Review: Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom and Me and Mom

by Maya Angelou
Random House, April 2, 2013
Hardcover, 224 pp
Genre: Memoir

Synopsis: The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom and Me and Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them.

Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom and Me and Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights.

Review: Child of Mine by Judy M. Walters

Child of Mine
by Judy M. Walters
JKS Communications, March 2013
eBook - ISBN 9781475601664
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Synopsis: Midwife Katie Cohen-Langer delivers babies for a living, but despite years of intensive infertility treatments and growing desperation, she can't have her own child.

As families grow under Katie's careful watch, her husband wants to move on to adoption. But Katie, who was adopted as a newborn, can't bear the thought of never having a biological connection to anyone.

​So she sets off on a journey to the other side of the country, along with her emotionally unstable sister, to find her biological relatives.

What she discovers about her roots --and about the parents who adopted her -- rocks her world in a way she never could have expected. And even as she deals with what she finds, she still needs to figure out a way to become a mother.

Review: Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

Expecting Adam: a true story of birth, rebirth, and everyday magic 
by Martha Beck
Berkley Books, 2000
Trade paperback, 328 pp
Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir

John and Martha Beck had two Harvard degrees apiece when they conceived their second child. Further graduate studies, budding careers, and a growing family meant major stress--not that they'd have admitted it to anyone (or themselves). As the pregnancy progressed, Martha battled constant nausea and dehydration. And when she learned her unborn son had Down syndrome, she battled nearly everyone over her decision to continue the pregnancy. She still cannot explain many of the things that happened to her while she was expecting Adam, but by the time he was born, Martha, as she puts it, "had to unlearn virtually everything Harvard taught [her] about what is precious and what is garbage."

After reading the description on the back of the book (above) I thought I would really love this book. But I didn't.

Although Martha Beck's voice sounds genuine, she came across as whiny to me. I realize she was struggling with a difficult pregnancy which she later found out was because of an immune disorder. Her husband's job took him to Asia for weeks at a time which left Martha to care for their toddler daughter on her own, adding more stress and responsibility. But still, she was whiny. For the duration. While pregnant, she also  experienced a number of unexplained spiritual encounters. She called them her "puppeteers."

When, through prenatal testing, she learned that the child she was carrying had Down Syndrome, she became even more "woe is me." She was given her options, and chose to continue carrying the baby.

She spoke frequently of her fear of what others would think of her retarded son, but I think her biggest obstacle was herself. She often referred to her unborn son as "damaged."

Her writing is good but I didn't find it especially funny let alone "frequently hilarious" as the blurb on the front cover said. Maybe a chuckle or two, but again, not hilarious.

Worth your time? Sure. A lot of folks gave this book rave reviews. I didn't hate it. I finished it. Just a bit disappointed. I was expecting more from Expecting Adam.

Talk to you soon,
Angela

P.S. First book for my Where are you Reading? Challenge. Woo Hoo.