STARRED Book Review: Marco Polo Mother & Son

Reviewed by Lauren Hayataka

Exceptional writing immerses readers in missed opportunities as two lives run parallel but never intersect.

Thoreau Lovell’s Marco Polo Mother & Son is a poignant exploration of the intricate relationship between the recently deceased Georgiana and her grieving son George. Through the lens of an imaginative game of Marco Polo with words, Lovell expertly shifts between the stories of two captivating central characters. 

Set against the backdrop of various locations across the United States and abandoned dreams, the novel skillfully straddles the line between fiction and memoir, inviting readers into a space where memories, grief, and familial bonds intertwine.

On the surface, Georgiana and George appear as different as chalk and cheese and have a distant relationship. Georgiana is a realist—pragmatic, proud, and private—who acknowledges that she is dying from congestive heart failure. Georgiana’s dream is to pass peacefully away in her sleep in her home in Fresno. In contrast, George is a dreamer whose mind is perpetually occupied with thoughts of abandoning his partner Paula and their daughter Lily to focus on his writing. Only the one that understands George the most is the one that he thinks understands him the least: his mother. 

Both characters are overshadowed by the legacy left behind by Whitey, Georgiana’s husband and George’s father. Described as possessing the ability to “talk a fisherman out of his bait, a drunk out of his bottle, and a queen out of her crown,” Whitey was a volatile figure that set the expectations within their household. Devoted to writing crime novels, Whitey expected Georgiana to relinquish her dreams of becoming an author, assuming the roles of wife and mother, while George, distanced from his father, mistakenly believed that his mother worshipped Whitey. 

Lovell crafts a masterful portrayal of an intimate yet distant relationship between mother and son, one filled with unspoken words and unshared memories. Georgiana and George resemble trains on parallel tracks, journeying together yet never intersecting, despite the reader’s yearning for their connection. 

While Georgiana grasps the essence of George’s thoughts and emotions, she also recognizes traces of his father within him. Both Whitey and George pursue their writing endeavors with unwavering single-mindedness, a dedication that Georgiana cannot fully comprehend nor overcome. Only George holds the power to decide when, and if, to invite her into his world.

This is not a novel for those seeking an escape from their thoughts and emotions. It is a narrative steeped in pain, grief, and loneliness, heightened by Lovell’s exceptional prose. Amidst the unrelenting sorrow, Lovell provides readers with brief respites, painting scenes with whimsical details like “pairs of hummingbirds dancing over Willy’s fingers as he sat writing in the yard as if they were signaling to him which keys to press on the typewriter.” Other moments are filled with a quiet grace and tenderness, such as George’s observation that he “loved (his) mother’s small kitchen made infinitely larger by being stuffed full of things that couldn’t possibly fit together in the same space and time.” Yet, these moments are fleeting, drawing readers back into the characters’ enduring anguish—a journey willingly endured. 

Lovell’s narrative refuses to release its grip even after the final page is turned. His exploration of grief is raw, realistic, and simultaneously ugly, shameful, and beautiful. The portrayal exudes a profound sense of understanding. Every scene and every word serve a purpose, and as the reader experiences the loss alongside George, who surrounds himself with his mother’s belongings, the realization dawns that he never truly knew her at all.

Only an exceptional writer could immerse readers in such profound pain, leaving them reluctant to accept the conclusion of the story. Lovell’s novel adds layers of authenticity and devastation that are undeniably worth cherishing. In creating Marco Polo Mother & Son, Lovell has crafted something extraordinary.

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