Evil Mothers in Movies or Books - My Ongoing Character List (Narcisstic Mothers, Sociopath Mothers)

This is interesting -- someone (actually, a woman named Kimberly Turner) has published an article entitled "Literature's Ten Most Disturbing Sociopaths."  The Top 10 of Villains, in a way, I guess.

Got me to thinking -- specifically about mothers.  Evil mothers.  On film, in books.  Maybe they are sociopaths (like Turner's inclusion of Cathy from East of Eden) or maybe they're narcissists.  Ask a daughter who served as narcisstic supply to her mother and she's probably not going to debate that her parent might have a bit of evil ribboning through her soul.

So, I thought I would start my own list of Evil Mothers - be they narcisstic or something else.

Here goes.  I'll come back and update this post as I think of more entries, and I welcome any suggestions you may have in the comments.

In no particular order:

The Grifters by Jim Thompson
book and movie (screenplay by Donald E. Westlake)
mother = Lilly Dillon

White Oleander by Janet Fitch
book and movie
mother = Ingrid Magnussen

Now, Voyager by Olive Higgins Prouty
book and movie
mother = Mrs. Windle Vale

Ordinary People by Judith Guest
book and movie
mother = Beth Jarrett

Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford
book and movie
mother = Joan Crawford

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
play and movies
mother =Queen Gertrude

Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams
play and movie
mother = Violet Venable

The Emerald Cat Killer by Richard A. Lupoff - A Great Find (Book Review)

 The Emerald Cat Killer (2010) was a really good read for me, but not for the usual mystery / detective series reasons. Not that it’s bad as a detective story: no! Far from it!

This is a solid work by a seasoned writer — there’s just more to this book than a caper and this is why I like it so much. Well, that and the fact that I love discoveries like this one.

First things first, I have to tell you that I stumbled upon this author at Dollar Tree, yes: Dollar Tree. The Emerald Cat Killer, as a hardback mind you, was there on the shelf along with some other hardback NYT bestsellers, all being sold for a buck. 

That’s right: one dollar for this sweet find last week here in San Antonio. (For more on that bargain buy, check out my post on recent book finds at the dollar store, here).

I grabbed it up on whim. One dollar, right? (Richard Lupoff was unknown to me; I’ll be reading more of his stuff.)

Here’s the thing that really caught my interest about The Emerald Cat Killer — aside from its intriguing hook of film noir references (which gave me a list of some movies I want to see on Netflix): Lupoff understood the dynamic between a narcissistic parent, her child, and her spouse very well. Very well.

Rebi is a great character, because she provides a wonderful example of what can happen to the offspring of narcissistic mothers when things all go the wrong way. The bad way. The dark and evil road that is always an option for these kids.  Her mother, her father — if you have dealt with narcissistic parent psychologies, then you’ll recognize the expertise of these characterizations.

As for the mystery itself, it was enough to keep me up late reading so I could finish it. The plot moves fast. The detective team of Hobart Lindsey and Marvia Plum is sweet and endearing, and I’ll be catching up on their love story by going back and reading the series starting with The Comic Book Killer.

Sometimes you get lotsa plot and shallow characters. Sometimes you get characters with depth and little if any plot. Here, The Emerald Cat Killer gives you both, with subtle humor ribboned all through everything.

The Emerald Cat Killer is worth your time to read IMHO.

Favorite Characters: Brenda Lee Johnson and Tonight, The Closer Starts Closing Its Doors - And I'm Pumped. Who's The Leak?

I've been a fan of The Closer since its pilot episode, not only because I love procedurals but because I loved the character of Brenda Lee Johnson.  I liked the arcs over time that revealed her to us:  for example, the arc of Kitty.  First, she hates cats.  Then, the cat gets to stay.  Then, Kitty gets pampered and loved and sadly, Kitty dies.  We saw Brenda grow with Kitty.

It's a little thing, given this is a cop show, but this is the stuff I love and that I look for -- the people plots, the backstories, the characters evolving and relating and miscommunicating.  You know what I mean.

I like the ensemble here, all the actors are top-rate, and I'm really anxious to learn who the leak is -- the mole that has been betraying them all with information that resulted in both state and federal lawsuits being filed against the Department and the individuals themselves.

This week, I'm voting it's Lt. Daniels who got booted from the squad a couple of seasons back.  Not that I didn't and don't like her: but it means that the Major Crime squad doesn't have a backstabber in its midst today, and I like that alternative.

Sure, I thought it was Pope.  Too easy.  Gabriel?  Red herring.  Taylor?  Maybe.  Hope not. 

Luckily, I know from an interview that was published online that Kyra Sedgwick has confirmed that she may be appearing in the show's sequel, Major Crimes, in the future -- so Brenda Lee isn't going to be killed off.  Thank God.

But we do know that she does leave the Major Crimes Unit.  This better be a happy ending.

How They Do It: Ridley Pearson

Great interview with Ridley Pearson over at The Bill Thrill, the webzine maintained by ITW (International Thriller Writers).

While the author is being interviewed as he promotes his latest Walt Fleming novel, In Harm's Way, there's some good stuff in here for writers to glean and use. Particularly, his discussion of building character arcs (as opposed to plots) and his ease with using real life folk as the basis for his characters -- particularly his protagonists.

Good vs Evil - Are You Born This Way?

With thanks to ICanHazCheezburger - how many great novels posit the same thing? East of Eden comes to mind ....