About this title: In the tradition of recent hits like "The Bitch in the House" and "Perfect Madness" comes a hilarious and controversial book that illuminates the anxieties that riddle motherhood today.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Broadway Books
Date Published: 2009-05-05
ISBN-13:9780385527934ISBN:0385527934
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780385527934. read more
Binding: Hardback
Publisher: Random House Inc
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780385527934ISBN:0385527934
Description: New. In the tradition of recent hits like "The Bitch in the House" and "Perfect Madness" comes a hilarious and controversial book that illuminates the anxieties that riddle motherhood today. read more
"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."
"I seriously doubt that any woman who gives birth to a baby goes into it aspiring to be a bad mother. But within days, hours, and honestly probably before the baby is even born, we all have moments where we're sure we're not going to be as good at this motherhood thing as we want to be. One of my first bad mother moments came when Eddie bought me flowers to celebrate my coming home from a business trip when I was pregnant. The flowers died, but instead of dumping out the glass they'd been in, I left it sitting out on the counter. The next morning, I grabbed what I thought was a glass of water, but instead it was dead stems and plant food. And I've wondered ever since what kind of damage it inflicted on my kid.
My point is, we all have moments when we worry that we're bad moms. Waldman points out that the standards for good fathers (that they're involved when they're home, that they show up to things when they can, that they wear the Baby Bjorn from time to time) and for good mothers (perfection, constant perfection) are vastly different, and the standards we place on ourselves as mothers are unattainable. So Waldman goes on to show how she, as a mother tries, her best, enumerates what her fears are, and worries that she still falls short.
Waldman is honest in Bad Mother. Perhaps a little too honest sometimes (she talks in a chapter on bipolar disorder that she both fears passing her condition on to her kids and recognizes that it makes her, and other writers, better at what they do because they're often not afraid to overshare). She writes about everything from the crushing boredom she found when she quit her job as a public defendant to stay at home with her oldest, to her fears that her sons will grow up and leave her (and she therefore wishes that they'll be gay), to the way she and her husband still enjoy having sex with each other (and the brouhaha that ensued when she wrote that she loved her husband more than her kids). Much of the book is light, but Waldman also writes about the wrenching decision she and her husband faced when she was pregnant for the third time and an amniocentesis showed the baby might be born with severe disabilities. They eventually decided to abort the baby, and while Waldman feels they made the right decision for their family, Rocketship (their pet name for that baby) has definitely had an impact on Waldman's mothering and the family's dynamic.
Read Bad Mother. Be prepared to laugh, to feel disgusted at times, and to ultimately be glad that Waldman and other women like her are out there who make you feel like the muddling-through you do each day isn't so bad, after all."
"An amusing, honest, occasionally touching, and ultimately hopeful account of raising children. Waldman reflects on her own experiences growing up and in adulthood while covering territory ranging from her early stay-at-home mother days to becoming the woman who rarely shows up to school events, from her bipolar diagnosis to her hopes for her children's lives, and from terminating a pregnancy to her biological urge for a fifth child (and her decision not to give in to that urge). Throughout she shows the many ways that she will never be a Good Mother (the one who never yells, will never project her own inadequacies onto her children, always enjoys playing with her kids, and volunteers in the community) and why, due to her honesty, she is likely a better mother than that. I've been reading this alongside Po Bronson and Ashley Merriman's NurtureShock, and am finding that that research-based approach and this very personal account compliment one another well."
"From the book jacket: Today we have only Bad Mothers. If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. If you buy organic, you're spending their college fund; if you don't, you're risking all sorts of allergies and illnesses. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a "bad mother"?
This book is written by the woman who was vilified when she wrote a piece in the NY Times about loving her husband more than her children. (She is married to Michael Chabon, author of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and "Wonder Boys"). She uses this incident to reason that we are so quick to judge other mothers in an effort to make ourselves feel better...so if we don't always give our kids veggies for dinner, at least we aren't THAT mom, the one that loves her husband more.
In eighteen chapters, she writes about motherhood in all its forms...how her relationship with her mother shaped her, how she was in competition with her mother-in-law, the various ways she has "failed" her children. She seems to write with a fair amount of honesty, and there are lots of moments where most moms will recognize themselves. The main theme of the book is that the modern mom is held to an impossible standard that cannot be achieved and women shouldn't beat themselves up for not hitting the mark. An entertaining and quick read."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
