Bad Mother

In our mothers' day there were good mothers, indifferent mothers, and occasionally, great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers: If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a 'bad mother'?

Writing with remarkable candor, and dispensing much hilarious and helpful advice along the way - is breast best? what should you do when your daughter dresses up as a 'ho' for Halloween? - Ayelet Waldman says it's time for women to get over it and get on with it in this wry, unflinchingly honest, and always insightful memoir on modern motherhood.

“This is not only a wonderfully written book, but I think it may also be a book of great salvation for many women. Most of the mothers I know (the honest ones, the tired ones, the confused ones) will see themselves reflected in these wise pages, and will find long-overdue comfort here. - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, LoveI have often felt that it is impossible to be a mother without a profound, even corrosive, sense of failure, or at least that's how I feel about myself. To find a book that shares that anxiety, and an author who dissects this insecurity and self-doubt with wit, honesty and proper, enquiring intelligence, is (as a reader) like being grossly dehydrated and being presented with a vat of water to drink. ...I want to be in the company of her frank intelligence forever - Nigella LawsonMany find Waldman's honesty hard to take. For some of us it's hard to live without - PeopleAbsorbing reading ... takes brave risks. ...What really makes Waldman's book interesting, as voices of motherhood go, is Waldman herself - the intensity of her positions and the way she thinks. - The New York Times Book ReviewWaldman is a corageous and talented writer. Her greatest accomplishment in this book is to take her experience - some of our worst fears - and make it something we can understand. ...Isn't that a mother's real job? - Susan Cheever, The Daily Beast”

This is not only a wonderfully written book, but I think it may also be a book of great salvation for many women. Most of the mothers I know (the honest ones, the tired ones, the confused ones) will see themselves reflected in these wise pages, and will find long-overdue comfort here. - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

I have often felt that it is impossible to be a mother without a profound, even corrosive, sense of failure, or at least that's how I feel about myself. To find a book that shares that anxiety, and an author who dissects this insecurity and self-doubt with wit, honesty and proper, enquiring intelligence, is (as a reader) like being grossly dehydrated and being presented with a vat of water to drink. ...I want to be in the company of her frank intelligence forever - Nigella Lawson

Many find Waldman's honesty hard to take. For some of us it's hard to live without - People

Absorbing reading ... takes brave risks. ...What really makes Waldman's book interesting, as voices of motherhood go, is Waldman herself - the intensity of her positions and the way she thinks. - The New York Times Book Review

Waldman is a corageous and talented writer. Her greatest accomplishment in this book is to take her experience - some of our worst fears - and make it something we can understand. ...Isn't that a mother's real job? - Susan Cheever, The Daily Beast

Ayelet Waldman is the author of Red Hook Road and The New York Times bestseller Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities and Occasional Moments of Grace. Her novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits was made into a film starring Natalie Portman. Her personal essays have been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

She and her husband, the novelist Michael Chabon, live in Berkeley, California, with their four children.

Twitter @ayeletw

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In our mothers' day there were good mothers, indifferent mothers, and occasionally, great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers: If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a 'bad mother'?Writing with remarkable candor, and dispensing much hilarious and helpful advice along the way - is breast best? what should you do when your daughter dresses up as a 'ho' for Halloween? - Ayelet Waldman says it's time for women to get over it and get on with it in this wry, unflinchingly honest, and always insightful memoir on modern motherhood.

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