Tag Archives: Women’s Issues

When Sparrows Fall by Meg Moseley

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Synopsis:
A homeschooling widow with six kids finds her life thrown into chaos when her pastor announces the whole church is moving to another town–and she doesn’t want to go.

Review:
I just loved When Sparrows Fall. It’s the rare book about Christians that manages to portray a life of faith while still remembering that the characters are people, too. It was critical of things that are wrong in certain sectors of Christianity without condemning the faith as a whole. And the details brought to Miranda’s life were just spot on–I really felt like I knew her and came to really love her and wish that we could be friends.

I’m a Christian homeschooling mom myself, albeit an urban one who isn’t involved in a patriarchal church or marriage. We don’t use corporal punishment and we wear regular clothes. We’ll probably stop at just 2 kids–no quiver-filling here. Yet I’m oddly protective of the women who get laughed at for their old-fashioned ways. Their earnestness and sincerity appeals to me. I loved seeing how Miranda was able to wake up to the things that were holding her and her family back from following God while still remaining fundamentally the same.

Her pastor was clearly a guy to be wary of, yet Meg Moseley held back from making him a full-on wicked villain. He was just a man, with flaws and sins and errors. Sure, he’s dangerous–very much so–but he’s not a cartoon character. I appreciated that, too. And there were some great surprises hidden in that storyline.

Love love love this book.

The Midwife’s Confession by Diane Chamberlain

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Synopsis:
After the suicide of their friend, an underground home birth midwife, best friends Tara and Emerson discover a mare’s nest of secrets that threaten the happiness they’ve worked so hard to create.

Review:
I found no surprises in The Midwife’s Confession, which is a decent but not great read. I found the whole thing a little frustrating, waiting for the characters to catch up with me. But it was nice to see home birth portrayed as a safe and reasonable option, rather than an excuse for drama.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

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Synopsis:
Tina Fey’s memoir of her rise from nerdy little Philly girl to comedy superstar and member of the showbiz power elite.

Review:
Naturally, I opted for the audiobook version of Bossypants since Tina Fey was doing the reading herself. Yay! Bonus: it included the full version of the Katie Couric/Sarah Palin interview sketch that she and Amy Poehler did for SNL. Unbonus: it does not include the worldbeatingly awesome rap that Amy Poehler did when Sarah Palin actually visited SNL (what Fey labels a “sneaker-upper”). I know Fey didn’t write it or perform in it but it would have put the audiobook into “best audiobook ever” territory if it had.

Fey manages to convey a winsome, underdog demeanor even when she’s describing her own successes, and I ended the book with a true admiration of her tenacity and intelligence. She’s more than just a wit, she’s got ambition, drive, and the ability to make the most of her opportunities.

I will offer one small criticism–surely Tina Fey, comedy genius extraordinaire, can come up with a better way to take down moms who are smug about breastfeeding than the phrase “Teat Nazi”? People have been hurling that invective ever since a group of moms started La Leche League 50 years ago, so (a) it’s not a new joke. And (b), the word Nazi really needs to be reserved for racially motivated genocide. Last I checked, even the most pompous sanctimommy out of Park Slope doesn’t want to kill any body, even if she thinks you’re a crap parent for not hitting your Mothering Magazine-approved checklist of crunch points. You can find a lot more awesome schtick on Trolls with Wooden Spoons.

Labor of Love: A Midwife’s Memoir by Cara Muhlhahn

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Synopsis:
The autobiography of a homebirth midwife in New York City.

Review:
Labor of Love is a book that really meant a lot to me. I had both of my daughters at home with midwives and worked quite hard this spring lobbying Albany to pass the Midwifery Modernization Act. My first midwife is featured heavily in the book as she is a good friend to Muhlhahn, and it was nice to encountar her in a different way.

Muhlhahn became a divisive figure after an unflattering profile in New York Magazine followed by her very public role at the center of Ricki Lake’s documentary The Business of Being Born. When I became pregnant with my second daughter, my original midwife was unavailable for my due month, and she recommended I contact Muhlhahn. Honestly I was hesitant to do so because her persona in the film seemed like one that would not jive with my personality. I have been assured by a few close friends who worked with her that she’s much more of a calm presence than the movie made her out to be. I did make an appointment to meet her but before that happened I met with another midwife and made an instant connection. (She ended up missing the birth because my second daughter also has superfast powers, but I would work with her again in a heartbeat.)

The honesty of the book really appealed to me and I was fascinated by her journey from working as a lay midwife to going to nursing school. I wish she had more stories of her years as a lay midwife, since they are unlicensed and often work underground, but the book was too short. Maybe she can be convinced to write a follow-up. I’d love to read that.

City of Veils by Zoë Ferraris

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Synopsis:
A murder mystery set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, featuring a veiled police officer, an American woman whose husband has gone missing, and the secret history of the Koran.

