Reviews

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman

beachybookstack's review against another edition

3.0

An especially honest take on what it's like to be a mofern mother. BUT also a cynic, worrier, and borderline oversharer. The author has some bright spots in this mommy memoir, but it's plagued by her own self-doubt and uneasiness about nearly everything. I'm not yet a mother, perhaps this is truely some people's parental experience. Certain chapter were full of Negative Nancy with glimmers of hope sprinkled in for taste. For the most part, it felt like this was Waldman's catharsis or therapy session with herself.

librarydosebykristy's review

2.0

I started reading this book as part of my desire to read about motherhood. ugh, bad choice. It's not that Waldman is saying anything wrong--she's just so unbelievably irritating and smug while saying it that it ruins her point. She's like your crazy, annoying aunt who pushes you in a corner every Christmas and tells you waaaayyy too much information about her personal life. I think the only reason Ayelet was able to publish this book had to do with the controversy over her New York Times article where she said she loved her husband more than her children. Again, i didn't have any issue with her point, it's just that you have to wade through so much whining and unnecessary detail to get to it. She could have summed up this entire book with one well-constructed paragraph.

Waldman is married to Michael Chabon, one of my favorite writers, and I'm hoping she hasn't ruined him for me!

amandae129's review

5.0

This is a phenomenal book about motherhood and I am so glad to have read it while pregnant.

shirleytupperfreeman's review

I only read this because Ayelet Waldman is married to Michael Chabon and because I had heard about the controversy she generated when she published an article saying she loved her husband more than her children. Curiosity got the better of me. I agree with her basic premise - that it is impossible to be a 'good mother' by our culture's standards (we're criticized for staying home, for working, for being too strict, for being too permissive etc.) and that we need to relax and be 'good enough' or 'not too bad'. But honestly, she's neurotic - and suffers from the 'Too Much Information' syndrome. I wouldn't recommend this one.

wrentheblurry's review

4.0

I found the author's raw honesty both refreshing and mildly disturbing. She says things in this book that I might not ever say to anyone else, just keep those thoughts in my head. Yet I understood all of it, and when I could, I empathized, and in other parts I sympathized. And I laughed. There is plenty of humor spread throughout, and it made me boggle that some people got so very upset over what Ayelet has written/said previously.

The book is an easy read, and one that I looked forward to lying down with each night. It was like having a long chat with a really open and sharing and funny girlfriend. If you are a mother, don't take yourself too seriously and have an open mind, give this one a try, you won't be sorry.

PS to my MIL--thank you for the personalized, autographed copy. I will keep it forever. :)

lisawhelpley's review

5.0

I loved this book. I think the title isn't a great choice for the book, however. It led me to think it would be a snarky, humorous book and there certainly is plenty of humor in it, but it is SO MUCH MORE than that. These 18 essays are written from the heart and show so many emotions and opinions that many women share, but often are afraid to express. Highly recommend this book.

elizaed's review

4.0

I didn't know much about the author before reading this. My son actually picked this book for me off the new releases shelf at the library. I laughed when he handed it to me but decided it was worth checking out. Really glad I did. While I can't give it 5 stars - the author's voice did grate on me at times -- overall it was a page turner. Waldman is often brutally honest about her experiences as a bipolar mother of 4. I cried when I read the chapter about how her newborn almost starved to death from an undiagnosed palate problem and her struggles to breastfeed him, and also the chapter about her considering an abortion after an amnio showed a potentially serious problem. I also found her discussion of the impossible ideal of what constitutes a Good Mother and how other mothers are often the cruelest enforcers of it sadly accurate. Not recommended for conservatives as she is definitely coming from the far left in her viewpoints, but if that doesn't put you off, it's a good read.

doublearegee's review against another edition

3.0

Yes, part of the time she was annoying. However, she also says what the rest of us mothers are thinking. You know what? So many of us are bad mothers. Our kids are going to turn out okay, though.

lavoiture's review

3.0

Hmm...I read this very quickly; within 24 hours, I guess. But did I like it? I'm not sure. There was definitely some oversharing--do I really need to know what kind of condoms Waldman and her famous novelist husband use? And seriously, ok, I get it, Michael Chabon is the most perfect husband in the history of the world and the rest of us are doomed to a life of misery, sucky sex lives and un-equal domestic duties. Really, you don't have to beat us over the head with it every page.

That said, I felt Waldman made some good points about how society, and especially other women, judge mothers for the choices they've made, the actions they've taken, even the way they choose to give birth. Gave me some interesting things to think about...

cojack's review

2.0

Ayelet Waldman likes herself very very much. I indentified with some of her anecdotes, but her neuroses ruined much of this book for me.