“We don’t deserve the spring, and we don’t deserve the winter either. They just exist.”
The marketing for this book does no justice to its sadness, its“We don’t deserve the spring, and we don’t deserve the winter either. They just exist.”
The marketing for this book does no justice to its sadness, its darkness, its profundity. Two childhood friends, Mia and Lorrie Ann, take completely different paths in life. Mia, the colder and hard-hearted of the two, finds a fulfilling career and a man she loves, while beautiful and kind Lorrie Ann appears to be plagued by bad luck.
Mia struggles to find a semblance of meaning in it all, wondering what either of them did to be given their lots in life, never fully allowing herself to feel the happiness she doesn’t believe she deserves.
But the stories we tell about ourselves and the ones we love aren’t always accurate. And sometimes there are no answers, and the most freeing thing we can do is accept that.
This book devastated me — as a mother, a friend, a person trying to figure it all out. It hurt so good. ...more
“Knowing what I am capable of, what I need in order to be a good parent, a good person—it occurs to me that I had to have a baby to figure all of this“Knowing what I am capable of, what I need in order to be a good parent, a good person—it occurs to me that I had to have a baby to figure all of this out [...] How I wish it had come easier, sooner. I wish these two things had happened in the other order: me learning what I needed and then becoming someone’s mother.”
A profoundly honest book about becoming a mother. About the difficulty of choosing a boy’s name when there’s a man who has ruined every single one. About having the birth you envisioned robbed from you and internalizing it as your own failure. About the bewildering first couple weeks with a newborn. About the paradox of hating pumping but knowing that it buys you precious hours of freedom. About the constant intrusive thoughts that remind you of your baby’s mortality. About the things we tell ourselves we won’t do that we acquiesce to out of desperation. About the desire to cherish having a baby but the reality that it’s monotonous and tedious. About how hard it is to admit what we need to be good mothers, how impossible it is to allow ourselves the grace we deserve.
So many of O’Connnell’s personal experiences and reflections spoke to me, even the ones that didn’t perfectly align with my own. This is the kind of rawness and candor that I crave as a new mother....more
Though there are many incisive truths about new motherhood in these essays, Cusk is so cerebral that at times I felt disconnected while reading this. Though there are many incisive truths about new motherhood in these essays, Cusk is so cerebral that at times I felt disconnected while reading this. I’m sure I would have had a difference experiences if I weren’t in the throes of new motherhood myself at the moment; perhaps someday I’ll be ready to approach this season of my life with a more analytical eye.
Props to Cusk for her lovely writing and some unforgettable quotes, like this one, which I think about every single day since reading it: “Oh dear, they say. Poor baby. They do not mean me.”...more
This short story collection chronicles the complex range of emotions that accompany pregnancy and new motherhood, focusing on everything from infertilThis short story collection chronicles the complex range of emotions that accompany pregnancy and new motherhood, focusing on everything from infertility to miscarriage and abortion to the mundane day to day of life with a newborn.
Rosenwaike’s insights and observations are so spot on: the best parts are those sentences (of which there are many) that reveal a truth so accurate that it makes you feel a little bit less alone.
Anyone who is a parent or who has ever thought about becoming one will surely find something that speaks to them deeply in this collection....more
This taut novel is a brilliant fever dream about motherhood and identity. It’s a perfect combination of thrilling page turner and cerebral, literary tThis taut novel is a brilliant fever dream about motherhood and identity. It’s a perfect combination of thrilling page turner and cerebral, literary transcendence.
I hesitate to reveal too much about the plot because you should definitely go into it knowing as little as possible, but I will say this: it’s about an exhausted mother of two young children who works at a fossil quarry where she has recent unearthed a handful of strange items that appear just a touch removed from the world we know. One night, she is putting her children to bed when she is confronted by a masked intruder in her home. How these two storylines intersect is surreal and fascinating.
I had a similar feeling reading this as I had reading (and watching) Annihilation. The tension and dread are palpable, heightened by a constant sense of the uncanny: the strange terror and awe of the world not behaving the way you expect it to.
Duality is a common theme throughout: the mundanity of motherhood vs. the extraordinariness of outside circumstances, alienation vs. togetherness, anxiety vs. joy.
