Mommy Lit Review: By The Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation by Frances Greenslade

By The Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation by Frances Greenslade

"Becoming a mother brings you close to the bone, to blood, and shit, to mortality and your absolute worst fears. It may be sweet, but it can also be dark and dangerous. It is, more accurately, one of the great adventures of many women's lives. It is a quest, with the mother as hero-adventurer, encountering the pitfalls of all adventures: monsters, despair and an overarching wonder."

Review #1 - The book starts off in a very emotional and dramatic fashion with the author taking us through her own experience when she developed a life-threatening complication shortly after her son was born. An emergency hysterectomy was performed which then prevented her from having any more children.

Frances Greenslade then takes us through her experience of childbirth, her surgery and life with a new baby; the challenges she faced and the emotions she went through. She also uses her knowledge of literature (she has a Master's degree) to intertwine her personal story with pieces of myth and history.

In the end, after reading about her birthing experience, I felt very lucky and blessed with mine. I could definitely relate to her intense feelings towards her newborn baby. You feel such an overwhelming amount of love for your children that it is hard to put into words sometimes, but Greenslade captures the emotions perfectly.

Review #2 - I started reading The Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation by Frances Greenslade 3 weeks after giving birth to my daughter and was blown away by the emotions of the Greenslade's story. Her harrowing recovery from a childbirth after a life saving hysterectomy made me stop reading - just for a day or so. It's an emotionally charged few pages when she realizes that her son will be her only child and that she is lucky to be alive after her ordeal.

The Secret Ladders weaves myth and Greenslade's vast knowledge of literature about motherhood into her account of her child's first year. Greenslade isn't afraid of the dark emotions and sides of motherhood. As well,.her experience does point to problems within the Canadian medical field in obstetrics. I had a few moments, when I felt like it was me writing the book, and holding my hand up and saying, "me too!".

Mommy Lit Review: The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill

The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill

Review by Tricia

This book is written by Fiona Neill, who writes a column in the London Times newspaper called "Slummy Mummy". Her column was so popular that she turned some of the material into a novel. Her book centres on Lucy, a mother of three boys. She is married to Tom (Husband with a Short Fuse) and gave up a successful journalism career working for Newsnight, to bring up her children. They lead a fairly middle-class existence.

Fiona Neill really captures what it's like for a mother who is just going through the daily routine of making meals, school runs, school meetings and trying to keep up with all of the cleaning. Lucy begins to get bored with things and starts looking for something, or someone (Sexy Domesticated Dad), to liven up the domesticity.

I found this book a little bit hard to get into at first, however, once you read through the first couple of chapters you are hooked. The main character Lucy is a little bit wacky but very likable. The book focuses very much on adult relationships. It is interesting to read about the dynamics between her and her single/non-married friends (as we've all been there as the relationships change once someone gets married and has kids). It also details Lucy's relationship with her husband, other parents from her children's school and her relationship with her own parents and mother-in-law. While you often find yourself relating to these relationships, the story line can be a bit far-fetched at times yet entertaining all the same.

The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill

Mommy Lit Review: Momzillas by Jill Kargman

Momzillas by Jill Kargman
Review by Tricia

When Hannah Allen's husband takes a job in New York City, his hometown, they uproot themselves and their two year old daughter to move across the country. When she gets there, Hannah is not prepared for the extremely competitive world she falls in to. In the upper echelons of Manhattan society, moms are obsessed with having everything perfect for their children and are constantly competing for the best pre-schools, clothes, birthday parties and extracurricular activities. She also experiences problems with her mother-in-law who feels that Hannah is not doing all she can to integrate her granddaughter into their new environment. Despite her better instincts and common sense, Hannah soon finds herself caught up in the craziness of high-stakes mothering.

This book is a fun and fast read that will definitely get you laughing. There are a lot of abbreviations and lingo used in the book that I have never heard of, but the definitions are quite cute. I could relate to the main character in the demands she felt by competitive mothering, although not to the same extent. I think all moms feel the pressure to ensure your child has the best of everything and you do your best to provide for their future development.

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