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A review by zoebaillie
Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty by Jacqueline Rose
3.0
I wish I had read this while I was in the depths of postnatal depression instead of the many mothering manuals I desperately trawled for the cure to mine and my baby's endless tears. I could have done with a decent feminist analysis of why it was ok that I wasn't perfect.
Three stars purely because there were bits of the book that just weren't for me but I'm sure are other people's cup of tea - I am glad I read about mothers in classical literature but I admit I skipped the Elena Ferrante chapter after a while as having no prior knowledge of her work there was just too much to keep up with. I'm sure it's great for Ferrante fans though!
I enjoyed much more the writing on borders, racism, and motherhood outside of western cultures as well as the discussions of Leve and Plath. I would have loved her to explore more around depression, frustrated motherhood and poverty as when she did touch on this it was great. Had been worried about how she may include or exclude transgender experiences but her writing on Susan Stryker was great.
Three stars purely because there were bits of the book that just weren't for me but I'm sure are other people's cup of tea - I am glad I read about mothers in classical literature but I admit I skipped the Elena Ferrante chapter after a while as having no prior knowledge of her work there was just too much to keep up with. I'm sure it's great for Ferrante fans though!
I enjoyed much more the writing on borders, racism, and motherhood outside of western cultures as well as the discussions of Leve and Plath. I would have loved her to explore more around depression, frustrated motherhood and poverty as when she did touch on this it was great. Had been worried about how she may include or exclude transgender experiences but her writing on Susan Stryker was great.