Mar 10

Mar 10 Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy

About the book

Author: Angela Garbes
Publisher: Harper

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

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Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

I haven’t picked up many (read: any) books on pregnancy since I got pregnant in October. I’m not sure I’m quite ready, identity-shift-wise, to join the throngs of people who will refer to me as a “mama.” And I know myself, so I’m resisting the urge to over-educate/fixate. But when a friend saw my pregnancy announcement and told me she was sending me a copy of this book because it made her feel super powerful and confident, I trusted her recommendation and picked it up.

I think the reason I liked this so much was that it was part examination of current research and guidelines, but also part memoir. Garbes tells us about her experiences and is clear that she’s framing things through that lens, so she never comes off preachy. She has clear respect for all people who give birth and any choices they make. (The only place I thought this might have been overdone was in the breastfeeding chapter. She breastfed her daughter until she was 2 years old, and the information she includes skews heavily toward breastfeeding being ideal.)

I actually think that this book paired really nicely with Cat Bohannan’s Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. I feel like I know a lot more about my own reproductive system’s purpose and function after having read both!