Reviews for The Incredible Truth About Mothers

The average rating for The Incredible Truth About Mothers based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-05-11 00:00:00 Max Dax The incredible truth about the book that I'm reviewing is that the title of the book that my daughter gave me for Mother's Day last Sunday is different from the title of the book in the Goodreads system. The ISBN of my book matches the edition pictured. The title of my book (THE INCREDIBLE TRUTH ABOUT MOTHERHOOD) matches an edition without a picture and with a different ISBN. Nu? Does anybody -- even a mother, which Bradley Trevor Greive is obviously not -- get "things" right when it comes to motherhood? Really? Name somebody. It's true that I enjoy reading Greive's books. My copy of THE MEANING OF LIFE and my copy of THE BLUE DAY BOOK (also given to me by my daughter) will never end up listed on bookswap unless my descendents put them there after I've checked out of this world. The photos and the messages in them are definitely worth revisiting from time to time. THE INCREDIBLE TRUTH ABOUT MOTHERHOOD is also staying with me though I should admit that it's not the equal of TMOL or TBDB. As I've already said, my daughter gave it to me, so of course it's not moving to someone else's house. The photos don't disappoint; they consistently increase the reader's appreciation of the words. Since there is no "TRUTH" about motherhood, it's not surprising that this mother couldn't relate to some of the "truths" in Greive's book. But there are pages that did press my nostalgia button even when the situations presented did not quite match my memories. I read "Shopping with children involves three things: First, being dragged into toy stores again and again. Second, it means kids running madly through stores knocking over displays and generally creating havoc, which [third] provides the perfect cover for at least one child to wander off into the mall. . ." (39-41), and I couldn't help re-living my four-year-old son's breaking a $389 vase in his attempt to use it as a pillow because he was tired of shopping in a store without toys. And I smiled as I remembered the account of his being found wandering around a mall while my mother shopped. He was brought to a security guard; and when asked where his mother was, he said, "She went to the dentist," never bothering to mention that he was at the mall with his grandmother, who was freaking out because she had discovered that she didn't know where he was. "Good times," I say -- retrospectively speaking. Times that intensify the pain of seeing in print: "Then, and this will break your heart, a mother knows that she must say good-bye. The child for whom she has been [caution:hyperbole ahead] an endless source of love, wisdom, and inspiration has grown up. As she sits back to watch her child leave, the silence of her home echoes with memories of little hands, first words [daughter:'no,' son:'car'], and wobbly steps on tiny toes"(94-95). Is anyone barfing? Surely there are people who puke when they read stuff like this. But my adult kids know that I'm not one of them.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-23 00:00:00 Brian Giles Looking at the cover, you may expect this to be a sort of overly-sweet, extended Mother's Day card, but you'd be in for a nice surprise. Each page features an amusing or adorable photo of an animal (except for that one very concerning shot of a pig with multiple piercings...) along with an ambling look into the life of mothers and families, in turns comical and emotional.