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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Powerful as a blazing furnace, emotionally, in addition to intelligent, literate, and witty: I devoured all 200+ pages in a single day. Based on all the controversy surrounding this book, all the outraged reviews/hot-takes/thinkpieces, I expected A Life's Work to be unrelentingly serious, but there are many laugh-out-loud hilarious moments, too. I want to hold onto the lesson of the chapter titled "Hell's Kitchen," where the speaker is lifted out of an emotional nadir by reading the Coleridge poem "Frost at Midnight." Times can get hard, brutally so, but maintaining a tether to poetry, to literature, can provide a lifeline. And books, because they may be read aloud (as in the chapter "Extra Fox"), can offer an opportunity for connecting not just with one's past and present selves but with one's child, too.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The chapter in which Rachel Cusk attempts to hire a babysitter earns my five stars, in and of itself. I loved this honest and realistic portrait of becoming a mother. I recognized many of my own feelings in her descriptions. It’s just a breath of fresh air to read a realistic account of a universal yet deeply personal experience. Also, I laughed out loud a few times.
Beautifully written and made early motherhood sound as horrific as I’ve imagined it to be.
Technically I am as far from the target audience as can be. But I loved this: maybe because of, rather than in spite of, my audience status. I really like reading about experiences that are far removed from mine, especially when it's written by Miss Cusk.
Easily one of the best collections of essays I've read.
Early on, she writes of her anxiety leading up to childbirth, that no one will tell her exactly how painful it really is, and in what ways she should expect to be in pain. Later in the same essay, she describes her c-section in a handful of efficient lines that had me nauseous, literally writhing in horror of the bodily sensations she felt while awake for the operation. Throughout the entire collection she makes clear and visceral the pains, emotions and sensations of motherhood that are usually only vaguely refer to, which made this a deeply satisfying read. (Also, luckily, the c-section is the only really graphic part of the book).
Early on, she writes of her anxiety leading up to childbirth, that no one will tell her exactly how painful it really is, and in what ways she should expect to be in pain. Later in the same essay, she describes her c-section in a handful of efficient lines that had me nauseous, literally writhing in horror of the bodily sensations she felt while awake for the operation. Throughout the entire collection she makes clear and visceral the pains, emotions and sensations of motherhood that are usually only vaguely refer to, which made this a deeply satisfying read. (Also, luckily, the c-section is the only really graphic part of the book).
I laughed and cried a lot. Some passages took my breath away. A book I have no doubt I will return to over and over again. 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!