A review by dvdpcp
Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty by Jacqueline Rose

3.0

Intermittently dense then accessible/breezy- there would be entire sections that were engaging and easy to read, followed by whole passages just the opposite. This work didn't seem like it had internal organization, it kind of jumped around with no explanation for the specific aspects of motherhood we were focusing on and when, nor how it was structured with any purpose or goal in mind. Honestly it made me want to read the source material more than I enjoyed reading this text and the author's perspective was not only distracting but an obstacle at times for absorption. Not sure the exact year this was published but surely late enough to know not to use, "blacks" as a noun? Gross. And she clearly loved the word, "carapace" it was used as a metaphor 3 times. Also is this person Elena Ferrante? Or just a huge fan? That section didn't feel warranted or explained, we just took a deep dive. I learned some good stuff but ultimately I found the author unrelatable and unlikable, and someone whose perspective got in the way of her point, a bad combination. Disorganized and half-baked, more opinionated than persuasive. The excerpt pulled for C'mon, C'mon was more satisfying to me than the piece in its entirety.