This book should come as manna to moms: a multitude of small, wry voices reminding them they're not alone. Mothers Who Think is a collection of pieces from the Salon magazine column of the same name. The column (and the book) has no fixed perspective, no set goal, no political agenda--just a bunch of women writers mouthing off about changing diapers. Okay, more than just diapers. There's Rahna Reiko Rizzuto on her gruesome labor ("the mucus plug ... fell out of my underwear and onto my husband's shoe"); hipMama editor Ariel Gore on family court ("I learned that two professionals on a case are usually worse than none. That three can be dangerous"); Susan Straight on being a single mom and taking care of everything yourself ("I just wish I didn't look so bad doing it"); and Elizabeth Rapoport on being a married mom and taking care of everything yourself ("I must confess I'm a little jaded by these sociological pissing contests. Just wake me when the dads are doing 50 percent. Period"). A couple of dozen others chime in as well, notably novelist Anne Lamott, New York Times reporter Alex Witchel, and sexpert Susie Bright.

Editors Camille Peri and Kate Moses have created a chorus with range: this is not a stream of white, privileged voices interrupted only occasionally by news from the underclass, news from women of color, or news from sexual minorities. If anything, the book is too focused on a wide variety of very personal stories--one often wishes for the gesture of expansion, the linking of the personal to the cultural. Still, that's a small gripe to have with a book that takes us into the brainier, funnier kitchens of motherhood all over America.


From Publishers Weekly
Exploring dimensions of motherhood that are far more provocative than discussions of weaning and potty training, these 40 essays strive to offer "an articulate, heartfelt, and sometimes mystified acknowledgment that being a mother is a lifelong lesson in embracing contradiction," according to editors Peri and Moss. Featuring original pieces as well as some that previously appeared in the column by the same name in the online magazine Salon, the collection includes a remarkably wide variety of contributors, from biological to adoptive and lesbian moms and beyond. Anne Lamott dares to reveal that she sometimes takes out her frustations with motherhood on her son because she can, and because he will still love her. Beth Kephart finds inspiration in her disabled son's insistence on playing soccer and struggles to allow him to do it on his own. Susan Straight shares the frayed edges of her life as a single mother of three, while Celeste Fremon finds that former gang members make suitable male role models for her fatherless son. Karen Grigsby Bates combats her son's isolation in a mostly white school by enrolling him in a black social organization. Kim Van Meter recounts the long weekend when she and her partner chose not to adopt a troubled girl. While the essays are not all of the same caliber, even the most ordinary of them will resonate with the thinking mom. Agent, Ellen Levine. Author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The Charlotte Observer
Irreverent, passionate, and wonderfully readable.


From Kirkus Reviews
An intermittently provocative and entertaining collection of essays, most reprinted from othe online magazine Salon, on many aspects of motherhood. Peri and Moses, editors at Salon, present close to 40 first-person narratives by mostly new voices deliberating on the joys and sadness of motherhood. Among the more refreshing is that of Joyce Millman, Salons television critic, who humorously depicts her half-hearted decision to become a classroom volunteer in her sons kindergarten class and its unsuspected consequences. For the first time in her life, she achieves popularity and gains school spirit. But, even more, she gains enormous respect for teachers, ``not just for the workload they carry, but for the emotional load.'' On a more serious note, Ariel Gore, editor of the parenting zine Hip Mama, vividly describes the nightmare of her six-year odyssey in a dysfunctional family court, while seeking protection for herself and her daughter against her daughters criminally insane father. And writer and editor Kim Van Meter describes the wrenching decision she made, together with her partner, Margi, not to adopt an emotionally troubled five-year-old girl who was likely to need a lot more than ``someone to love her.'' Also on the theme of adoption is writer and editor Ceil Maleks moving and enlightening account of giving up a baby girl in 1965 and reuniting with her 20 years later. NPR contributor Karen Grigsby Bates describes her attempts to instill black pride and awareness in her daughter, who is growing up in a privileged white world. The most powerful essay is by editor Peri, who, in relating two tales, vividly describes the unbearable pain the loss of a child brings. Though some of the essays here are too ``cutesy'' and come off too much like self-indulgent exercises in prose, many brim with intelligence and excitement. (illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
Chicago Tribune Wistful, tender, hilarious...will move you the way only good writing can.

