Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother

by Beth Ann Fennelly

Book Overview

Beth Ann Fennelly, writing to a newly pregnant friend, goes beyond the nuts and bolts or sentimentality of other parenting literature, in letters that range in tone from serious to sisterly, from lighthearted to downright funny. Some answer specific questions; others muse about the identity shift a woman encounters when she enters Mommyland. This book invites all mothers to join the grand circle of giving and receiving advice about children.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039332978X
• ISBN13: 9780393329780
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Great with Language

Not only heart-felt, but you get that deliciously naughty feeling that only comes from reading someone else's letters. Not to be missed, especially if you find yourself "great with child" too.

Beautiful Book

This book brought me to tears many times. As the mother of a 12 week old baby, it was so meaningful to have my feelings articulated in such a beautiful way. I will keep my copy and send new ones to mothers of new babies. (I think I appreciated it more having read it with a newborn rather than while pregnant).

Almost made me want to have another!

I absolutely loved this book. I got it last week, couldn't put it down, and then shared it with a friend (I want it back!). Ms. Fennelly truly captures "parenting moments" with such honesty and wit - she tackles some tough subjects that you rarely see in other books. Her advice to her newly-pregnant friend is loving and not judgemental (I loved how she threw a pregnancy "how to" book across the room). I connected with this book in so many ways, and I'm certain that anyone who has children (or who is expecting) will enjoy this book. I will definitely be buying many more copies for my friends!

Easy Reading

Beth Ann Fennelly's lyric writing makes this book a joy to read and will be a great help to new mothers.

As to whether or not

this book will help expectant mothers see their, um, "condition" in a different light I can't attest, for I am neither female nor a great lover of children. But I can say this: I found this book extremely interesting. It is very well-written, full of remarkable ruminations on the connections between the life of a writer and the life of a mother; it is funny, and it does give a beery guy like me an insight into how women could possibly enjoy what I view as the "torture of reproduction." Fennelly does not shy away from the sensuality between mother and child or the sexuality between mother and father, and that lends much import to the more sentimental passages. This is the kind of book that I didn't think could possibly interest me, but Fennelly's writing is always full of surprises. And good surprises at that. This book should not be designated as merely "pregnant chick lit," as it's far better than that. I think it's true benefit may be in helping men find footing in at least one corridor of the labyrinth of the female mind. I've lent it to several of my male friends (single male friends), and they've all expressed the same surprise at finding this topic handled in such a way that they wanted to keep reading. Not bad for a book whose title would have caused a shiver to run up my spine not that long ago. Great With Child is a great read, and you'll find it entertaining regardless of your ability or desire to participate in the propagation of our species.