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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Really well-written & interesting. A definite page-turner.
Felt like she had four or five different endings in final chapters, though.
Felt like she had four or five different endings in final chapters, though.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I didn't know anything about this book when I decided to read it. If I had known that Levy's son died too I probably wouldn't have read it, but it is well-written and it elucidates a lot of my own experience (strictly in the deceased child sense, other than that our lives are not at all the same).
Well written memoir, but I had expected something a little more after hearing so much about this. I kind of mostly felt sad after finishing this. It's a reminder that not all things work out and life doesn't go by a set of rules, life is unexpected and comes at you fast.
A fast read of a memoir. The books been around awhile but I never got around to reading it.
I think I found this via a Twitter thread and it seemed appealing, but it took me forever to actually start it. It's a beautifully written piece that feels very much like a small snapshot of a time in the author's life (an important time, to be clear - meeting her spouse, the dissolution of that relationship, her experience with motherhood). I would have been interested in more of how Ariel describes herself and how she makes/demands space for herself in a world designed for men. It was quick read and, again, beautifully written.
From the synopsis of this book I thought I could really relate to this writer. But, I didn’t really find her remotely relatable.
Some parts of this writing are absolutely stunning. A beautiful story told beautifully.
Loved the second half; first half felt uneven
I picked this up after reading her essay, Thanksgiving in Mongolia, about the loss of her baby. That recounting is included in this book. Levy’s description of this experience and the grief that followed is by far the most powerful part of her memoir. The first half was sometimes interesting, sometimes frustrating. I do admire Levy’s objectivity and vulnerability as a writer and the way she told her story even when it portrayed herself in an unflattering light. It’s a short read, but I’d recommend the essay over this book.
I picked this up after reading her essay, Thanksgiving in Mongolia, about the loss of her baby. That recounting is included in this book. Levy’s description of this experience and the grief that followed is by far the most powerful part of her memoir. The first half was sometimes interesting, sometimes frustrating. I do admire Levy’s objectivity and vulnerability as a writer and the way she told her story even when it portrayed herself in an unflattering light. It’s a short read, but I’d recommend the essay over this book.
I feel like the more closely you've followed Ariel Levy over the past few years, the less you'll get from this. It's a good memoir, well told, I enjoy her use of language and the links she draws between seemingly disparate situations and notions to get to a larger point. But I read Thanksgiving in Mongolia, and I've heard a few different interviews with her where she outlines the aspects of this book that I think would've been the most interesting to me before I read it, so it was less powerful for me than it might have been. A solid message, though, for anyone who's putting motherhood off for later in life, and for anyone who gets or has at sometime gotten to feeling that their life is immune to difficulty.