Reviews for Mother Reader: Essential Writings on Motherhood

The average rating for Mother Reader: Essential Writings on Motherhood based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-07-30 00:00:00 Robert Kinberg Mother Reader is a great collection of essays, stories, journal entries, and excerpts of novels addressing the confluence of motherhood and creativity. The works are generally arranged in chronological order and reading them is like taking a step back into history. The initial passages are ripe with a bitterness so flagrant I could practically smell it: creative women whose partners would not do their share of parenting and left these women with all the childcare responsibilities. It reminded me of how lucky I am not only to have a feminist partner but to have become a mother in the 21st century. A few works really stood out for me: Tillie Olsen's and Adrienne Rich's works were full of wisdom and profoundly illustrated the struggles mothers have when we love our children deeply and yet also love ourselves fiercely. Alice Walker wrote about "the untrampled blossoming of my own existence," and yes, I wanted that, too! Nancy Huston's Novels and Navels was a like taking a bitter medicine that is nonetheless good for you. Her point: A mother's job is to keep her children safe, healthy, and alive. But in order to be an effective writer, a mother must be willing to hurt, maim, and even kill women and children (in her writing). Though I agreed with many of the points in Joy Williams' The Case Against Babies, she wrote so negatively, with such judgement and antipathy, it was a like that same, tired old stereotype of a (white, child-free) feminist who can't relate to anyone else. Lynda Schor's My Death was incredibly funny and so easy to relate to, about a woman who dies but is still so busy taking care of everyone that she doesn't have time to lie down and be dead.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-10-05 00:00:00 Adam Skirvin A fine collection of essays. Offers good historical perspective (recent history). I did not enjoy the short story section as much.