Review:
Not impressed by City of Veils, which aims to be a Da Vinci Code for Islam. Conspiracies, coincidences, and religious stereotyping combined with a lackluster plot just didn’t work for me at all.

Many thanks to Little, Brown for the review copy.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

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Synopsis:
A white woman writes the lives of the black women who work for her and her friends in early 1960s Jackson, Mississippi.

Review:
After having a half a dozen people recommend The Help, and then not being able to find it at the library, I decided to take the plunge and buy myself a shiny new hardcover copy. I went in with low expectations, because more often than not I’m disappointed by these kinds of books. Thank goodness I listened to my very smart friends because this was one of the best reads I’ve ever had. I was crying at the end–and I don’t think it was just postpartum hormones.

Aibileen and Minnie are black maids working in deeply segregated Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter Phelan is a white spinster, member of the Junior League and bridge club regular, who is starting to wish things could be different. The Help is told from all of their points of view as Skeeter embarks on an interview project that will let the maids tell their stories in their own words.

Stockett brings this world to life brilliantly. The relationships between the characters are diamond-sharp, and each person is so unique and specific that every word was a joy to read. She also brings to life the tension of life in the segregated south and shows the struggles faced by Aibileen and Minnie and their friends and family, without being patronizing or handwringingly melodramatic.

I loved this book and I want everyone I know to read it!

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

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Synopsis:
A quartet of unlikely best friends deal with a post-feminist, post-grad life out of Smith College.

Review:
The appeal of Commencement is in its depiction of Smith College, caught between poles of conservative femininity and radical lesbianism. Each of the four protagonists deals with life issues that have something to do with the plight of the modern women. Their struggles are portrayed with nuance and pathos, but I wondered if the story would have resonated had it been set in a less idiosyncratic place. Only one of the characters–April–really differentiated herself from the other three, who, apart from their differing circumstances, didn’t seem to be all that different. I enjoyed the read but it didn’t blow me away.

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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Synopsis:
A Princeton admissions officer faces a long-buried secret in the height of application season.

Review:
The college application process, shrouded in secrecy and constructed with fuzzy logic, proved quite fascinating in Admission. Watching Portia speak to prospective students, looking over her shoulder as she read through applications, and hearing her defend a process most believe inherently unfair and corrupt perked up a book with an otherwise unimpressive plot.

Portia and her long-time boyfriend Mark have reached a crisis in their relationship, just as Portia finds herself facing the consequences of a choice made long ago. Her angst and sorrow color all her interactions and ultimately shape her outlook when choosing which students deserve Princeton.

I liked the insider’s look at the college application process, and felt that Korelitz handled tricky material well. Though it got a little preachy at times, Korelitz usually managed to bring it back to the drama at hand. However, her structuring of Portia’s emotional journey wasn’t well thought out, and by the time her secret came out I’d guessed it a million times over. Korelitz backloads too large a chunk of the story, lessening its impact when all is finally revealed. I would have liked to have seen her integrate her revelations more consistently throughout the book.

Despite my criticisms, I found Admission to be eminently readable. I’m a character junkie, and between the snippets of applications essays opening each chapter, to the students Portia encounters while touring New England, and to the central figures in the story, I was thrilled with the variety and depth of the people Korelitz created.

Real Sex by Lauren Winner

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Synopsis:
An exploration of the meaning of chastity in the 21st century.

Review:
Real Sex is an excellent companion piece to Anna Broadway’s Sexless in the City. Winner offers a larger cultural and historical context for Broadway’s desire to live chastely, and has some ideas about why Broadway expresses some disappointment in the way she has been taught by the church to think about sex.

Winner’s analysis is thoughtful and well-researched, and is worth reading even by those who don’t hold the same beliefs in the importance of chastity as Winner.

Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen

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Synopsis:
An autobiography of a promiscuous life.

Review:
The most striking thing about Kerry Cohen’s Loose Girl is the inevitability of her misbehavior. Cohen’s parents divorced when she was a preteen, and neither one seems able to practice any kind of responsible or involved parenting. Her dad is the kind of guy who asks for a toke when he catches his daughter and her friends getting high, and her mother is a gynecologist who prescribes abortion pills for Cohen without even an office visit. Both parents exhibit some very creepy boundary-crossing behavior. The only surprise here is that worse didn’t happen to Cohen.

As the mother of a daughter who reads a lot of stuff like this, I’m well aware of the pitfalls facing girls and young women navigating today’s world. I really hope that Superfast Husband and I can provide the kind of home where she will feel safe and secure to explore her independence–take risks without engaging in self-destructive behavior.

Cohen’s life was a misery, until she (hopefully) managed to break her pattern. Loose Girl is a sad, sobering read that sheds a lot of light on the inner pain of such a free spirit.