The prose is urgent and expertly paced, further ignited by Phillips’ linguistic playfulness.
This book haunted me in the best way, and will remain in my head for quite some time.
*Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review*...more
At 31 weeks pregnant, this is the first and probably only book about pregnancy that I will have read before my baby arrives. Being pregnant means beinAt 31 weeks pregnant, this is the first and probably only book about pregnancy that I will have read before my baby arrives. Being pregnant means being constantly overwhelmed and inundated by information. I have been picky about where I seek it—especially if I’m going to be committing myself to a 200+ page book.
I knew when I saw the title of this book that it was the one for me. I needed something that would be unapologetically feminist; empowering without being sanctimonious; and candid about the realities of pregnancy, birth and motherhood without without making me more anxious than I already am about the toll that they take on the mind and body.
This is very much a hybrid of a personal memoir and an informational book—and that makes it, mercifully, highly engaging. I gained value from reading about this like-minded woman’s thoughts, emotions and experiences, because there is of course a certain universality to all of it.
The common themes throughout are ones that I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about myself: the endless barrage of information, and how “sifting through these contradictory messages amplifies the already tremendous sense of responsibility you have as an expectant mother” and the distinct indifference within the medical community when it comes to dealing with women’s health, to name a few.
In addition to addressing these cultural topics, Garbes also provides fascinating explanations of, for example, the placenta, which I didn’t even know was an organ.
I’m coming away from reading this book with a better understanding of my own body, reassurance that my own thoughts and feelings are normal, and a sense of confidence that I’ll be better equipped to advocate for myself as I navigate post-partum life and new motherhood....more
This profound and insightful debut novel is ALL about the voice, with stream-of-consciousness prose that’s so sharp and wry. I think some readers may This profound and insightful debut novel is ALL about the voice, with stream-of-consciousness prose that’s so sharp and wry. I think some readers may struggle with it. I loved it.
Daphne is in the midst of a crisis and needs to escape. Her husband has been stuck in Turkey for eight months, his green card revoked and unable to return to America due to what amounts to be an infuriatingly bureaucratic “click-of-the-mouse error.” Left mothering her toddler alone for the time being, Daphne is lonely, exasperated and lacking connection. She heads to a rural California town to stay at her uncle’s abandoned mobile home indefinitely.
While there, Daphne meets Cindy, her neighbor in the trailer park, who is part of a right-wing separatist movement; and Alice, an elderly woman who has endured unspeakable loss and hardship.
This is one of the most striking novels about motherhood I’ve come across in recent memory, offering candid insight into the joy, fear, anxiety, awe, monotony and love that comes with being a new mother. It also tackles bigger topical issues, like the carelessness and callousness of American immigration policies driven by Islamophobia.
I went back and forth between giving this 4 or 5 stars. There are definitely some dense passages to get through from time to time, but I was so awed and touched by the humor, sadness and overall REALNESS of Daphne’s narrative that I’m going with the higher rating....more
Wow, wow, WOW. This is a truly unforgettable read. One that will stick with me for a long, long time.
In a series of letters to her estranged husband,Wow, wow, WOW. This is a truly unforgettable read. One that will stick with me for a long, long time.
In a series of letters to her estranged husband, Eva Khatchadourian chronicles the years leading up to and following the day her teenage son Kevin murdered several of his classmates. We learn that Eva - a cold, judgmental, acerbic woman - hardly even wanted a child in the first place. But even her deepest apprehensions couldn't have prepared her Kevin - a wicked, cunning, nihilistic child who ostensibly loathes his mother from the moment he's born. And the feeling, we learn, is mutual.
This is a morally ambiguous story that calls into question the "nature vs. nurture" debate. Does Eva's coldness and contempt toward Kevin make her ultimately responsible for his wickedness, or is he truly a "bad seed?" There are no clear answers, and readers will likely be split in regards to which side they take.
With sharp, insightful prose, Shriver has created an essential work of fiction for our post-Columbine world that challenges us to analyze a culture in which acts of mass violence have increasingly become the norm. Dark, thought-provoking, and highly disturbing, it's a slow burn psychological thriller as intellectually stimulating as it is harrowing. ...more
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