Beginning ~ with your mother

"This story ends with loss," said your mother.  "I'm only on the first chapter, but I can tell."

Forever Is the Worst Long Time ~ by Camille Pagán, 2017, fiction

When struggling novelist James Hernandez meets poet Louisa “Lou” Bell, he’s sure he’s just found the love of his life.  But she’s engaged to his oldest friend, Rob.  So James toasts their union and swallows his desire.  As the years pass, James’s dreams always seem just out of reach — he can’t finish that novel, can’t mend his relationship with his father, can’t fully commit to a romantic relationship.  He just can’t move on.  After betrayal fractures Lou’s once-solid marriage, she turns to James for comfort.  When Lou and James act on their long-standing mutual attraction, the consequences are more heartbreaking — and miraculous — than either of them could have anticipated.  Then life throws James one more curveball, and he, Rob, and Lou are forced to come to terms with the unexpected ways in which love and loss are intertwined.

Those opening lines are puzzling.  The book's narrator starts with "your mother" rather than a name.  Who is this mother?  And who's speaking?  And why is someone telling "you" about "your mother"?  In other words, I'm intrigued.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. Click here for today's Mister Linky.