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socialpsysteph's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Another book that I found recommended online for those expecting a baby. This book is just absolutely beautiful. This will now be something that I recommend to any friend or family I have that are expecting. The book is a series of letters that a woman writes to her pregnant friend throughout the pregnancy, full of advice and tales of motherhood. The author is a poet so the book is lyrical and beautiful and several quotes and stories were just so impactful. Highly recommend.
Motherhood makes you stronger even as it makes you weaker.
I had brushed against my own boundaries, knew my outlines. I knew how far I could stretch before I burst at the seams, because in delivery I had stretched until that point, and then burst at the seams.
I know, at the deepest level, that my body is where she returns when the world threatens her.
But I understand too that I can't return to the old me because I've been awakened permanently, baptized into a new life, this good life, motherhood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
matthewwester's review against another edition
5.0
Whew, it's a relief to say this book of letters is amazing. Because there were so many ways it could have gone wrong: if it were too sappy I (perhaps because I'm male and am in so many ways disconnected from the emotions of motherhood) would have been bored, if it were too trivial (by simply relaying how she spent her day each day) I would have been reminded of how much I disliked Marianne Moore's book of letters, if were too 'academic' then it wouldn't have felt like a genuine exchange between two actual friends, and if it was too 'polite' then it would have made more sense to just read a straightforward textbook on how to handle pregnancy. Fortunately, the book was everything I was hoping it would be. It was smart, authentic, playful, warm, informational, fascinating. And you certainly don't have to be pregnant, or even female, to access the worth of each of these letters.
A couple other reviewers dropped their star rating because they called the author pretentious. Hmm, well that's tough to say having not seen the other side of the exchange. Perhaps the letters respond to K's questions more than we realize -- or perhaps the letters are somewhat edited(?) of more personal content? Either way I'm not too bothered -- clearly the student/younger woman was looking for the mentorship of someone wiser. If that ended up making it more of a monologue than a dialogue than so be it, what Fennelly shares is worth the read.
A couple other reviewers dropped their star rating because they called the author pretentious. Hmm, well that's tough to say having not seen the other side of the exchange. Perhaps the letters respond to K's questions more than we realize -- or perhaps the letters are somewhat edited(?) of more personal content? Either way I'm not too bothered -- clearly the student/younger woman was looking for the mentorship of someone wiser. If that ended up making it more of a monologue than a dialogue than so be it, what Fennelly shares is worth the read.
thatswhatiloveaboutreading's review against another edition
4.0
Such a beautiful, thoughtful collection on motherhood and and all the joy and pains that go along with it.
nssutton's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful meditation on motherhood as told in letters from one poet to her former student.
This is exactly the sort of pregnancy book I’ve been looking for as an expectant mother. Fennelly gets it, the overwhelming nature of the fear and the dreams, but addresses it from the lovely vantage point of someone on the shore with one toe still dipped in. Her writing is so beautiful it made me consider picking up some of her poetry, even though I came to this book for the content rather than the style. I loved how she discussed her own experiences, her miscarriage, and her toddler’s delightful antics.
Pre-pregnancy I’d often hear the remark to read now, because when babies would come along there’s be no time. That always made me so sad, as reading is breathing for me – a stretch of time without it always leaves me feeling congested and muddled. I loved this advice so much: “How often I have chosen a book at random and found in it an answer I didn’t realize I was seeking. As if great books are vitamins that sense our deficiencies. Reading educates the emotions, and reading informs our decision making, for we learn through the experiences of others as well as our own. So reading is one of those things that seems selfish but, in the end, makes us better mothers.”
This is exactly the sort of pregnancy book I’ve been looking for as an expectant mother. Fennelly gets it, the overwhelming nature of the fear and the dreams, but addresses it from the lovely vantage point of someone on the shore with one toe still dipped in. Her writing is so beautiful it made me consider picking up some of her poetry, even though I came to this book for the content rather than the style. I loved how she discussed her own experiences, her miscarriage, and her toddler’s delightful antics.
Pre-pregnancy I’d often hear the remark to read now, because when babies would come along there’s be no time. That always made me so sad, as reading is breathing for me – a stretch of time without it always leaves me feeling congested and muddled. I loved this advice so much: “How often I have chosen a book at random and found in it an answer I didn’t realize I was seeking. As if great books are vitamins that sense our deficiencies. Reading educates the emotions, and reading informs our decision making, for we learn through the experiences of others as well as our own. So reading is one of those things that seems selfish but, in the end, makes us better mothers.”
septan's review against another edition
3.0
Not pregnant (!), just curious. Poetic, honest and insightful, somewhat reminiscent of "Letters to a Young Poet" but not quite that good.