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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Oh my GOSH… I was not expecting this. I teared up more than I have ever teared in a book, by about 100 times. I was actually wondering what was wrong with me. I also could not stop listening and was engrossed, which I did not expect.
The stories were just so raw and beautiful, talking about the experience of being a mom and bringing new siblings into the world… with deeply honest but also generally very positive perspectives. I loved listening to the inner thoughts and insights of these moms.
So the author interviews 55 women from across the United States who were college educated and chose to have 5 or more children. The book examines why these women took such a different path than the vast majority of the population. It also looks a bit at the global phenomenon of rapidly falling birth rates yada yada, but it explores the whole topic in a way I found very interesting (mostly… except when she kept explaining why government monetary incentives don’t work to encourage more children in a population… like isn’t that obvious…).
This book is very positive about big families. At times the author may glossed over certain things, and at times I felt I may disagree a bit, but that was okay. It was the purpose of her study and book - to figure out why these women see the perceived “benefits” of more children to outweigh the “cost,” normally with faith being a part of their decision making. Though not everyone reading it will agree with every perspective shared by the various moms, I saw the book more as about listening these women’s very interesting reasons and purposes for choosing a unique path.
I did not expect to rate this book 5 stars, but I actually truly loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I found it fascinating, emotional, deep, true, and just really beautiful actually.
I also have to say the audiobook narrator was PHENOMENAL. What the Wind Knows and this book are now tied for top narrating experiences. Listening to the audiobook also went really well with the format of the directly quoted interviews.
I don’t know if everyone would enjoy reading this book as much as I did, and I could actually see it being a very hard read for some, but though I have my caveats I did love this book!
If you got to the end of this ramble, wow.
The stories were just so raw and beautiful, talking about the experience of being a mom and bringing new siblings into the world… with deeply honest but also generally very positive perspectives. I loved listening to the inner thoughts and insights of these moms.
So the author interviews 55 women from across the United States who were college educated and chose to have 5 or more children. The book examines why these women took such a different path than the vast majority of the population. It also looks a bit at the global phenomenon of rapidly falling birth rates yada yada, but it explores the whole topic in a way I found very interesting (mostly… except when she kept explaining why government monetary incentives don’t work to encourage more children in a population… like isn’t that obvious…).
This book is very positive about big families. At times the author may glossed over certain things, and at times I felt I may disagree a bit, but that was okay. It was the purpose of her study and book - to figure out why these women see the perceived “benefits” of more children to outweigh the “cost,” normally with faith being a part of their decision making. Though not everyone reading it will agree with every perspective shared by the various moms, I saw the book more as about listening these women’s very interesting reasons and purposes for choosing a unique path.
I did not expect to rate this book 5 stars, but I actually truly loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I found it fascinating, emotional, deep, true, and just really beautiful actually.
I also have to say the audiobook narrator was PHENOMENAL. What the Wind Knows and this book are now tied for top narrating experiences. Listening to the audiobook also went really well with the format of the directly quoted interviews.
I don’t know if everyone would enjoy reading this book as much as I did, and I could actually see it being a very hard read for some, but though I have my caveats I did love this book!
If you got to the end of this ramble, wow.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
Two days ago, after I walked across the store parking lot with my gaggle of small children, an elderly woman walked up to me as the kids climbed into the van.
"Your kids remind me of mine and how I was"-- she gestures to my 5 kids all about two years apart in age and my pregnant belly-- "I have 10." Her smile glowed.
It was such an uncommon experience. When I'm approached in public, it's 99% of the time for someone to tell me, "wow! You're busy!" Or "you have your hands full!"
This comment of hers was so unexpected that I am unsure if I sounded genuine or not, but I truly meant it when I replied, "Really? That is very nice."
She walked away, smiling, and she left me imagining what she was like years ago, when her kids were like mine and she was like me.
I have mixed thoughts about this book. I'm rounding up to 4 stars but I would like to choose somewhere between 3 and 4.. I like the ideas, the thoughts, and variety of women interviewed. It felt like women who were right there with me at many times. I was told this book would be validating and encouraging but I'm not sure I would use those specific words to describe it myself.
There were some interesting statistics shared and analysis of some data. But not near as much as I hoped. The data felt repetitive when I wanted to hear something more. Now for the interviews, that felt like something else entirely. That was not presented like data or facts (which I do think is part of the point).
Something that bothered me was that the interviews didn't seem uniform. It felt like each woman was asked: can you tell me the story of your motherhood? And then we hear the chatting between that mother and the interviewer that feels like you are reading nice Facebook comments in a nice, private, moms' Facebook group of women trying to encourage each other. Which is fine but there is something about the interview format that I was really not fond of in a book.
