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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
the first page about the banana threw me off and had me regretting getting the book but then she gets into her philosophy on child rearing and it significantly improved woohooo.
there are a couple of other things in here that are nuts but if you just roll with her and her kooky format it gets really interesting! i ended up enjoying the format by the end and it served her sort of neurotic indecisiveness very well. exhausting but very worth it. lots of profound ideas i both agree with and disagree with
there are a couple of other things in here that are nuts but if you just roll with her and her kooky format it gets really interesting! i ended up enjoying the format by the end and it served her sort of neurotic indecisiveness very well. exhausting but very worth it. lots of profound ideas i both agree with and disagree with
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this at the beginning but found that even if it was a short book it got like of repetitive by the end.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
informative
slow-paced
An open and intimate examination of the life of a mid-thirties woman thinking about having children, reflecting on her own childhood, her relationship with her own mother, and her relationships with her friends, both parents and child-free. There is some beatiful writing in here with stark observations about motherhood/parenthood in general, the societal pressure to become parents, what we expect of women in the 21st century, and how to balance that strange feeling of both wanting children and not wanting them. Well worth reading, particularly if you are in your thirties.
some beautiful and profound reflections, but it read more like a memoir of sorts rather than fiction. maybe i would have resonated more at a different age, under different circumstances than the protagonist's. im sure someone who can relate to all of the themes will enjoy it more.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I found it nice to read a narrator who is even more of a melancholically disposed, second-guessing over-thinker than I am. I imagine other readers find her emotional and intellectual gymnastics exhausting and self-absorbed; I relate to the helplessness of being trapped in a mind that thinks and feels this way, non-stop.
Though I do object to the criticism that this book about motherhood is navel-gazing. That's entirely the point: that the decision to become a mother deserves to be made with this degree of self-awareness and philosophical self-debate. The light, for once, shines only on the potential mother - no one else. Heti's narrator may not be someone you'd choose to hang out with in your free time, but that's another story.
Though I do object to the criticism that this book about motherhood is navel-gazing. That's entirely the point: that the decision to become a mother deserves to be made with this degree of self-awareness and philosophical self-debate. The light, for once, shines only on the potential mother - no one else. Heti's narrator may not be someone you'd choose to hang out with in your free time, but that's another story.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
motherhood by sheila heti reads like autofiction. in fact, i picked it up thinking it was a nonfiction reckoning on mothering (the photographic inclusions further perpetuated this belief. see knife placement coin questioning. i was about halfway through when i saw the “fiction” tag above the barcode.)
there are some really beautiful reflections in this book about ancestry, what it means to mother, and what role morality plays in the choice. standing alone, this would make the book an easy 4/5 star! however, i had an issue with the sporadic pacing of the book. the structure reminded me of a journal, jumping from memory to introspection to dream to action. this governing disconnection made it hard for me to stay emotionally invested.
that being said, if you can lock in, i think this is a great introductory primer for anyone questioning what role motherhood plays in their own life, but not as groundbreaking as i expected.
selected highlights:
besides, there are so many kinds of life to give birth to in this world… and there are children everywhere, and parents needing help everywhere, and so much work to be done, and lives to be affirmed that are not necessarily the lives we would have chosen, had we started again. the whole world needs to be mothered. i don’t need to invent brand new life to give the warming effect to my life i imagine mothering will bring. there are lives and duties everywhere just crying out for a mother (168).
what’s the difference between being a good mother and being a good daughter? practically a lot, but symbolically nothing at all (200).
since my girlhood, i had been cautious about allowing myself to imagine the beauty of being a woman alone in a house by the sea. yet now i saw the beauty my life could become (256).
i love the people who exist already, and there are so many books to read, and so much silence to inhabit. i don’t have to live every possible life, or to experience that particular love (268).
there are some really beautiful reflections in this book about ancestry, what it means to mother, and what role morality plays in the choice. standing alone, this would make the book an easy 4/5 star! however, i had an issue with the sporadic pacing of the book. the structure reminded me of a journal, jumping from memory to introspection to dream to action. this governing disconnection made it hard for me to stay emotionally invested.
that being said, if you can lock in, i think this is a great introductory primer for anyone questioning what role motherhood plays in their own life, but not as groundbreaking as i expected.
selected highlights:
besides, there are so many kinds of life to give birth to in this world… and there are children everywhere, and parents needing help everywhere, and so much work to be done, and lives to be affirmed that are not necessarily the lives we would have chosen, had we started again. the whole world needs to be mothered. i don’t need to invent brand new life to give the warming effect to my life i imagine mothering will bring. there are lives and duties everywhere just crying out for a mother (168).
what’s the difference between being a good mother and being a good daughter? practically a lot, but symbolically nothing at all (200).
since my girlhood, i had been cautious about allowing myself to imagine the beauty of being a woman alone in a house by the sea. yet now i saw the beauty my life could become (256).
i love the people who exist already, and there are so many books to read, and so much silence to inhabit. i don’t have to live every possible life, or to experience that particular love (268).
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character