My Daughter, The Fox - Jackie Kay

Read for: The Short Story Challenge

I'm still a little unsure of what I think about this short story (hence no rating). My first instinct was that I loved Kay's writing, so lyrical and full of beauty and life. The premise was unusual, but accepted by the narrator, embraced even. I find that summing up the story, woman gives birth to fox, just doesn't get across what it is really about, the pains and joy of motherhood. I am not a mother, and thus this story perhaps reaches me on a different level to those who have had a child.

On the other hand, Kay's story is bittersweet. Even with all the joys of being a mother and experiencing the love of her daughter, the narrator has to accept the difference between them, and that she will almost certainly outlive her child. Encouraging the reader to accept that the child is a fox is a hard task, perhaps made easier by the short length of the story. We are not given enough time to disbelieve. I honestly don't know what to think, I have no immediate feeling of pleasure or disgust, or boredom or amusement when reading this story, thus this review is quite difficult to write!

One thing that does stand out to me is Kay's description of her daughter's unconditional love. This innate bond between mother and child, formed in the womb. It reminds me of a recent photograph of a family friend, lying on the bed with her newborn daughter beside her. The mother is beaming, holding the tiny fingers of her first child. But it is the look on the child's face that moves me and I can only think of one word to describe it...adoration. Her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open, she gazes into her mother's face with delight. That if nothing else explains to me this bond and perhaps, may even help me choose if and when it is time for me to have a child...perhaps..

"Nobody tells you how flattering it is, how loved you feel, your child following your every move like that. Her beady eyes watched me open my post as if it was the most interesting thing anybody could do....Her eyes lit up, fierce with love. When she looked at me from those deep dark eyes of hers, straight at me and through me, I felt more understood that I have ever felt from any look by anybody."