Breeder: Real-Life Stories from the New Generation of Mothers

This anthology is, like so many anthologies, a mixed bag.

It's great to hear a range of voices, including those of young parents, which are often left out of parenting conversations. (I mean, our culture loves to talk about 'teen moms,' but not so much with them.) This collection is intended as a counterpoint to mainstream 'mom' memoirs, and it works pretty well in that capacity.

Some of the essays are just poorly-written and/or boring, though, and could have used more assertive editing. And some of the voices feel stilted and annoying to me--which probably is to say, I just flat-out disliked some of the narrators, who sounded like they thought they were extremely cool (perhaps a veneer over defensiveness?). On the other hand, some of the show more selections are beautiful, thoughtful, thought-provoking, funny, incisive.

A friendly warning: over halfway through a fairly cheerful book, there's a stretch of maybe five extremely depressing and triggery essays, which I happened to read while trying to get to sleep through insomnia born of a family tragedy. Didn't work super-well. There are enough emotionally intense bits to make me suggest not reading this book during a vulnerable period, like say the postpartum period. show less

Being pregnant is hard. If you're like me, you worry about everything--money, the food you're eating, environmental toxins, household toxins, eating cold cuts and soft cheese, cleaning the toilet with bleach, dying your hair,etc. etc. It's exhausting! But it's also important to remember that there are good, magical things about being pregnant and the reward in the end for all your worrying is worth it! Reading pregnancy and childbirth books all the time can be an unpleasant experience that does little more than remind you of all the things you should add to your long list of worries.
I've been looking for a memoir or novel or anything about pregnancy that approaches the subject from a more personal perspective--something that lays out show more the fears and joys and experience of being pregnant without being didactic or technical. Breeder featured a collection of essays about women in various situations in their life who found themselves pregnant either by accident or on purpose and how they dealt with it. I really enjoyed it. It made me laugh and commiserate and it didn't portray pregnant women as out of control freaks who care only about their cravings and their Kegel exercises. I also appreciated the portrayal of men as sympathetic life partners and not beer swigging automatons or weak slaves to their wives' every whim.
The book rang true and for that I am grateful. show less

It isn't so much that I necessarily disliked the stories in the book, but rather that I didn't see how they are representative of a "new generation of mothers." I think I'm supposed to be part of the demographic at which this collection is aimed, but all it did was make me feel as though I wasn't exciting enough to be part of this "new generation" -- I was 23 when I had my son, but I did so in Chicago and not while or after backpacking through Europe or running away from home. And I've got punk sensibilities and alternative tastes, but this book still didn't sit right with me. Then again, no parenting book I've ever read has done so (with the notable exception of [author: Anne Lamott]'s [book: Operating Instructions]). So maybe it's an show more issue I have the genre and not the book... but even so, I have to say this alternative take on the "new generation" wasn't much more relevant to my life as a parent than the old standards from the "old generation" of mothers. show less

It's a cute collection of essays about motherhood. A nice reminder that motherhood comes in different styles and that the most important thing is that we love our children.
Although i have to disagree that it represents the new type of mothers. I wasn't able to connect to any profile depicted in the book

A series of essays by post-Baby Boomer moms on topics relating to motherhood.

The best essays to me were the ones that spoke directly to the experience of being or becoming a mother. The more political essays were less engaging. I really loved the gritty honesty of these diverse women.

This is another compilation of essays about motherhood. What makes this book different from some others is that the mothers are "alternative" moms or moms that don't "fit" society's views of a typical mother. The mothers in this book are unwed mothers, lesbian mothers, adoptive mothers, single mothers. But no matter how different these mothers may be from your own upbringing or circumstances, I think all mothers can find a common ground in these essays. After all, all kids poop whether their mother has 100 tattoos or none. The editors of the book are the founders and editors of Hip Mama.

I read this when deciding if I would have kids. Good idea on my part.

I don't have kids.