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FashionShowAtLunch
05/11/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
Come on- Emma Bovary didn't make that list?
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PhDork
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
Jocasta? Really? It's not like she chose to have her infant exposed, or knew that Oedipus was her kid when she married him (not that she had any say in the matter, anyway). Medea, as NellMood said, maybe (although she argues that she's saving them from a terrible fate as outcasts, etc.), but not Jocasta. And hello, Clytemnesta?
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hej hej
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
There were lots of bad moms in Charles Dickens' works. Arthur Clenham's mother was terrible. And Miss Havisham messed Estella up pretty bad.
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NellMood
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
Medea. Medea was a mean mommy. Um, old Medea. Not the Medea from those movies.
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MsTriste
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
I would put the mom from White Oleander at the top of the list. The most pathologically narcissistic person in literature, and a killer to boot.
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Ipomoea
05/10/09

@MsTriste: Ingrid. She was horrible. I love that book.
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midwesternmom
05/10/09

@MsTriste: Most of the foster mothers could qualify for Honorable Mention. That book was heartbreaking.
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AnotherJenn
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
Sarah from Little Children? Really? I mean, yes, she's not a terribly engaged mother and she does have an affair but she's not that bad. Anna Karenina abandoned her child and would barely be in the presence of her subsequent children. Surely that's worse. There are so many worse examples of adulterous, bad mothers than Sarah. That's just lazy list-making. Or slut-shaming. Sounds like the real problem is that she had an affair at all.
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BellaTricks
05/10/09

@AnotherJenn: Yeah, the inclusion of Sarah made me sad. I saw Sarah's major conflict as finding a balance between being a mother, being a wife, and having separate personal identity. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, she never neglected her child while she was having the affair, so I have trouble agreeing with her status on the list.
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AnotherJenn
05/10/09

@BellaTricks: She didn't neglect her child. She doesn't exactly thrive in her daughter's presence, but she doesn't abuse her or do anything near what the other mothers on the list do. She kind of used Lucy as a pawn to go to the pool and get close to Todd, but the affair is carried on while Lucy and Todd's kid nap and they have fun together. She also brings Lucy to the park with her when she plans on running off with Todd, so no abandonment.

It seems like her major sin in the list-maker's eyes is having an affair at all. Probably also the whole not being 100% fulfilled just from being a Mommy. Because, you know, only horrible mothers struggle with finding room for themselves and their own dreams after becoming mothers.
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BellaTricks
05/10/09

@AnotherJenn: The selfish sluts!
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kelsium
05/10/09

@AnotherJenn: Yeah, that bothered me too.
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misspell
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
I would add Gregor Samsa's mom to the list, but yikes, I think I might've reacted the same way she did.

Also there's this really long book that I haven't read, and there's a woman in it called Eve who is supposedly the mother of everybody, and a few people have told me that she wreaked quite a bit of havoc on civilization.
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Ipomoea
05/10/09

@misspell: Yo, that bitch is crazy. Her husband's first wife is pretty bad as well, from what I understand, what with birthing demons and all.
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BellaTricks
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
I'd also like to nominate Lila Wingo from The Prince of Tides for an honorable mention.
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FurrierAndIves
05/10/09

@BellaTricks: I miss Pat Conroy.
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NellMood
05/10/09

@FurrierAndIves: I agree. Isn't it time for a new book from him? I can't believe Beach Music was his last novel.
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Antrack
05/10/09

@NellMood: I saw on Amazon one is coming out this summer. Check their beach read preview.
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NellMood
05/10/09

@Antrack: Oh, thanks! That's great news!
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FurrierAndIves
05/10/09

@NellMood: Among other motivators, the novel made me want to move to Rome. Still want to.
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NellMood
05/10/09

@FurrierAndIves: Rome wouldn't be too bad. I grew up in South Carolina, and Pat Conroy's books so perfectly capture the mood and feelings of my hometown. He's so great at setting the scenery in his books.
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midwesternmom
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
Another non-fiction nominee--the mom from A Boy Called It. That woman deserves a special burning place in hell for all she put her son through.
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Triphena
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
Non fiction, but the mom from The Glass Castle really wins an award. (We'll save the hate for the dad until Father's Day.)
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margareita metermaid
05/10/09

@Triphena: Bad fathers in literature are too easy! :)
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NellMood
05/10/09

@Triphena: It was painful to read about that mother. I got really angry reading that book.
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Triphena
05/10/09

@NellMood: When I got to that total WTF?! with her mom at the end I actually had to put the book down and go for a walk. I've never had any sort of reaction to a book like that before, like just incensed. How you could ever put your children through all that knowing full well you could stop it is beyond me.
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NellMood
05/10/09

@Triphena: Yeah, I had to take a break, too. I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive my parents if that had been my life. That level of selfishness just makes me ill.
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margareita metermaid
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
I loved Flowers in the Attic. VC Andrews was the author we traded around in sixth grade, pre internet, when ya still had to find your scandalous/titillating moments in books/movies.

in terms of shitty moms, I'd say in real life, Joan Crawford, Nico, and the woman who was on Jez awhile ago who wrote an article in the newspaper about how she didn't love her daughter, along with a pic. of her and her daughter.
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BellaTricks
05/10/09

In reply to Mommie Dearest
HOW did the mom from Sybil not make this list?!
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Jack_Burton
04/21/09

In reply to The Horror: Moms Now Addicted To Facebook
I went to Fry's Electronics the other day.

A middle-aged woman was playing a rather serious game of Solitaire on a demo notebook (Sony VAIO ~$1800, 17-inch screen).

At least she knew what she was buying the computer for.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
04/20/09

In reply to The Horror: Moms Now Addicted To Facebook
I love my parents and feel protective of them as they age, but I don't feel any need to "protect" them from the big, bad internet. I'm sure, being in their 60s, having been parents and having had long careers, they have been through things I can only imagine.
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gerbilsoutofexile...is cheap and easy
04/20/09

In reply to The Horror: Moms Now Addicted To Facebook
HEY NOW. I am late to the post, but at almost 47, I do still have a life, you know. As do the old friends from high school/childhood that have found me, my jezzie friends, etc.

I may be old, but I'm not dead or stupid. You younguns better pull your pants up and step off - or you'll get a stern talking to!
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