I had started this as an ebook and did not like the format and switched to audio. I realized what my problem was more clearly by listening to the audio. These women are very modern, American sounding women and probably sound much like I would in the same interview situation. There are so many "like"s and "you know"s and the upward inflection at the end of most dialogue? Like, you know? So, yeah. The audio narrator spoke aloud what I had been hearing in my head and the upwards talking with all vocal fillers left in was hard to keep listening to. The breaking off sentences, the unfinished thoughts. I don't know if I would have preferred it "cleaned up" or not. It was meant to sound more authentic and I will agree that that was probably achieved. I still didn't like it though.
I don't mean to sound so picky but it was something that was very hard to look passed.
Some other thoughts I couldn't help thinking:
I wish I could've heard from more experienced moms farther down the line. I felt the community aspect with these women but would've enjoyed more additional years of experience.
I would've liked to see the author play the devil's advocate more often, for a more full look at things. I think that would've made the discussion more interesting and brought more to the table. And I'm saying this as someone who loves large families.
This is a good conversation starter and did give me some new thoughts. I think at the end of the day, we all still tend to inflate ourselves and are trying to feel validated and important. This book is no exception. (Probably a big reason why I picked it up in the first place.) But I think we all need to learn to be okay with the fact that God sees us and that is enough.
But sometimes, when a woman notices you, comes up to you, and talks about your shared experience, that connection is just something special and sweet.
"Your kids remind me of mine and how I was"-- she gestures to my 5 kids all about two years apart in age and my pregnant belly-- "I have 10." Her smile glowed.
It was such an uncommon experience. When I'm approached in public, it's 99% of the time for someone to tell me, "wow! You're busy!" Or "you have your hands full!"
This comment of hers was so unexpected that I am unsure if I sounded genuine or not, but I truly meant it when I replied, "Really? That is very nice."
She walked away, smiling, and she left me imagining what she was like years ago, when her kids were like mine and she was like me.
I have mixed thoughts about this book. I'm rounding up to 4 stars but I would like to choose somewhere between 3 and 4.. I like the ideas, the thoughts, and variety of women interviewed. It felt like women who were right there with me at many times. I was told this book would be validating and encouraging but I'm not sure I would use those specific words to describe it myself.
There were some interesting statistics shared and analysis of some data. But not near as much as I hoped. The data felt repetitive when I wanted to hear something more. Now for the interviews, that felt like something else entirely. That was not presented like data or facts (which I do think is part of the point).
Something that bothered me was that the interviews didn't seem uniform. It felt like each woman was asked: can you tell me the story of your motherhood? And then we hear the chatting between that mother and the interviewer that feels like you are reading nice Facebook comments in a nice, private, moms' Facebook group of women trying to encourage each other. Which is fine but there is something about the interview format that I was really not fond of in a book.
I had started this as an ebook and did not like the format and switched to audio. I realized what my problem was more clearly by listening to the audio. These women are very modern, American sounding women and probably sound much like I would in the same interview situation. There are so many "like"s and "you know"s and the upward inflection at the end of most dialogue? Like, you know? So, yeah. The audio narrator spoke aloud what I had been hearing in my head and the upwards talking with all vocal fillers left in was hard to keep listening to. The breaking off sentences, the unfinished thoughts. I don't know if I would have preferred it "cleaned up" or not. It was meant to sound more authentic and I will agree that that was probably achieved. I still didn't like it though.
I don't mean to sound so picky but it was something that was very hard to look passed.
Some other thoughts I couldn't help thinking:
I wish I could've heard from more experienced moms farther down the line. I felt the community aspect with these women but would've enjoyed more additional years of experience.
I would've liked to see the author play the devil's advocate more often, for a more full look at things. I think that would've made the discussion more interesting and brought more to the table. And I'm saying this as someone who loves large families.
This is a good conversation starter and did give me some new thoughts. I think at the end of the day, we all still tend to inflate ourselves and are trying to feel validated and important. This book is no exception. (Probably a big reason why I picked it up in the first place.) But I think we all need to learn to be okay with the fact that God sees us and that is enough.
But sometimes, when a woman notices you, comes up to you, and talks about your shared experience, that connection is just something special and sweet.
reflective
medium-paced
The interviews were lovely to read, but the author's conclusion seems to be that social services - including Medicaid, social security, and public education - are contributing to the downfall of society
|| 5 ⭐️ ||
There’s a common sentiment in society today that families that grow beyond 3ish kids are just reckless, they don’t know how kids happen, it isn’t planned, etc. But the women interviewed for this book demonstrate that often, it’s the opposite: adding each new child to the family is usually a deliberate, well-thought-out, prayerful decision and always ends up being a blessing despite the great deal of self-sacrifice and opportunity cost. Much of the time they don’t start out wanting a large family, but they take their lives one day at a time, one child at a time. Many of these women also chose to give up lofty careers for motherhood, and it was interesting to hear some of their reasons for why they believe it’s worth it and how they make it all work. This book also points out so many benefits of large families that I’d never really thought about before.
There can be lot of difficulty involved in raising kids, even just one; but this book serves as a reminder that children are such a blessing and being a mother is infinitely rewarding.
I like the title too ;)