At The Millions, Anna Solomon asks what it means that “literature is filled with disappearing mothers”:
Why so much motherly abandonment? It makes for good conflict, of course. It can help define characters and set plots in motion. Most importantly, it’s an act that even in 2014 remains, in many ways, the ultimate taboo.
Solomon centers much of her discussion on Celeste Ng’s debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, and even corresponds with the author, who also offers some insight.
