When Salon.com published Faulkner Fox’s article on motherhood, “What I Learned from Losing My Mind,” the response was so overwhel...
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reviews
Aug 19, 2011
Ellen
rated it: 
This book put to words so much of what I have felt as I have moved into the world of motherhood. For the longest time I used to ask what is wrong with me? Why don't I enjoy the day to day world of a stay at home mother to young children? Why do i get antsy during mommy and me activities and want to leave? Why do i not enjoy breastfeeding pr co sleeping or doing baby genius flash cards?And then the ensuing guilt over not loving every waking moment as a mother was overwhelming. Fox struggled with
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Jan 30, 2010
Stephanie
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From the inside flap "Faulkner explores the causes of her unhappiness as well as the societal and cultural forces that American mothers have to contend with. And though she loves her children and her husband passionately, is thankful for her bountiful middle-class life, and feels wracked with guilt for being unhappy, she just can’t seem to experience the sense of satisfaction that she thought would come with the package.”
I recommend this book to any mother struggling with mother More...
I recommend this book to any mother struggling with mother More...
Nov 11, 2009
Danine
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This review is based on the fact that I could not make it past the first chapter. I enjoy memoirs by mothers but I enjoy them if they are witty and humorous. This book did not deliever the humor or wit that I've grown to love in mommy memoirs.
This is a cliche story of an average mother's life. Maybe that is why people are drawn to the book because they can relate to the humdrum of daily life. I don't want cliche. I want to be offered a different and fresh perspective of mother More...
This is a cliche story of an average mother's life. Maybe that is why people are drawn to the book because they can relate to the humdrum of daily life. I don't want cliche. I want to be offered a different and fresh perspective of mother More...
May 28, 2011
Sarah
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I found it really hard to sympathize with Fox during most of this book. Her life is pretty darn good compared with 89% of women around the world. Plus, I'm all about equal gender rights but I'm far from a feminist; I don't feel oppressed or like the world is against me because I'm a woman.
With that said, I did enjoy this book for two reasons: I related to her life in Texas (I moved here from the East Coast not long ago) and her difficulty relating to other moms. I, too, have to search More...
With that said, I did enjoy this book for two reasons: I related to her life in Texas (I moved here from the East Coast not long ago) and her difficulty relating to other moms. I, too, have to search More...
Feb 07, 2010
Dorothy
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If you're feeling angry about motherhood, this is the book for you; mostly I felt badly for how incredibly enraged she was over everything surrounding motherhood, much of it, I thought was her own making; however, it did get me to wonder if I wasn't having the typical societal reaction that women should be so happy and selfless that she was talking about since I, too, have often felt angry at aspects of mothering; however, I think (and hope) I have a somewhat more balanced perspective than she d
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Feb 20, 2008
Andrea
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Sep 22, 2010
Martha
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Maybe I've read too many of these, (and this one was written a while ago, so it's probably not fair to compare it to the recent influx of these type of books) but this one seemed particularly whiny and annoying. I wanted to like it, because I really should relate. Much like Eat, Pray, Love...it just left me cold. And it's petty, but really...if your parents financed your Harvard education please stop repeatedly referring to yourself as "middle class."
Apr 28, 2008
Jessica
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Dispatches from a not-so-perfect life by Faulkner Fox is her account of how her life changed when she had children. I really appreciate her honesty in how much she struggled with cutting back on work and missing it, but feeling guilty when she was working, and all the frustration of having small children. I appreciate her honesty even more because I don't think I want to have children and she doesn't glamorize it at all. In fact she was admittedly very unhappy for the first few years of her c
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Jul 25, 2009
Debbie (Readerbuzz)
rated it:
Faulkner Fox has it all---a home, a job
she loves, a husband she adores, and two delightful sons. Yet,
somehow, she feels a disquieting sense of unhappiness. This book is
her attempt to come to terms with her feelings about motherhood amid
a culture that promotes not only selfless devotion to one's children
but also the ambitious strivings of modern women.
Though my own baby-steeped days have now passed, I can clearly
remember my own angst during those di More...
she loves, a husband she adores, and two delightful sons. Yet,
somehow, she feels a disquieting sense of unhappiness. This book is
her attempt to come to terms with her feelings about motherhood amid
a culture that promotes not only selfless devotion to one's children
but also the ambitious strivings of modern women.
Though my own baby-steeped days have now passed, I can clearly
remember my own angst during those di More...
Jun 07, 2010
Amber
rated it:
I have to admit I stopped about a third of the way through. Her domestic scorekeeping and anger at all the unfair decisions involved in motherhood hit a little too close to home. It was like me, on my most bitter day, ramped up to 10. It was a good cautionary tale for me...
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Apr 14, 2010
Fox details her experience as a feminist and mother during her sons' early childhood. Dark humor, angst and outright anxiety follow. Didn't love her POV, but I couldn't stop reading it.
Jun 23, 2008
Az
rated it:
an honest look at motherhood from the feminist perspective--what happens when you acknowledge all that is wrong with the patriarchal system that we live under, and then get married and have children, and want the best for them. you still want the best for yourself. and what's wrong with that?
and how does one deal with that, on a day-to-day basis? fox brings both a literary eye and a analytical style in this volume. the citations, as well as fox's own admittance as a control-freak, allow t More...
and how does one deal with that, on a day-to-day basis? fox brings both a literary eye and a analytical style in this volume. the citations, as well as fox's own admittance as a control-freak, allow t More...
May 16, 2008
Laurel
rated it:
Sometimes annoying, sometimes interesting book concerning feminism and family by another self-centered and privileged memoirist. I related to some of the concepts but others lost me-- the idea that Gymboree is a tool of the man... the irresistible compulsion to be judgmental of the parenting choices of others... Maybe I'm lucky but I haven't experienced a crisis of self with motherhood either; if anything, I feel a greater sense of self and pride in my individuality than before. Sure I have l
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Jan 19, 2009
Kate
rated it:
The subtitle is very misleading, and I don't see any evidence of the material gathered from interviewing other mothers. However, I liked her writing and empathized with her issues with unequal distribution of homework. But, thankfully, my baby is significantly less taxing than either of hers.
Aug 05, 2008
Juli
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This was great and it makes me want to write all my experiences down in gruesomely honest detail. I love her writing style and I also agree with her on most every point raised. It's not the most uplifting or lighthearted book, but it is a book I wish I could discuss with many other new mothers.
Dec 09, 2007
Molly
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it is a deeply personal book and therefore reflects the idiosyncrasies of the author. there were long sections that were not so interesting, but then the sections that were relevant made me laugh and cry and want to recommend this book to everyone I knew.
May 18, 2009
Marty
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Anti- war and anti- capital punishment but rabidly pro-abortion, Ms. Fox is a bundle of angst. Parts of this book are very funny and several of her insights are rather inspired. However, the remainder is self-indulgent whining.
Jan 27, 2008
Maria
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I alternated between wanting to slap the author and thinking she was brilliant...Somehow I don't think I'm going to be the type of mom who's fulfilled by going to Gymboree with my baby.
Dec 16, 2009
Jenny
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To everyone who has a preconceived notion of "how it should be," and for every woman who thinks herself a failure for not having it all together all the time.
Dec 16, 2009
Erin
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The author had this uncanny way of verbalizing how I had been feeling at the time. Also...the main character reminded me a lot of Courtney.
Feb 09, 2009
Another happy surprise found in the $2 bargain bin - a great little read.
Feb 02, 2012
Nov 05, 2011
Oct 09, 2011
