Lauren Slater

I always feel badly when I don't care for a particular memoir since those to me are much more personal than fiction or even non-fiction novels.

Reading through Lauren Slater's memoir detailing being a newlywed, mother of one and then two children while dealing with a mental illness will definitely make a reader appreciate their own lives (if not faced with all of her trials and tribulations) and think to themselves how hard society often is on women.

What I really did enjoy is Ms. Slater touches upon the taboo of wanting to work after giving birth since she finds herself bored by her newborn daughter and feeling a sense of accomplishment at her job. I also loved her totally acknowledging the backwardness of her daughter than being provided a mother figure through the nanny and her jealousies of that relationship.

I also loved that she shared her experiences with mental illness and deciding for the sake of her family as it was at that time an abortion was necessary.

All of the above being said I still did not care for this memoir at all. I think the primary reason was that the memoir is written in essay form (which I always find a little over written when I read them in glossy magazines or newspapers) and there was no flow to the memoir. Ms. Slater would jump back and forth in time and not explain incidents.

For example, I was very curious about Ms. Slater's family and childhood and though it was touched upon briefly it was never really explained what went on there and how did her and her husband's family interact with them.

Another example I have is that at one point we have Ms. Slater explaining that a friendship ended because of X but she seems to look upon it so superficially we don't get a chance to understand her feelings about it. I think honestly that was the main reason I did not care for the novel. If the author looks upon things superficially through her writing and her explanations of past events you don't really find yourself as a reader involved with it either.

Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program.… (lisätietoja)