Mentions
- Curated in THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS ON FEMINISM
Motherhood is one of the topics integral to feminist thought and activism. There are plenty of theoretical books dissecting this topic, but for visceral engagement, and for a fresh and darkly humoured look at what having children can do to our sense of self and our life choices and chances, Cusk’s memoir of becoming a mother is priceless. The personnel here is, as in the best feminist literature, deeply political. Read it even just for such quotes as ‘Motherhood is a career in conformity from which no amount of subterfuge can liberate the soul without violence.’ There are no manifestoes here, but an idiosyncratic yet also universally resonating, and non-euphemistic, reflection on all those myriads of adjustments women make, or try to avoid making, if they decide to have children.