I'm on LibraryThing but I think I need to cave and join Goodreads, too. Thanks for this review - I was thinking of buying this book. Do you own it? Can I borrow it? I am starting to worry about the emotional reality of being the "other mother" which is hopefully going to happen for me in not too long. I'm embarrassed to admit it.
I own it, and when I get back in September, I will find a way to come to New Jersey to lend it to you.
Don't be embarrassed. I hope my review wasn't being snarky about the actual emotional experiences of being the other mother. I, too, have some worries about that process. The problem with this book was that seeing more or less the same worries time and time again were not all that interesting.
oh i forgot you're leaving for the rest of the summer. i do come into the city, too, you know. but we'd love to have you for dinner so hopefully in september we can meet up. your review wasn't snarky at all about the experience, just expressed the monotony of some of the narratives.
good review! thank you! i am growing to hate anthologies published since the advent of the internet. it's like people don't have to look hard enough for each other, and then they're like WE SHOULD WRITE A BOOK ABOUT IT. and their editor fails them.
some of those pieces sound good, though. i will skim it when i get to that part of my reading list!
Hmm, I found that book a few years ago (maybe 2006?) and actually really liked it. I'm trying to remember it well enough to counter your criticisms, but can't. It felt pretty groundbreaking to me at the time. As someone actively considering being the other queer parent, I don't think I minded some of the stories being similar. It made me think that oh, this is a trend of experiences that might have some sociological significance, not just that the pool of authors was too small. Hard to tell.
I thought individual essays were good, but wasn't blown away by the anthology on the whole. Reading so many similar essays was sort of like reading chapters 2 and 3 of Babysitters Club books, which were always more or less the same set-up.
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Don't be embarrassed. I hope my review wasn't being snarky about the actual emotional experiences of being the other mother. I, too, have some worries about that process. The problem with this book was that seeing more or less the same worries time and time again were not all that interesting.
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some of those pieces sound good, though. i will skim it when i get to that part of my reading list!
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