By Meg Mason, 2020 This book comes with all the accolades, and with good reason. It’s funny, heart-wrenching, page-turning, and thought-provoking. If that’s not enough of a reason to read it, read it for Ingrid, Martha’s hilarious sister. Martha’s life has been messy — she has an erratic mother, she struggles with depression, and hasContinue reading “Sorrow and Bliss”
Tag Archives: book review
Still Born
By Guadalupe Nettel (2020), tr. Rosalind Harvey in 2022 While the title is evocative, it is appropriate to the story. So much so, I would argue no other title would do it justice. In this novel, a child is not still born, as in delivered in death. Instead, the child is born — alive —Continue reading “Still Born”
Loved and Wanted
By Christa Parravani, 2020 The U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization is expected any day now, and has the potential to overturn the right to obtain an abortion set out in the landmark 1973 decision Roe v Wade. That makes this book especially timely. In the new afterword, Parravani referencesContinue reading “Loved and Wanted”
Shelf Life
By Livia Franchini, 2019 Ruth has just been dumped by her long-time boyfriend. She thinks it might be the end of the world, and her dry, coarse narration makes it difficult to root for her. But over the course of this unique novel we come to understand why Ruth is the way she is, andContinue reading “Shelf Life”
The School for Good Mothers
By Jessamine Chan, 2022 I wanted to love this book. It’s title and description promises precisely the kind of work I am calling for in my PhD thesis: stories that tell the truth about motherhood, that call into question the so-called “maternal instinct.” And this novel does exactly those things. However, an important aspect ofContinue reading “The School for Good Mothers”
The Lost Daughter
By Elena Ferrante, published 2006 (translated by Ann Goldstein) This book has received new attention lately thanks to a film version released on Netflix, starring Olivia Colman and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The story features middle-aged Leda on a beach holiday, who becomes mildly obsessed with another vacationing family — particularly a young mother andContinue reading “The Lost Daughter”
(M)otherhood
By Pragya Agarwal, published 2021 I added this book to my TBR pile because of the title (which is the broad category of my research), and the fact that the description includes “reproductive justice.” (M)otherhood was not quite what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Pragya Agarwal provides plenty of scientific data alongside herContinue reading “(M)otherhood”
What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About
Ed. by Michele Filgate, 2019 I was immediately intrigued by the title of this book, and have been looking forward to reading it for months. It is a collection of essays by established writers about their relationships with their mothers. Most of those relationships are fraught, but not all. Some have overcome serious complications andContinue reading “What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About”
The Dying Animal
By Philip Roth, published 2001 I finished reading this book a few weeks ago, but I have had trouble formulating an opinion that isn’t tainted by my visceral dislike for the narrator. David Kapesh (a character from an earlier Roth novel) is evidently an attractive middle-aged man who left his wife and child in theContinue reading “The Dying Animal”
Revolutionary Road
By Richard Yates, published 1961 This is a novel many people know, if only for the broad strokes. Due to my area of research (and interest), I am going to consider it in terms of April’s desire to not have children and the supposed implications of her own childhood. April is a mother of twoContinue reading “Revolutionary Road”
Monica Cardenas 