Motherwise by Alice Bolster

Motherwise by Alice Bolster

This is a book about domestic disintegration. This serves as a metaphor for the decline in contemporary Scottish Society.

It is a journey throughout Scotland. The central protagonist Cal cannot conclude this investigation dispassionately. His identity is enmeshed in a personal and National sense that is both a struggle for survival and a realisation that he has in some sense failed and therefore has been failed. His personal failure represents the sheer hypocrisy of Scotland's social structure. Where the majority of the population, in the face of often elemental and brutal alienation, are condemned to seek out some sort of marginal living. Led by the nose of the self-satisfied, detached, bureaucratic elite.

This of course is a paradox because whether we choose to hide or even disguise our compassion for one another, sensitivity and kindness suggests the end result is the same--we are all forced to live on the margins of existence. This book examines this final point, and finally separates the fallacy of contentment from the ideals of happiness.