Saturday, January 02, 2010

Best Book



I couldn't possibly pick one book as my favorite book. Some books that had affected me in my youth, don't stand up to the woman I am now. At the time, those books captured how I felt, what I was going through, or dreams I had.

The last book that I read that touched me was Between Here And April by Deborah Copaken Kogan. The story dealt with a woman who discovered in therapy she never really understood what had happened to a childhood friend. What I related to most in the book was a mother who felt overwhelmed by motherhood. A woman who would hide from her children because she just couldn't deal with them, and who struggled with post-partum depression in a time when the solution was to medicate it.

I am not sure I ever suffered from PPD, but I felt like if I didn't have a supportive husband, I could have ended up like that woman. Feeling overwhelmed and having nowhere to turn. The writer made me feel for that poor woman.

A book to recommend to anyone? No I would reserve recommending it to other mothers. There are times I am afraid to let people know how overwhelmed by motherhood I get. And too often I think women are afraid to share that with other people, for fear of judgement.

As you can see, the book left an impression me. It left me thinking about it for days after I read it. Was is the best book I ever read? No, but it was the best book for me to read at a time when I needed it.

3 comments:

Cate said...

If you never felt overwhelmed by motherhood, I'd say you weren't taking it seriously enough. You're a good mom & admitting that being one is sometimes overwhelming is part of what makes you a great wife & person. Love you girl. Our Jesus smiles when he watches you.

Cate said...

BTW: My best book at the moment is "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness" by Andrew Peterson. Awesome fiction.

www.camping-r-us.com.au said...

I was a mother/father as we emigrated to Australia in the 1980 s.The day we arrived there my wifes mother died and she went back home for 10 days and i was mother to 2 really young kids. Sorry if i am off topic here, but that was the toughest 10 days of my life. Talk about overwhelmed