A Key Theme of Motherhood in Christina Schwarz's Novel Bonnie
A friend of mine shared her copy of Bonnie by Christina Schwarz, published by Atria Books ( imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.) in 2020.
Bonnie, as in Bonnie and Clyde, Schwarz said she was “faithful to the facts” but wanted to create a novel about the “unknown thoughts and emotions” of Bonnie Parker, who chose love and a life of crime with Clyde Barrow.
We are familiar with their romanticized life as gangsters during the Public Enemy Era, 1931-1934, in movies, books, and even the sensationalism of newspapers. Bonnie and Clyde were portrayed as glamorous bank robbers. Jeff Guinn, author of Go Down Together: The true, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, points out that the “real-life couple held up mom and pop grocery stores and filling stations.” He also points out the historical fact that during the Depression, the poor became poorer.
In Schwarz’s novel, she brings to our attention to the childhood and younger life of Bonnie and Clyde growing up in the slums of West Dallas, and knowing this, I wondered if they had a choice? There were no jobs to be had, only dreamed about. To the poorest of the poor, they became “heroes” of sorts.
Schwarz said she wanted to create a story that brings Bonnie’s “innermost feelings and emotions” from learning that she was a bright student to a failed marriage at 16. Bonnie wanted a “normal Life” with Clyde, who chose life as a gangster.
Throughout the book, Schwarz does a brilliant job creating the mother-daughter relationship, as mothers do: they want to talk, laugh, and share the details of their daughter’s life. Bonnie told her mother, “ If you knew me, mama, you wouldn’t love me anymore.” But what we learn is that Emma Parker loved her daughter unconditionally.
We also meet Cumie Barrow, Clyde’s mother. Emma and Cumie softened to each other’s heartache and wanted their children to turn themselves in. We feel the desperation they endured because of their children’s choices. Can you imagine their grief and fear, knowing the law was hunting down Bonnie and Clyde? Their prayers and encouraging words hoped their children would live beyond their lives as fugitives.
Emma and Cumie saw the newspapers, heard the local rumors, and understood they, too, were being watched in hopes that the law would capture their children. Being fully aware of these dangers is beyond any mother’s understanding.
Throughout the book, Bonnie demanded to see her mother; she told Clyde more than once, “You better take me home, I need to see my mother!” Sometimes she stomped her foot like a child to get her way, even if it meant finding ways to arrange meetings in secret along the road at night.
Bonnie still wanted a family and dreamed of a lovely home with kitchen curtains and tablecloths. She mothered her sister’s children, the young boys who joined their gang, and she mothered Clyde. However, loving Clyde meant she lived in stolen cars, hid from the law, ate from cans, and died a gangster’s death.
You never know which book you will enjoy when shared by a friend. What books have been shared with you? Please feel free to leave your comments below.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Christina-Schwarz/403256730#:~:text=About%20The%20Author,she%20lives%20in%20southern%20California.
https://www.npr.org/2009/05/23/104498617/the-real-story-of-bonnie-and-clyde#:~:text=They%20very%20rarely%20tried%20to,stations%20along%20the%20back%20roads.
http://bonnieandclydeshouse.blogspot.com/
