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kellyncorrado's review against another edition
4.0
Many laugh out loud moments and “omg yep!” moments. Motherhood is wild.
zimphie23's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
ovenbird_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This book made me laugh so many times and I related to a fair bit of it. Is this the universal experience of motherhood? Definitely no. This is a story of an extensively privileged mother. Does that invalidate her experience or make it less worthy of telling? Also no. Klein accesses the messy rawness of new mothering while also pointing out the painful hilarity of the motherhood journey. I hope so many different parents get a chance to write about, talk about, and explore what parenting has been for them. Lots of reviewers seemed really angry that Klein did not face any "real" challenges in motherhood, given her social standing. But isn't that the whole point of her story? She had every resource a person could hope for, and motherhood is still unbelievably hard. It is an existential rollercoaster that rips you down to your foundation and then you have to rebuild yourself from scratch. Klein touched on a lot of the anxiety of new motherhood, the intrusive thoughts, the self doubt, the fear that you are really messing it up. So many people experience that when they have a baby. That Klein managed to talk about all of it while also writing essays that are fundamentally hilarious is a gift.
I will admit that I thought the essay on "mommy wine culture" really missed the mark. The fundamental problem seems to me more about the fact that mothers who are not given the resources or support they need to be well in the early days of child rearing are encouraged to use alcohol as a stand in for sustainable, healthy supports. Rather than giving mothers in the US, for example, proper maternity leave, they are sold the idea of drinking their problems away. Insisting that it's fine for mothers to use alcohol to survive parenting feels deeply problematic on a number of levels. I don't think mothers deserve to be shamed for drinking while parenting, but I also see the horrors of a society that is pushing mothers to drink to numb themselves so they can't examine the systems that are failing and abandoning them. We need accessible health care, both mental and physical, affordable child care, and extensive paid parental leave, rather than permission to drink ourselves towards coping.
Final note. I liked the hero's journey structure. I read the hell out of Joseph Campbell when I was postpartum because I was making exactly the same comparisons as Klein. I even did some writing about it in my own journals and blogs. Some readers were freaking out that Klein might be saying motherhood is the only adventure available to women. I didn't read it that way. I read it as saying that amongst the many hero's journeys women might embark on, motherhood is not usually counted among them. I appreciated that Klein gave motherhood its due. I don't get the sense that she was at all negating other ways of living a full life with other heroic paths to take.
I will admit that I thought the essay on "mommy wine culture" really missed the mark. The fundamental problem seems to me more about the fact that mothers who are not given the resources or support they need to be well in the early days of child rearing are encouraged to use alcohol as a stand in for sustainable, healthy supports. Rather than giving mothers in the US, for example, proper maternity leave, they are sold the idea of drinking their problems away. Insisting that it's fine for mothers to use alcohol to survive parenting feels deeply problematic on a number of levels. I don't think mothers deserve to be shamed for drinking while parenting, but I also see the horrors of a society that is pushing mothers to drink to numb themselves so they can't examine the systems that are failing and abandoning them. We need accessible health care, both mental and physical, affordable child care, and extensive paid parental leave, rather than permission to drink ourselves towards coping.
Final note. I liked the hero's journey structure. I read the hell out of Joseph Campbell when I was postpartum because I was making exactly the same comparisons as Klein. I even did some writing about it in my own journals and blogs. Some readers were freaking out that Klein might be saying motherhood is the only adventure available to women. I didn't read it that way. I read it as saying that amongst the many hero's journeys women might embark on, motherhood is not usually counted among them. I appreciated that Klein gave motherhood its due. I don't get the sense that she was at all negating other ways of living a full life with other heroic paths to take.
lorianasoma's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe 2.5. There were some funny and relatable parts but a lot of it sounded whiny and annoying. Maybe because I listened on audio. I liked her other book better.
asnyder331's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
I know a lot of the complaints about this are surrounding how privileged she is, and yeah, this is absolutely a "rich" white woman's story, but it still has its merits. I really appreciated some of her stories and how they related to my own first time mom experience, specifically her point that sometimes you have to pay to build your village nowadays really hit hard as someone who doesn't live down the street from grandparents. I think this book has to be taken for what it is, a woman embracing the chaos of motherhood and acknowledging the ways it breaks you down
clario6372's review against another edition
2.0
The essay about motherhood as a hero's journey was great and powerful. Literally every single one afterwards was a solid meh. Skip the book and read the first essay online.
haley_elisabeth's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
I really enjoyed this listen. Funny and super relatable. Lots of cursing 😬
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing