Review: The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins Book Review: The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins

Despite the centuries that separate them, Majella is heartened to learn that her ancestor Ginny was in so many ways a woman just like herself - just a mother struggling to find a way to raise and protect her young children. Ginny's battles may have been more fundamental than Majella's - as she struggled to keep her young family alive during the time of Ireland's Great Hunger - yet Majella can't deny the strong connection that she still feels towards Ginny. However, does the fierce tenderness that Majella begins to feel towards her newborn daughter outweigh everything else - or is she actually genetically fated to be a bad mother? Determined to understand the truth of her heritage as well as her own identity, Majella seeks to learn more about Ginny Doyle's personal history - and discovers surprising new truths about her family and, ultimately, about herself. Wonderfully written, with strong, compelling characters, it is a deeply satisfying combination of sweeping historical saga and modern family drama, a gentle reminder of the ever-reaching influence of family, both near and far.”

How are Jade and Majella similar? In what ways are they different? Does either of these women represent a typical, new-mother experience, or are they both somewhere beyond the conventional ideas of what it’s like to become a mother for the first time? Are those traditional concepts of new motherhood still changing, or have they become static? The staff and residents at Springhill House live largely beyond the reach of the famine and, while some experience occasional glimmers of guilt, they mostly carry on as if everything is normal. Is this kind of “willful amnesia” immoral? What, if anything, could they do to help influence the events around them? What could any of the staff at Springhill do to save some of the starving population beyond the gate? What about Murdoch? Or Alice Spring? What is their moral imperative, and how does it differ from the people who work for them? The Crooked Branch follows two desperate mothers struggling through vastly different hardships, one in present-day Queens and the other in Ireland in 1846-47 during the Great Hunger, also known as the potato famine. Majella’s present-day story centers on her inability to adapt to motherhood and her fears about her mental health. She feels like she failed baby Emma from the beginning because she had a c-section after a long and difficult labor. She loves her daughter, but worries that she’ll never be the mom she dreamed of being, feels that she’s lost the person she was in her life before, and thinks she’s going crazy. She doesn’t think it’s postpartum depression; she thinks being a bad mother has been passed down through the generations and is in her genes — and the dreams, the blow-ups, and the inappropriate comments she can’t help making must prove it. Majella wonders if perhaps she is a bad mother because of this Ginny, that maybe she is genetically programmed to fail at motherhood. After all, Majella and her mother don’t have a great relationship, so maybe she is she destined to have the same with Emma. But as Majella continues to unravel the mystery that is Ginny and her Irish family, she forms a new connection with her mother, forges a possible friendship with another new mother, and starts to regain some of her sanity. Jeanine Cummins knows that there are stories beneath the stories, and she uses this brilliant knowing to weave a tale that is lyrical, emotional and often funny. This extraordinary novel reminds us how motherhood can make us feel as though we are coming undone while also being remade. Majella and Ginny navigate motherhood with a fierce love that propels the story forward with intense strength. Brilliant, vulnerable and intense, The Crooked Branchpierced my heart and paused my breath.”— New York Timesbestselling author Patti Callahan Henry

The Crooked Branch – Jeanine Cummins

The last time I felt this way about a past-present story line was reading The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy. I hope you get a chance to read this one! Jeanine Cummins knows that there are stories beneath the stories, and she uses this brilliant knowing to weave a tale that is lyrical, emotional and often funny. This extraordinary novel reminds us how motherhood can make us feel as though we are coming undone while also being remade. Majella and Ginny navigate motherhood with a fierce love that propels the story forward with intense strength. Brilliant, vulnerable and intense, The Crooked Branch pierced my heart and paused my breath.”With the famine upon her, Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America, but not all of her family made it. What happened during those harrowing years, and why does Ginny call herself a killer? Is Majella genetically fated to be a bad mother, despite the fierce tenderness she feels for her baby? Die Geschichte erschien zunächst als “The Ghost in the Garden Room" zu Weihnachten 1859 in "The Haunted House" und wurde später unter dem Titel „The crooked Branch“ erneut veröffentlicht. The Crooked Branch is a story of a family, of mothers, of women. It’s a story of grief and loss. It’s a story of hope and sacrifice. It’s a story of the costliness of love. Sometimes it will take your life. Sometimes it will take your heart. Sometimes it will take others to enable you to survive. Wonderful review, Anna! This almost sounds like required reading for mothers. Of course, this story is unique, but I’m certain mothers could relate to the intense emotions of motherhood. And those who dare to have children or long to have children open themselves to the potential of heart rending suffering and grief and loss.

The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins | Waterstones

Ginny lives in Ireland. A time when the famine was really bad for families. It was fight or perish. Ginny was willing to do anything to survive. How far would she go? Maunder, Andrew (2007). "Lois the Witch". The Facts on File Companion to the British Short Story. pp.248–249. Majella’s relationship with her own mother is hardly a model one. Her mother is so far removed from anything that’s real, rambling on and on about random things and never stopping to listen to her daughter, who is falling apart at the seams. When Majella finds a diary written by an ancestor who survived the famine in Ireland, there’s one passage that makes her believe she is genetically programmed to fail at motherhood.Farmers Nathan and Hester Huntroyd haben recht spät geheiratet. Sie haben daher nur einen Sohn, Benjamin. Sie überhäufen Benjamin mit ihrer ganzen Liebe. Niemand ist so perfekt wie ihr Sohn. Ein sehr modernes Verhalten, das auch die gleichen Folgen hervorbringt, wie so manche heutige Nichterziehung. Benjamin wird sehr eigensinnig und ist nicht er – sondern verzogen. Seine Eltern arbeiten schwer, um ihm ein Studium zu ermöglichen, Benjamin hat jedoch andere Pläne und genießt das Londoner Leben weit über seine finanziellen Möglichkeiten.

The Crooked Branch Coffeehouse | Pardeeville WI - Facebook The Crooked Branch Coffeehouse | Pardeeville WI - Facebook

Leo loves Majella, and he tries to be empathetic, but there are moments when he just doesn’t understand what his wife is going through. Is he a supportive husband? How could he be better, more helpful? Is Majella right to get angry when he uses the word “babysitting” to describe staying home with their daughter, or does she overreact? This dual-timeline narrative was entertaining in part and cringeworthy in part. I really enjoyed Ginny's story, a suspenseful drama of young motherhood set during the potato famine in Ireland; however, her descendant Majella's modern tale of postpartum depression just didn't draw me in. Ginny's life had true tragedy and she had such resilience, and every step she took in life was realistic and understandable. Majella, on the other hand, wasn't a well fleshed character to me, nor were the supporting characters in her story. Her husband, what's-his-name, was basically a caricature of the clueless man (honestly, it took him half the book to even bring up medication), her friend Jade had just one aspect to her personality (unhappy), and her mother was horrible right up until she was the best mom ever... there was just no depth there. Still, the story was really interesting and I appreciated how Cummins tried to tie the modern-day arc to the historical one (even if I'm not a fan of the concept of genetic memory, I was willing to buy into the idea for the sake of the book). I was also glad to see postpartum depression as a topic for a book - there should be more of that - but would've liked a more concrete resolution there.After the birth of her daughter, Emma, first-time mother Majella finds herself feeling extremely strange - almost like she has somehow become separated or disconnected from herself and her family. The usually resilient and self-deprecating young woman suddenly feels isolated and exhausted - feelings which she slowly comes to realize reach far beyond simply being overwhelmed by her recent introduction to new motherhood. Trying to better understand her extraordinary feelings of 'differential otherness', Majella understands that no matter how much they may love her, her family just can't help her in this particular situation; so she seeks out professional help.