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juliajjshields's review
feels difficult to give a true review as I listened to this on Spotify & about halfway through I reached my audiobook limit. This meant I couldn’t continue until two weeks later, making the story and memoir feel quite disjointed.
Listening to Jamison tell her story, I thought about how special books are to let us into the minds and experiences of others. In short, the memoir was about motherhood & unpacking the grief of what life could have been had something in the past gone differently. This theme recurs throughout the book as Jamison continues to question her choice to have left her husband shortly after the birth of their daughter.
I’m aware that divorce rates are higher than ever and when I learn of divorces, it is not by any means shocking. By this I just mean that they’re quite common. What I never really considered (beyond acknowledgment) are the layers of grief, angst & questioning that come with this process. A mourning for what could have been and never really knowing. Even with the interrupted listening experience, I thought this was well done & interesting
“Our if only selves are infinitely virtuous and impossible to confirm”
“Would every moment of our happiness carry grief in its veins? I had not solved this problem, only learned to live inside it. Perhaps being haunted was its own uncanny abundance.”
mirandaabbott's review
4.75
I DEVOURED this book. I don't think i've photographed any books pages more. My only criticism is that it touched so close to home, that i saw weaknesses in my own writing come up in hers. Of course, I also saw sentences far more sweeping and graceful than anything I've ever written. the specificity, excavating profundity from banality. I live to be affected by writing like this.
kimberlyf's review
5.0
PUB DAY!! read this book
A beautiful story of love—for one’s child, for motherhood, for art—and of love lost.
I originally believed that this wasn’t a memoir for me. The synopsis sounded interesting but I thought to myself, “I’m not a mother. I’m not sure what I will get out of reading this.” Having read about Jamison’s writing (though not reading the writing itself) and reading of her talent, I was interested enough to hesitantly request this memoir from NetGalley.
Incase you are in my boat and wondering the same thing—I’m not a mother therefore why should I read this—just trust me when I say that you need to read it. This was my first encounter with Jamison’s work and I am an immediate fan. Her writing is insanely beautiful and lyrical and she stitches words together with such ease. There were many moments in this reading where I had to stop to go back and re-read a passage or sentence over again because the beauty of it took my breath away. Her observations of the world around her (and of herself) are awe-inspiring.
Jamison writes about the real and challenging and beautiful moments of early motherhood—of gaining new love—while her marriage, simultaneously, breaks down. She writes about learning to balance motherhood with artistry—how can one do both when they each require full attention?
If I had my own copy, it would be heavily annotated.
Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy. Out 02/20/2024.
A beautiful story of love—for one’s child, for motherhood, for art—and of love lost.
I originally believed that this wasn’t a memoir for me. The synopsis sounded interesting but I thought to myself, “I’m not a mother. I’m not sure what I will get out of reading this.” Having read about Jamison’s writing (though not reading the writing itself) and reading of her talent, I was interested enough to hesitantly request this memoir from NetGalley.
Incase you are in my boat and wondering the same thing—I’m not a mother therefore why should I read this—just trust me when I say that you need to read it. This was my first encounter with Jamison’s work and I am an immediate fan. Her writing is insanely beautiful and lyrical and she stitches words together with such ease. There were many moments in this reading where I had to stop to go back and re-read a passage or sentence over again because the beauty of it took my breath away. Her observations of the world around her (and of herself) are awe-inspiring.
Jamison writes about the real and challenging and beautiful moments of early motherhood—of gaining new love—while her marriage, simultaneously, breaks down. She writes about learning to balance motherhood with artistry—how can one do both when they each require full attention?
If I had my own copy, it would be heavily annotated.
Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy. Out 02/20/2024.
shaguftap's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This meditation on divorce, creativity, writing/art, motherhood and attachment/love reminded me so much of Maggie Smith’s You Could Make This Place Beautiful, but I only realized when I finished it that Maggie Smith is the very first testimonial on the back of the book. It’s gorgeously written on a sentence and paragraph level but after reading “Unearthing” I now want every memoir to place itself in a broader context. It did make me think a lot about labour and art and when I read her descriptions of taking her baby everyday to the Brooklyn Museum, it made me wish that Vancouver, like Chicago or New York or other big cities had galleries you could visit everyday and nourish yourself. It also made me think about the heartbreak and mess of relationships and the nourishment of female friendship and mother daughter loves.
I bought this in SFO in April on the recommendation of someone who now slips my mind, and I’m glad I did - she really can write beautifully, and there are sentences in here and phrases that will stay with me ( one example - she describes going swimming and her hair sticking together like clumps of salted pasta) and that is a perfect description) but as a work overall I’m not sure what to take from this. 3.5-4 stars.
I bought this in SFO in April on the recommendation of someone who now slips my mind, and I’m glad I did - she really can write beautifully, and there are sentences in here and phrases that will stay with me ( one example - she describes going swimming and her hair sticking together like clumps of salted pasta) and that is a perfect description) but as a work overall I’m not sure what to take from this. 3.5-4 stars.