H M. (anchovy) reviewed on 9/15/2006 + 296 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

"Can mothers think? Of course - the question doesn't merit a response. But it's no easy task to find written accounts of real-life motherhood that haven't had their sharp edges sanded off... This book is intended to be an antidote to the saccharine, oversimplified literature of motherhood. Motherhood is the most essential relationship in the continuity of life - and the wiping of snotty noses. It possesses the tenderness of a Mary Cassatt painting one minute, the surreality of a Diane Arbus photo the next... Both as readers and writers, we had longed to see motherhood addressed as the intellectual and emotional challenge we had found it to be. Becoming mothers had given us more to think about, not less, but only rarely could we find the outlets to express the complexity of those thoughts... The essays gathered here are an uncensored exploration of the subject - an articulate, heartfelt, and sometimes mystified acknowledgement that being a mother is a lifelong lesson in embracing contradiction..." (from the introduction)

A really good read.

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