I flew through this book. It might not be one of the best books of 2011 by any objective measure, but it resonated so much with me that I know I will be thinking about it again and again. The primary subject: the intersection of feminism and motherhood. ( )

I flew through this book. It might not be one of the best books of 2011 by any objective measure, but it resonated so much with me that I know I will be thinking about it again and again. The primary subject: the intersection of feminism and motherhood. ( )

Feeling adrift in middle age, Staal re-enrolls in her college feminist texts seminar and rereads the great works of feminism.

I thought this was a very interesting read, probably because I am in a similar situation as Staal was when she wrote it. I'm a mom of one, middle-aged, doing a little freelance writing but mostly a stay-at-home, wondering what my role is without a job or career, not wanting my only identity to be as mother. I am glad that Staal decided to read these feminist texts looking for answers, so I don't have to (although I have read all of the fiction that she discusses). I enjoyed most her take on the texts themselves and how she applied them to her life. I confess that although I did identify with Staal's particular time in life, I skimmed a lot of the personal in her book. She has a pretty nice life, and some readers may think she's whining, but she, like a lot of us, is just continually wrestling with the question, "Who am I? Is this who I am?"

Spoiler alert: This book has no answers. I think we readers are used to turning to books for answers. It was Staal's instinct, and it's certainly mine. But I had an a-ha moment as I was reading it: there really are no answers to life, not that anyone else can give us, anyway. I consider myself a feminist; I feel passionately that women deserve better than we get and that we should not be reduced to merely mothers, wives, or vaginas. Still, we are also individual human beings, each of us on our own life path. Even as we continue the struggle for equality, there is no one single prescription for all of us. We are all writing our own stories, and we are still writing. Reading is a terrific way to get the brain working, particularly if it's been feeling sluggish, but ultimately any answers we find, we find within ourselves. ( )

I stumbled across this book at the library, and ended up buying a copy for myself because I want to refer back to it. Staal's "Reading Women" was one I really identified with. Life does change after becoming a wife and mother, and Staal acknowledges this. While struggling to deal with these changes, she decides to audit classes in feminist texts at her alma mater. There's much insight in this book, and I have already started reading, and looking for, many of the texts she refers to and discusses. ( )

though this book has great promise, i ultimately found it very disappointing. while the writer is contemplating a feeling of her identity being subsumed by the roles of mother and wife, she decides to retake women's studies 101 courses at her alma mater.

while she discusses the texts at length and their relevance to her, this book ended up being a retread of feminist theory for white women of privilege.

never once in the book does the writer acknowledge her own position of privilege (first of having the privilege of time, then the privilege of money, race, sexuality, etc.), or examine works by women of color, women who aren't (assumed) straight, or women in a different socioeconomic bracket than herself.

for someone searching for a new sense of self through self-awareness, this author is sadly (willfully?) oblivious to the ways in which feminism has been intrinsically changed and influenced by women who are not white, upper class, straight, able-bodied, etc.

while some may argue that the texts which were read in the classes were to blame for the narrow focus of the author, i disagree. there is so much more room for investigation into the many ways that these texts influence and interact with latter day feminisms, and the extent to which this affects not only the author's life and conception of herself but the larger world of which she is a part.

could have been so much more. ( )