Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful and Beautifully Written
Review: As a new mom, I loved this book. It beautifully described the changes and upheavals that becoming a mother has brought to my life. While I wasn't on depressants, I too had a difficult pregnancy which I'm still coping with emotionally and physically. I too was on a variety of medications throughout the pregnancy. But the depression and medication worries are only a small part of the story in this book. If you're looking for Prozac Diaries part II as one reviewer seems to have, you're looking in the wrong place. I too have never known that I could love this deeply, that a single smile from my baby girl would be worth more than anything I've done in my 38 years. No other writer has come close to describing the way I feel as if every molecule in my body has been rearranged. In particular her comment "Fatherhood is something you do, Motherhood is something you are" struck me. I've been fundamentally changed in so many ways that I never expected and ironically, I don't even care. I read the book thinking, "Wow! Someone has decribed how exactly how I feel and now I don't have to do it myself." She's written the book I wished I could but in prose that's so much more beautiful than anything I could have mustered. I don't understand the reviewers who criticized her so much. Perhaps it was a father who was offended by how much the father was left out of her story. This was a story of the emotional changes involved in becoming a mother who struggled with some of the difficulties that no one tells you about. Lastly, several of her observations have stayed with me. Like the thought that pregnancy should carry a warning label. As she points out, with all it's side effects, if it were a drug the FDA would classify it as highly dangerous. And the information that fetal cells remain in a woman's body for her entire life... parts of each child remain part of her physically in addition to emotionally ... explains so much to me now as a new mom. I've been buying it for all my pregnant friends and new moms and we've all loved it and found it remarkable.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and Beautifully Written
Review: As a new mom, I loved this book. It beautifully described the changes and upheavals that becoming a mother has brought to my life. While I wasn't on depressants, I too had a difficult pregnancy which I'm still coping with emotionally and physically. I too was on a variety of medications throughout the pregnancy. But the depression and medication worries are only a small part of the story in this book. If you're looking for Prozac Diaries part II as one reviewer seems to have, you're looking in the wrong place. I too have never known that I could love this deeply, that a single smile from my baby girl would be worth more than anything I've done in my 38 years. No other writer has come close to describing the way I feel as if every molecule in my body has been rearranged. In particular her comment "Fatherhood is something you do, Motherhood is something you are" struck me. I've been fundamentally changed in so many ways that I never expected and ironically, I don't even care. I read the book thinking, "Wow! Someone has decribed how exactly how I feel and now I don't have to do it myself." She's written the book I wished I could but in prose that's so much more beautiful than anything I could have mustered. I don't understand the reviewers who criticized her so much. Perhaps it was a father who was offended by how much the father was left out of her story. This was a story of the emotional changes involved in becoming a mother who struggled with some of the difficulties that no one tells you about. Lastly, several of her observations have stayed with me. Like the thought that pregnancy should carry a warning label. As she points out, with all it's side effects, if it were a drug the FDA would classify it as highly dangerous. And the information that fetal cells remain in a woman's body for her entire life... parts of each child remain part of her physically in addition to emotionally ... explains so much to me now as a new mom. I've been buying it for all my pregnant friends and new moms and we've all loved it and found it remarkable.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye Opening and Human
Review: I first read an excerpt of this book in Nell Casey's (ed.) book on writers and depression called "Unholy Ghost" and was extremely moved by Slater's ability to convey the stirring emotions of impending motherhood while still keeping her tone un-sappy and grounded. She formats this book into a series of "journal entries" although at the beginning she acknowledges that it is not a literal outpouring of her actual journals, rather formatted as such to be more of a "travel guide" through the journey she takes through motherhood. I appreciated that note -- it helped me not discount the whole book as being annoyingly contrived. Even mothers / people who have not struggled with depression and medications may find this book hearteningly honest although some may not appreciate or understand her perspectives. She has an almost poetic way of expressing the part of her life that has struggled through depression, and ultimately triumphs over self-doubt and her illness to begin her path toward motherhood. Interesting and inspiring overall.
