Showing posts with label motherhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motherhood. Show all posts

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Ten Year Nap

The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

Description: Being a mother in New York City is no easy task. And each of these mother's decided to stay home and raise their children. But now their children are getting to the age where they need them less and less. This allows or forces the women to realize where their lives are at.

Are they happy in their relationships? What have they been ignoring the last years as they focused on their child and less on the other things going on around them.

What do they really want out of life? Can they get back in to achieving the life goals that they put on hold for their children?


Thoughts: I definitely appreciated the subject matter of this book. The idea of staying home with your children is definitely appealing. Many feel like they have to. They mentally compete with those that have to or chose to go back to work.

What does it mean to go back to work after years of being a mother? How does that affect you in the job market? What does it mean for you in terms of relationships with other mothers? Should you do more or less if you don't have a job outside of motherhood? What happens if you don't feel the connection to your child that you should? How are you supposed to feel if your child doesn't live up to your expectations?

All these are things that anyone who is a mother or who is contemplating motherhood thinks about. How do you be your own person while still being a good mother.

The only thing that I didn't like about the book is I felt there were almost too many prospective. Because it jumps from person to person allowing you a glimpse into each life all of the people and all of the connections were almost too much for me to follow and remember. There were times I would get into a section and be like - oh - I remember that person and what is going on with them.

What genre would you consider this?
Family Dynamics/Motherhood

Overall:

Monday, October 6, 2008

Mommy Tracked

Mommy Tracked by Whitney Gaskell

What was this book about?

Four mom’s each with a different perspective on their lives and a desire to have more of what someone else has.

Anna, is a divorced mother of a two year old boy. Her relationship with her ex is iffy at most considering they only got married because she was pregnant. She is trying to be a career mom and doesn’t know if she really is ready to date again. Is she?

Chloe is new to the group and suffers from anxiety of not being good enough. She is just about to have her first child and has expectations for how this is going to affect her life (and her husbands life) can they live up to all these expectations?

Juliet is a lawyer who is desperate to become partner. And she has twin girls who have had a “stay at home daddy” their whole lives. This switch on the conventional stay at home mom/dad works is starting to cause havoc in their lives. Is having a high powered and time consuming career more important then seeing her childrens’ firsts. Or is it more of a problem with being the moneymaker when dealing with her husband.

Grace is a stay at home mother who is great at it. She knows it – her three children love her and she dedicates her life to them. But she can’t help but feel insecure about her relationship with them and her husband. Is she good enough, thin enough? She sure doesn’t think so and can’t help but compare herself to everyone. That probably isn’t a good thing for anyone.


What did you think about the book?

I really liked this book being told from a perspective of many different kinds of roles that mothers take. Being a parent isn’t always what you think it will be. Let alone trying to juggle being a parent with your relationship with your husband or boyfriend. It is a tough road.

At the same time there are all sorts of rewards – which is why people do it. And I felt this non-judgemental book showed many of them. The author doesn’t try to make it seem like one mother is doing a better job then the other because of the choices that she made to work/not work. She just shows the emotional pitfalls in each of them.

I would feel honored to be friends with this group of four women. They are just my style.

What genre would you consider this?

Women, Motherhood

Overall: