Another account of a mother struggling alone

Great writing, minute detail of the mind numbing work of parenting a young child. Frustratingly slow in the descriptiveness of this work, which I can relate to. Cleverly weaves in feminist concepts but ultimately reiterates the well worn narrative of a woman living out the blatant unfairness of being fully burdened with household work. Why this woman never actually says exactly what she needs, exactly how she wants it to be to her partner is unimaginable. It seems the writer wants to show that women can’t articulate their needs logically, instead relying almost exclusively on bitter jabs at their partner. What a sad reiteration of a cliche. When are we going to hear stories of parents (men and women) parenting together, so we can learn how to do it? Instead, we have modern (modern!) stories of these woes, beautifully written but, ultimately, uninspiring.
This book is a great contraceptive.
I wonder how many young people will find it hard to believe this parenting reality (in the West) still exists, realising too late how true it can be, but with no alternative narrative to turn to for help. Are books like this normalising that which we need to get away from?

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Staggering read

Everything about this book was brilliant. From the intense opening sequence where reality becomes completely distorted, to the 2 dimensional husband who is infuriating at first but then you realise that he is more a caricature of bad husbands than a character, to the final reflections on watching your child grow old. Monumental

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Emotionally raw

Not sure what to make of this, the sample gives a tiny snippet, but the raw emotion of the whole book is so palpable.

Any woman who has had or has young kids will fully understand everything written here.

The narration is perfect.

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A moving read

A thought provoking and emotional read with parts I could really identify with. I very much enjoyed this book and would wholly recommend it.

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Raw, honest and beautiful

I loved this story. Listening to it at a similar life stage, it spoke to my soul at times. It had me crying, laughing and cursing! As a new mother who is lost, this tale made me feel less alone. Beautifully performed, I was there right with Soldier and Sailor throughout. Highly recommended for all mothers, even more highly recommended for all fathers!

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Beautifully written

I couldn't stop listening! So beautifully written. A raw account of motherhood and her love for her son. A lot of what she said was a perfect description of some of my own feelings/experiences as a mother but have never managed to articulate with such accuracy. As soon as I was finished reading, I wanted to go back to the start and read it all over again! Absolutely loved this book.

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What an amazing read.

This is such a beautiful book. Every bit of it relevant and poignant. The mundane detail is lyricised so beautifully and skillfully throughout and brings the emotions and events of early motherhood so vividly to life. The last chapter brought tears to my eyes. This is not just another book about motherhood, for me this is the book about it. Beautiful beautiful book.

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An almost too real story of motherhood

This is a beautiful story that explores the writers relationship with her son "sailor" and her husband. There were so many moments when I thought "yes, that's exactly it!"

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Wow!

Beautifully written account of early motherhood! It's intense, funny, utterly heart wrenching at times. I loved it, the narration was perfect also.

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Tender, rattling, funny

Beautiful narration of a tender and profound account of early motherhood. The author captures the physical and emotional power of the mother/child bond so accurately. She balances the existential burden that comes with bringing life to world with some laugh out loud moments.

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