I've been reading anthologies about motherhood and its variations for a long time now. In a sense, these books, like mommy blogs, are the consciousness raising groups of our time. In them women writers tell their truths, and women readers recognize their own truths as they see them mirrored in the lives of others. But my motherhood consciousness is pretty raised by now, and in my reading life I've grown increasingly impatient with worthwhile sentiments expressed in worthless prose, which is to say, less pompously, that the first thing I look for is good writing.
Luckily I find it in the newest collection of essays from editrix supreme Andi Buchanan: It's a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters. Of course I'm predisposed to like this one, given my plethora of daughters, but interestingly, a lot of the issues didn't resonate with me. Perhaps I'm a more secure mother than I think I am, but Barbie doesn't bother me, I'm pretty much over my childhood (really, Mom, I am), and I work hard to maintain my equilibrium on fat, beauty, and other body matters.
Nevertheless, some of these essays were absolutely lovely. With flawless form, Martha Brockenbrough's "It's a Girl" details her shift from male identification to the embrace of her own femininity in the face of her daughters. Rachel Hall's "Breasts: A Collage" weaves together adolescence, nursing, and her mother's breast cancer in painfully beautiful poetic prose--I think it's my favorite piece here. Anything Amy Bloom writes works for me, but "Me and My Girls" is a beautiful evocation of what it means to have two daughters who are so different, yet each so much hers, and so much each other's--this one resonated with me on all levels.
A good book: I recommend it. For more on the blog book tour, check out Andi's blog.
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