A Chair for My Mother Book

Vera B. William's A Chair for my Mother is simply, utterly beautiful, both ascetically and morally, philosophically. Engagingly, with an ever-present but still delightfully understated emotionality, and thus, without too much exaggeration and pathos, it features both struggle/pain and joy. Rosa's family is poor (and I think that Rosa's mother might also be also a single parent), and has suffered a terrible loss due to a destructive fire that has basically left them without material possessions (including a comfortable chair for Rosa's mother to relax on when she comes home tired from her low wage paying waitressing job at a local diner), but thankfully, both the grandmother and the pet cat escaped the fire with no injuries (although it did take a while to locate the cat).

The fire, the loss Rosa's family has experienced notwithstanding, the text, the narrative of A Chair for My Mother, while definitely showing the destruction the conflagration has caused and presenting Rosa's family as being among the so-called working poor, is primarily optimistic and features mostly positives, such as family togetherness, community, how after the fire, Rosa's family and neighbours (many of whom are likely as economically strapped as Rosa's mother) rally to provide moral, emotional support and necessary furniture (Rosa, her mother and grandmother move in with family until they are able to relocate to a downstairs apartment, with neighbours and family donating beds, tables, chairs and curtains, along with necessary kitchen utensils). And although it does take some time for the family to save enough coins, to save enough money to be able to purchase a large, comfortable chair (primarily for Rosa's hardworking mother, but also for the grandmother to sit back and relax while preparing food), one day, the jar is full, and a comfortable chair beckons as a reality, and no longer just a dream (showing not only a sweet and happy ending, but also demonstrating that patience, perserverence, that saving ones coins, can and does make a difference).

The accompanying illustrations are bright, lively and expressive (both emotion and movement, the destructive power of the fire, as well as community spirit that sustains and nourishes Rosa's family in their hours of need are evocatively depicted). And although by themselves, I would probably not consider them personal favourites, I do love the colour schemes used, and consider the illustrations a more than fitting compliment and complement to the narrative, the storyline recounted in and with A Chair for my Mother.