I'm sorry to say that any mother who objects to this book is either in denial or being very insensitive to someones else's experience. Cusk's account is quite safe to read as an expectant mother because it is something you can keep in the back of your head when times get rough and your other baby whisperers don't cut it anymore: this too will pass, as Cusk's grown daughters will testify to. I was interested to find out what all the fuss was about, but unfortunately l was disappointed by this book. This book focuses on the negative experiences of early motherhood (from her pregnancy to her child turning one) but within that context is so much more of what motherhood on a whole is about (particularly in the western modern landscape.

But nevertheless, I persisted, convinced that the fields Cusk embarked on were by this stage well ploughed. With a two month old baby, I was feeling totally swamped by motherhood, and it really helped me to read about somebody else who was just plain fed up with breast feeding. Brainy women will continue to have babies, and this is for those for whom motherhood is not all sweetness and light.We are all different, we all led different lives before we became mothers, we all have different levels of support systems and expectations. Sa mère se retrouve ainsi emprisonnée dans un ‘bunker coupé du reste du monde’, dont les geôliers sont les autres mères, les sages-femmes, les méde-cins et autres assistantes sociales, dans un monde totalitaire régi par l’idéologie des ouvrages sur l’éducation

Although Cusk focuses on the shock, the anxiety, and the guilt of motherhood, the memoir is shot through with profound experiences of love and transformation made possible by her daughter: “One evening, sitting outside in the garden in the dusk, I realize that three months have passed and that summer has come. Rachel Cusk is the author of nine novels, three non-fiction works, a play, and numerous shorter essays and memoirs. I must confess that I am surprised at some of the earlier reviewers who gave this book a bad or unfavorable rating. La société et les médias voudraient nous persuader que la naissance et les premiers mois d’un enfant sont les plus beaux moments de la vie d’une femme.

I also wouldn't want women wondering whether or not they want children to decide based on reading this book. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.