Los Angeles Times [These] essays...are not so much issues as personal truths, spun out with equal parts observation, honesty, and good humor. They are sad, and funny, and poignant, and real.

Ms. Magazine Finally, we who share the joy and the fury can share a book that embraces both and, unlike any other book on the subject, invites us to honor ourselves for simply doing the best we can.


Review
Miami Herald This book is a lot like motherhood itself full of joy, trauma, insanity, hard work, exhaustion, and more than a few good laughs.


Austin Chronicle
A must-read for anyone contemplating motherhood and a bible for all of us whose lives have been warped, splendored, and expanded by our dear little ones.


Mirabella
Essays by these mothers who think deal with sweet, the sour, and the unthinkable.


Book Description
From the editors of Salon.com's cutting edge Web site, "Mothers Who Think," comes "an anthology of smart and lovely essays" (Chicago Sun Times) -- provacative collection that challenges and changes our views of motherhood today. Anne Lamott, Jayne Anne Phillips, Sallie Tisdale, Susan Straight, Jane Lazarre, Nora Okja Keller, Beth Kephart, Ariel Gore, Alex Witchel, and many other contemporary writers elevate the discussion of motherhood above the level of tantrum control and potty training. Irreverent, wistful, hilarious, fierce, and tender, these essays offer an unsparing look at the myths and realities, the serious and silly sides, the thankless and supremely satisfying aspects of being a mom -- and are a testament to the notion that motherhood gives women more to think about, not less.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Anne Lamott, Jayne Anne Phillips, Sallie Tisdale, Susan Straight, Jane Lazarre, Nora Okja Keller, Beth Kaphart, Ariel Gore, Alex Witchel, and many other contemporary writers elevate the discussion of motherhood above the level of tantrum control and potty training. Irreverent, wistful, hilarious, fierce, and tender, these essays offer an unsparing look at the myths and realities, the serious and silly sides, the thankless and supremely satisfying aspects of being a mom—and are a testament to the notion that motherhood gives women more to think about, not less.

FROM THE CRITICS

Chicago Sun-Times

[A]n anthology of smart and lovely essays.

Los Angeles Times

[These] essays...are not so much issues as personal truths, spun out with equal parts observation, honesty, and good humor. They are sad, and funny, and poignant, and real.

Ms. Magazine

Finally, we who share the joy and the fury can share a book that embraces both and, unlike any other book on the subject, ivites us to honor ourselves for simply doing the best we can.

Kirkus Reviews

An intermittently provocative and entertaining collection of essays, most reprinted from othe online magazine Salon, on many aspects of motherhood. Peri and Moses, editors at Salon, present close to 40 first-person narratives by mostly new voices deliberating on the joys and sadness of motherhood. Among the more refreshing is that of Joyce Millman, Salon's television critic, who humorously depicts her half-hearted decision to become a classroom volunteer in her son's kindergarten class and its unsuspected consequences. For the first time in her life, she achieves popularity and gains school spirit. But, even more, she gains enormous respect for teachers, "not just for the workload they carry, but for the emotional load." On a more serious note, Ariel Gore, editor of the parenting zine Hip Mama, vividly describes the nightmare of her six-year odyssey in a dysfunctional family court, while seeking protection for herself and her daughter against her daughter's criminally insane father. And writer and editor Kim Van Meter describes the wrenching decision she made, together with her partner, Margi, not to adopt an emotionally troubled five-year-old girl who was likely to need a lot more than "someone to love her." Also on the theme of adoption is writer and editor Ceil Malek's moving and enlightening account of giving up a baby girl in 1965 and reuniting with her 20 years later. NPR contributor Karen Grigsby Bates describes her attempts to instill black pride and awareness in her daughter, who is growing up in a privileged white world. The most powerful essay is by editor Peri, who, in relating two tales, vividly describes the unbearable pain the loss of a child brings. Though some of theessays here are too "cutesy" and come off too much like self-indulgent exercises in prose, many brim with intelligence and excitement. (illustrations, not seen)

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

The authors are passionate mothers who are passionate about the life of the mind. They understand how the two enhance each other. — Erica Jong