Torschluss Mami

by Kasey Edwards

Incorporating different women's perspectives and

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

281 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The nice review: This book is thought provoking, bluntly honest and full of black humour. Written by an Aussie girl with Australian content.

The actual review: I expected the author to have properly researched the topics which she was making comments on, and I accepted her remarks as coming from a position of knowledge... right up until she repeatedly made grossly inaccurate comments on a topic that I have professional knowledge of. Then it dawned on me that the book essentially amounts to some chick who can string words together, waffling on (an on and on) about her own sarcastic opinions. She is high maintenance, and kudos to her husband for putting up with her.

[Arifah · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading this book, I can't think clearly but wonder:

Why should women have to sacrifice their body, career, identity? Over carrying-breeding-bathing-looking after babies? Prams? Motherhood? Winging kids? IVF? Hormones? Weight gain? Baby blues?

Do I want kids? Are they important?
Am I ready to have them from a cheating partner? Do I want a baby more than a man? Am I ready financially when life happens to be a single parent? What about social judgement? What's in it for me?

Note-from-a-selfish-side-of-me!

[Kasey Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could really relate to the characters!

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read other accounts of the realities of fertility, motherhood and the childlessness or 'child-free' choices (or in some case lack of choices) for women in our modern era but this book is by far the most
frank, funny and enlightening take on the subject. This is a no-holds-barred account of the author's dilemmas about whether to have a baby (a decision which becomes much more pressing following some alarming fertility tests), whether she is with the right 'father', whether she'll actually make a good mother followed by her desperate, though at times, very entertaining, ride on the IVF roller coaster.
It was refreshing to hear a voice brave enough to deliver the much-needed reality check to all those women who are 'waiting for the right time' to have a baby, blissfully unaware of the biological realities of their own fertility, as well as reminding us that when you do finally bring home that precious bundle of joy, that motherhood may not be as idyllic as it's portrayed to be in celebrity magazines or in nappy ads!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it all in all, but felt she gave mothers a pretty hard time in the first half. Banging on about how we're all so self-obsessed etc. It did get me thinking, though. Particularly about the way that anyone learning new things is naturally fixated on it to the detriment of general conversation. Parents are no different from religious zealots in that way. I also felt the assumption of comparing work vs motherhood is a little tired. It's a little like arguing "apples are tasty, but the sky is blue": they're not mutually exclusive, nor necessarily comparable.

[Melissa Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why this book was in a bargain bin for $1.99 but I'm glad I can't resist a bargain, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. The title makes it sound like a cautionary tale for the modern woman but ultimately I found it to be a brutally honest, well researched and well written study of motherhood - the good, the bad and the very very ugly.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the last books I read in 2012, and yet it linked well with a book I read in about May - Mary Rose McColl's The Birth Wars

[Jane Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! A great will she/ wont she journey through a hard issue. Easy to read, perfect start to this life changing personal choice. Recommend it to any late twenties, early thirties girl!