Another book about whether or not women should stay home and raise their children or go to work. This book was interesting because it didn't at all focus on the well-being of the children in a mental sense. Instead, it focused on the well-being of them mother, and what she gives up to stay at home. The hidden costs to staying at home turn out to be substantial- more than the money she loses while staying home- she won't be able to go back to work at the same level, she's not getting any retirement benefits, and she's left with no insurance or anything in case of divorce or death of her husband. She also discusses the emotional needs of women. She points out that housewives always talk about how demanding it is- but then how do working women do it (they certainly seem to, and the children survive!)
Controversial and interesting. Pointed out lots of things I hadn't considered.

Um ... I don't really know, to be honest. I mean, some bits were beautiful, moving ... others didn't touch anywhere near me. Lots of it was very predictable - I realise I am experiencing this thirty years later but still. I loved the fairytales. The ending I met with considerable boredom - I think I'd just had enough by then. I mean, it was worth a read, but ... I don't know, it just didn't gel. Much like this entry.

Um ... I don't really know, to be honest. I mean, some bits were beautiful, moving ... others didn't touch anywhere near me. Lots of it was very predictable - I realise I am experiencing this thirty years later but still. I loved the fairytales. The ending I met with considerable boredom - I think I'd just had enough by then. I mean, it was worth a read, but ... I don't know, it just didn't gel. Much like this entry.

This was very different from Poisonwood Bible and no where near as good.

Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with two goals: to avoid pregnancy and to get away. She succeeds on both counts when she buys a Volkswagon and heads west. But by the time she pulls up on the outskirts of Tucson at an auto repair shop called Jesus is Lord Used Tires that also happens to be a sanctuary for Central American refugees, she's "inherited" a three-year old American Indian girl named Turtle. Kingsolver is a very readable author.

This is a romp of a book - with feisty female leads, and a network of women each with a unique voice and character.

Taylor manages to survive mid-america without getting saddled with a kid. She takes a trip across the country, and is handed a child, clearly in need of care.

Their relationship and the people they meet along the way make for a fascinating story.

The importance of mothers to daughters and visa versa is what gives the relationship so much power to hurt. The general feeling by the end is that if we all just try to understand each other, we can all get along. But for the most part, it was pretty interesting. No matter how you treat your daughter, you're going to cause problems.
For the most part, I didn't really feel like the book related much to me, but parts of it just jumped out as the relationship I have with my mother.

From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage–and a life, in good times and bad–that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

A great autobiographical book by Joan Didion, chronicling the period when her husband died, her daughter was in serious ill health, and how she dealt with it. Very interesting way of looking at death and the grieving process. The saddest part for me was when she was trying to reconstruct his final days and hours.

"Magical thinking" accompanies grief. You can't take it in all at once, so magical thinking lets the unthinkable seep in in tiny increments. Joan Didion dooes a very good job of demonstrating grief. I don't know how she was able to do it, although her daughter did not pass until after the book was written. This book was at the top of a list of "grief reading" I was given & it deserves its place.