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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A beautifully moving account of parenthood in poetry and prose. It manages to perfectly capture the conflicting emotions of having a child, the love and awe as well as the struggles with lack of sleep, the loss of autonomy, and the new pressures it puts on your other relationships. I laughed and I cried, and it has made me excited for each new stage of my daughters life. Definitely one for all new and expecting parents.
I've heard a few of Hollies before and I especially love 'Embarassed' which totally encompasses what it's like to breastfeed in UK. I wanted to read Nobody Told Me to see what else Hollie had to say about parenting. Almost everything she wrote resonated with me and the experiences Ive had as a youngish mum. Those dispairing nights when your baby won't sleep, juggling working and being a mum; to the joyful moments when your toddler is running around and exploring the world.
I'll definitely be passing this book on to other mums... it should be included in Bounty packs instead of washing powder samples.
I'll definitely be passing this book on to other mums... it should be included in Bounty packs instead of washing powder samples.
Was handed this book for work, ostensibly because I like poetry. I was excited till I read the opening blurb - this was about a new mum and her journey. Crikey! How wrong an audience I was for this book.
McNish mixes memoir with poems charting the moment she found out she was expecting, through to her child being three years old. That's a lot to pack into a single novel. Despite its length, this book is a quick and easy read.
Most poems start with an intro - some long, others short - recounting an incident or incidents that led to her writing it. The trouble is, most of what is written in prose is restated in the poem, which negates the need for one or the other.
There are a few poems thrown in without context, and they feel... out of place. What the book needed was a firm editor. At the outset the author mentions that her poems have not been edited - well, that's not how a book should be published. No matter how personal the story, readability is important. And in this case, some of the poems felt superfluous because we had already been told what the issue was. Some of the poems were also too long, harping on about the same thing while not moving the story forward.
As someone who knows and cares not for parenting, I cannot comment on what kind of parents the author and her partner are. They seem to have most things going well for them - putting in their own efforts to make life as easy as possible. Her partner is extremely supportive, which was a pleasure to read. In fact, I felt like he could have been even more involved. It's important to know that people out there can share parenting responsibilities and not begrudge each other much. Especially given England's hideous way of looking at gender (this issue isn't only confined to England, but has gained prominence and has snowballed into a royal mess) it is important to see that some measure of equality can still be found for some people.
The author also touches on several global issues that come into focus when she is about to become a mother - including the effect of war and conflict on women and mothers. She writes a few poems regarding the same topic, rescinding her own complaints in line with what these women must suffer. She's not overly hard on herself for wallowing in occasional misery, yet has a holistic enough view of the world to give the other side a thought.
She also has to deal with racism. Only part way through the book did it dawn on me that her partner is black; and she deals with some of the issues that he faces on a daily basis.
Again, the trouble is, most of this information is handed out to us in the form of regular prose; we don't interpret it through her poetry. It is such a mixed bag, that I'm surprised her editors didn't decide to tighten it up a fair bit. It reads much like a bunch of diary entries, which would be all right if there wasn't poetry thrown into the mix.
Had each chapter started with an intro and then delved into the subject in detail through the poems, it may have been a better read.
Her free verse poems were inconsistent, sometimes difficult to get into for sheer lack of rhythm. It's her style, perhaps, so I can't knock it. It just made it difficult to read. I'm sure when she's performing them, she knows exactly when to pause. These poems are not meant to be read, but heard, I suppose.
While I may be the wrong audience for this book, it gets a very optimistic message across. There's an air of happiness and joy surrounding the incidents recounted, even the ones that get you riled up because old British courtesy appears to have gone out of the proverbial window, and it's nice to read something happy once in a while.
McNish mixes memoir with poems charting the moment she found out she was expecting, through to her child being three years old. That's a lot to pack into a single novel. Despite its length, this book is a quick and easy read.
Most poems start with an intro - some long, others short - recounting an incident or incidents that led to her writing it. The trouble is, most of what is written in prose is restated in the poem, which negates the need for one or the other.
There are a few poems thrown in without context, and they feel... out of place. What the book needed was a firm editor. At the outset the author mentions that her poems have not been edited - well, that's not how a book should be published. No matter how personal the story, readability is important. And in this case, some of the poems felt superfluous because we had already been told what the issue was. Some of the poems were also too long, harping on about the same thing while not moving the story forward.
As someone who knows and cares not for parenting, I cannot comment on what kind of parents the author and her partner are. They seem to have most things going well for them - putting in their own efforts to make life as easy as possible. Her partner is extremely supportive, which was a pleasure to read. In fact, I felt like he could have been even more involved. It's important to know that people out there can share parenting responsibilities and not begrudge each other much. Especially given England's hideous way of looking at gender (this issue isn't only confined to England, but has gained prominence and has snowballed into a royal mess) it is important to see that some measure of equality can still be found for some people.
The author also touches on several global issues that come into focus when she is about to become a mother - including the effect of war and conflict on women and mothers. She writes a few poems regarding the same topic, rescinding her own complaints in line with what these women must suffer. She's not overly hard on herself for wallowing in occasional misery, yet has a holistic enough view of the world to give the other side a thought.
She also has to deal with racism. Only part way through the book did it dawn on me that her partner is black; and she deals with some of the issues that he faces on a daily basis.
Again, the trouble is, most of this information is handed out to us in the form of regular prose; we don't interpret it through her poetry. It is such a mixed bag, that I'm surprised her editors didn't decide to tighten it up a fair bit. It reads much like a bunch of diary entries, which would be all right if there wasn't poetry thrown into the mix.
Had each chapter started with an intro and then delved into the subject in detail through the poems, it may have been a better read.
Her free verse poems were inconsistent, sometimes difficult to get into for sheer lack of rhythm. It's her style, perhaps, so I can't knock it. It just made it difficult to read. I'm sure when she's performing them, she knows exactly when to pause. These poems are not meant to be read, but heard, I suppose.
While I may be the wrong audience for this book, it gets a very optimistic message across. There's an air of happiness and joy surrounding the incidents recounted, even the ones that get you riled up because old British courtesy appears to have gone out of the proverbial window, and it's nice to read something happy once in a while.
God, I loved this. I feel like I'll be shoving it in the hands of every mom with young kids.
Hollie nails it! All that tricky stuff written down so honestly in one place.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
This book discusses interesting themes around pregnancy and parenthood that is both very personal to the author yet universal. I think it would be a great read for dads as well. I felt this book is slightly to long and there isn’t enough content to fill the final 1/3 and loses some structure and momentum
Witty and beautifully sad at points. Needs to be read by every prospective parent.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced