Reviews - Matriarch: A Memoir

697 reviews for:

Matriarch: A Memoir

Tina Knowles

4.56 AVERAGE

azhia's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

tsimp9's review against another edition

5.0

It was great to learn so much about Mrs. Tina's background and family life. The amount of courage and tenacity she's shown throughout her life were so encouraging. I enjoyed reading about her trials and independence, her ventures, the way she cares for others, and just her overall story. This book is one that I would highly recommend to others.

carriermoore's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

kirstenlp981's review against another edition

3.25

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

The first half of this book was a great read! It was very interesting to find out about Tina's childhood especially as a child with adhd in Texas - it was quite inspiring to see how she overcame so many challenges in her younger years. I also really enjoyed the parts of the book where she spoke about her approach to motherhood in Beyonce & Solange's younger years. Her approach is so well thought out and takes a super therapeutic foundation which I loved. The book wasn't just about how she raised Beyonce to stardom. It focussed heavily on Solange who had a completely different spirit. It talked about how she dealt with Beyonce's quietness. And what I really enjoyed is how she spoke about her approach to motherhood towards girls that weren't her daughters but that she raised like Kelly and Angela. I also really liked how she was quite vulnerable in regards to her marriage to Mathew and where it had its pretty large ups and downs.

However, after her divorce from Mathew, the book fell quite flat. It felt like she stopped wanting to be vulnerable. Maybe it's because it's still so fresh but she didn't really go into great depth about her marriage to Richard Lawson. The details of that felt like an afterthought and she skipped about 10 years of living with someone. Also it feels like 2014 onwards she skipped quite key moments. Again - maybe there is an unwillingness to be open / vulnerable about these years and maybe those struggles had little to do with her thoughts on motherhood. Although she does cover her grandchildren, I felt again there was lacking detail - I would have expected to see more about how becoming a grandmother re-imagined her approach to motherhood like she had in the 80s. It was strange pacing towards the end and I found it hard to finish. But still a good read!