A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother: Amazon.co.uk: Rachel Cusk: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Rachel Cusk's A Life's Work is the tale of her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter Albertine, which follows the ups and downs of the life of this first-time mother up to the time when her infant takes her first steps. Those moments, whether breastfeeding, coping with colic, enjoying her first smile or feeling free and yet trapped when away from her daughter, are told in raw and honest detail. Moments become hours, days, months and suddenly years--one colicky night can seem like any others for months, then suddenly distressed night-time crying is a thing of the past. Cusk has subtitled her book "On Becoming a Mother", and while other mothers may find similarities of experience within its pages--perhaps relief at not being the first or last mother who cannot leave her baby to cry, whatever the healthcare manuals might say--this is an account of her own unique experience with her daughter.

Saturating the text is her almost unbelievable ignorance and naïvete about looking after babies. However, she herself admits on the very first page that "My own strategy was to deny it [childbirth] and so I arrived at the fact of motherhood shocked and unprepared, ignorant of what the consequences of this arrival would be". Cusk reads Dr Spock, Penelope Leach and the library of baby-care "experts" after the birth, and amusingly dismisses or agrees with their advice. She also intersperses her trials with excerpts from Jane Eyre's imprisonment in the Red Room to Lily Bart's childlessness in The House of Mirth and Coleridge's "cradled infant" in "Frost at Midnight".

Cusk achieves engaging, amusing and touching reading out of what could be the interminable boredom of a crying, sticky, demanding baby. Despite her constant cries of fear of imprisonment by this "tetchy monarch", her love cannot help but seep through her moans and complaints, together with her almost frightened realisation that her daughter, even at a week old, is a separate person. Cusk acknowledges her "stepdaughter, friend and ultimate ally", with the hope that she will one day read and like the book. Perhaps she should wait until she is pregnant with Cusk's first grandchild to be aware that her new experience is a very old story. --Olivia Dickinson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

‘There is a ferociously vigilant intelligence at work in every line of this book, which launches it past the tight orbit of self-pity into something that is actually useful – and occasionally grimly funny, like a Helen Simpson story. Brainy women will continue to have babies, and this is for those for whom motherhood is not all sweetness and light.’ Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

‘As compulsive as a thriller. No mother could fail to be interested and moved.’ Kate Kellaway, Observer

‘An incitement to riot. I laughed out loud, often, in painful recognition.’ Esther Freud

‘Full of enormous insight and sly wit. Cusk has crafted a work of beauty and wisdom. And belly laughs.’ Suzanne Moore, New Statesman

‘A deeply fascinating read, a nakedly honest, witty and eloquent exploration of the world of mother and child, where each of us began.’ Helen Dunmore

‘A breath of fresh air. It took me back to raw emotions since edited from my official history. If I were still in the midst of it I expect I would seize on the book in the same frame of mind as Noah did his ark.’ Maureen Freely, Independent

‘She observes her own sensations and transfers them, still bleeding, to the page where some alchemy of her prose renders this most fascinating and boring of all subjects graceful, eloquent, modest and true.’ Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph

‘“A Life’s Work” is perhaps the most beautifully written and moving book on the subject to be published in recent years.’ Stephanie Merrit, Observer

‘I read it in one sitting, completely mesmerized. Every line rang true. A stunning achievement.’ Madeleine Wickham

'Mothers are usually compelled to say, "I love my children … but". It is the "but" that Cusk bravely stresses. A Life's Work is about how tough and tender motherhood is.' Deborah Levy, Independent

‘Honest, funny and moving.’ Sunday Times

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

A must for any career minded new mother 4 Jan 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

A thoughtful discussion of the conflicts that develop between the demands of a small baby, and the life of an active and intelligent woman.

A gritty, emotional book that is beautifully written, and will strike a painful chord with any new parent trying to reconcile the interests of a baby with one's own life.

Rachel Cusk's book brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my own inner battles during the early days of my son's life, and I thoroughly recommend this book to any new parent who struggles with the personal sacrifices that parenting brings.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

A must for any new mum 3 May 2003

Format:Paperback

I came across this book when I had 3 month old baby and was still struggling to adapt to all the changes motherhood had brought to my life and the emotional rollercoaster I found myself on. It articulated exactly how I was feeling, and though some other reviewers found the book negative, I actually thought it wasn't. It does detail the negative emotions you might sometimes experience (which I did), but ultimately the book left me feeling hopeful that I, too, would not only learn to adjust to being a mother, but also enjoy it. And, thanks to the different perspective in this book, I learned to adjust and enjoy while reading this book.

I thoroughly recommend it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Read this once you have the baby... 5 Mar 2004

By K. Jenkins

I think you have to be in the right mood to enjoy this book. With a two month old baby, I was feeling totally swamped by motherhood, and it really helped me to read about somebody else who was just plain fed up with breast feeding. I loved the literary references and identified with many of the writer's feelings. Although there is humour, this isn't 'a lighthearted look at motherhood'. If you feel like having a good moan but nobody seems to understand how you are feeling, reading this book may make you feel that you are not alone.

On the other hand, I read an extract from the book about 2 years before I had a baby and couldn't understand what she was going on about.

the best parenting book I've ever read

Cusk writes about motherhood from the personal perspective of being a mother herself. It sounds obvious and simple, but there are many child care gurus out there who have never... Read more

Published on 19 Nov 2007 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

Dads should also read this!

We're expecting our first baby in a few weeks (I'm the dad!). I've become jaded by all the chirpy-cherub and smiley-mummy garbage which is what passes for... Read more

Published on 12 Nov 2005 by Preacherdoc

"Exiguous" but ultimately rewarding

Be careful what you wish for.... I had longed to read an "intelligent" perspective on motherhood without the rose-tinted patina that the most popular literature on the subject... Read more

Published on 7 April 2003 by P. Alexander

Not much of an advert for motherhood !

As a mother of two I did find some aspects of the book that I identified with - the sense of loss of self, the difficulties of balancing mother, wife, worker and how difficult and... Read more

Published on 7 Mar 2003 by C. Hutchinson-pyke

Is some of it not supposed to be fun?

Sorry but this is dull, dull, dull. Perhaps this is because I am not a mother but a little humour would have helped, and I was extrememly disappointed with the content of this... Read more

Published on 27 Dec 2001

So beautifully written it brought tears to my eyes.

I have a two and a half year old and another on the way in the new year, and had heard that this book was a negative dirge. Read more

Published on 25 Nov 2001 by A. C. Harlan

Pure misery to read, an excellent contraceptive!

My mum heard this being read on Radio 4 and thought it sounded very amusing, and thus thought, as a first time mother to a now one year old, I would appreciate the humour. Read more

Published on 15 Nov 2001 by kemble@tinyonline.co.uk

Your enjoyment depends on what type of person you are

In reading any literature there are two types of readers, those who 'get it' and those who dont. I am firmly in the camp of those who dont (I read DH Lawrence at school and thought... Read more

Published on 14 Nov 2001 by william.nunez@lineone.net

Essential reading

A Life's Work seems to have been dominating the papers in the last few weeks with the most bizarre mix of ecstatic and ferociously negative reviews. Read more

Published on 14 Sep 2001

Disturbingly negative

As a mother of three children I bought this book thinking that it would be an educated and humorous look at modern parenting. How cynical it all was! Read more

Published on 7 Sep 2001 by lukecole@aolc.com

A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother [Paperback]

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