Rating:
Summary: personal, thought-provoking, and prosy
Review: I thought Ms. Slater's account of becoming a mother and the things that goes through one's mind was right on target. Although I could not relate to the mental illness side of the story nor the luxury of having an in-house nanny, I can totally relate to the questioning of how one falls in love with their new baby. I've often felt slightly guilty when I remember the first time I saw my first born and didn't feel automatically "connected". It does take time to develop the relationship and fall in love and it is about time somebody acknowledges it.
Rating: 
Summary: I can relate
Review: I thought Ms. Slater's account of becoming a mother and the things that goes through one's mind was right on target. Although I could not relate to the mental illness side of the story nor the luxury of having an in-house nanny, I can totally relate to the questioning of how one falls in love with their new baby. I've often felt slightly guilty when I remember the first time I saw my first born and didn't feel automatically "connected". It does take time to develop the relationship and fall in love and it is about time somebody acknowledges it.
Rating:
Summary: Honest and Informative
Review: I've enjoyed other works of Lauren Slater, and this was no exception. It takes courage to write about the experiences she's had emotionally. Especially when it involves being heartfelt and honest about the giant step of having a baby. Anyone who is pregnant or plans to become pregnant should read this book regardless of whether or not you have a history with depression or other mental illnesses. Many of the feelings and emotions Ms. Slater expresses about having a baby are ones that many women have, but are not honest enough to express. Reading about her experiences and emotions authenticates just how serious a choice having a baby is, not just for someone with mental illness, but for every responsible couple. This is a good, informative and honest piece of writing. I would recommend it highly to anyone who wants an emotional look at what it's like to be pregnant. Ms. Slater is an excellent writer in both her use of imagery and emotion.
Rating:
Summary: a revelation
Review: I've never seen such self-pity as in this book. Too bad her daughter has got to be subjected to the environment in which she is so unfortunately born into. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to raise children. You need more credentials to be a pet owner these days. What a shame. And to think, this woman counseled people in the past. Scary.
Rating:
Summary: an eloquent memoir, refreshingly frank
Review: Lauren Slater is a highly gifted writer--her writing is eloquent, descriptive, and fluid. So this book is a pleasure to read just to experience her giftedness with language. She has a sense of humor and frankly and acknowledges a complicated constellation of emotions around her pregnancy and subsequent childbirth, (including ambivalence, anxiety, guilt) and the process of the unfolding attachment and love she comes to feel for her baby. The lengthy, difficult labor may be hard for some moms-to-be to read about, but again I appreciated its frankness--so many moms say they forget the difficulties of labor. This memoir is valuable for the many first-time moms, over-30 moms, those with "high risk" pregnancies, and those for whom depression is a concern and complicated medication decisions during pregnancy are a reality.
Rating:
Summary: I've said it before, and I will say it again!
Review: Lauren Slater is one of the finest contemporary writers, male or female, alive today. She brings her history as a psychiatrist and a survivor of mental illness to everything she writes in terms of compassion, intelligence, and a fierce honesty. As it happens, we share the same literary agent and I was approached to read the galleys. Magnificent. In fact I was somewhat mortified at how much more I enjoyed her book than my own (The Zygote Chronicles) - and my jacket quote reflects my awe for her talent as well as this marvelous, spare, brilliant journey into motherhood. I have also read Welcome To My Country by Ms. Slater and was struck by its genius. A writer's writer, and now a mother, too. Congratulations to a great woman.
Rating:
Summary: I've said it before, and I will say it again!
Review: Lauren Slater is one of the finest contemporary writers, male or female, alive today. She brings her history as a psychiatrist and a survivor of mental illness to everything she writes in terms of compassion, intelligence, and a fierce honesty. As it happens, we share the same literary agent and I was approached to read the galleys. Magnificent. In fact I was somewhat mortified at how much more I enjoyed her book than my own (The Zygote Chronicles) - and my jacket quote reflects my awe for her talent as well as this marvelous, spare, brilliant journey into motherhood. I have also read Welcome To My Country by Ms. Slater and was struck by its genius. A writer's writer, and now a mother, too. Congratulations to a great woman.
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