Have Fun with The Narcissist’s Daughter


The idea that what we learn in our childhoods, we carry into our adulthoods is not new, but Mindy Pollack-Fusi manages to infuse this truism with her own humor in her debut novel, The Narcissist’s Daughter.

Jody Horowitz, the 31-year old main character is living a stable life with her husband and daughter outside of Boston when the book opens. Pollack-Fusi wisely sets her novel off with a bang when Jody discovers her husband in bed with another woman. From here, the stability of Jody’s life gives way.

Through the course of this enjoyable page turner, Jody reveals the cracks in her marriage were there for a while, but the affair was the final impetus for it and Jody’s life to break. Raised by a controlling, disapproving mother, Jody needs to overcome her mother’s expectations and nasty demeanor. The reader sees Jody struggle to cast off the weight of what her mother expects and instead choose to be the person she and her own daughter can applaud.

While Jody’s mother, the titular narcissist is an irritating presence in the book, she never rises to the level of antagonist. Pollack-Fusi does nice work showing Jody gaining strength after the affair: showing how she is a good friend, new girlfriend, mother, and granddaughter, but her mother never takes off as the counter-point the reader might expect from the title.

Regardless, Jody’s journey is peppered with laughs. Some of the sitcom-esque writing uses misunderstandings and miscommunications between Jody and her new boyfriend Sam to fuel laugh-out-loud moments and pushes Jody towards a more fully realized version of herself.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of The Narcissist’s Daughter for this review.

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