A review by phillysaurus
Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood by Lucy Jones

informative slow-paced

3.75

I would advise you not to read this in your third trimester. 

This was beautifully written, very interesting and thought provoking, and brings to light so many important aspects of becoming a mother. HOWEVER, Jones presents her experience as universal, which it isn’t (I’ve not experienced much of what she describes from the NHS in pregnancy), and her narrative suffers from the glaring absence of the role of her partner. I know it’s a book about MATrescence, but the support a mother gets from her network and the sodding baby’s coparent is vital. A mother doesn’t exist (and shouldn’t exist) in isolation, but much of this novel reads as if Jones were a single parent.