Very interesting story! Allegorical to me. I must read it again, but for now I have an understanding of either willful or imposed forgetting, or even a little of both. Predominant and reinforced memories about the father are negative, but the short remembrance she has of him, just before he died, is oddly lovable. Lots of symbolism. For some reason I am flashing on the novel "The Giver". Something about the partial loss of logical reasoning, the ready acceptance, by some, of a deadened life. Maddy lags behind in this. Maybe the deadening happens over time, as evidenced by The Mother. Very intriguing.