Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, but too self-referential
Review: I enjoyed reading this book, but I thought it was too reliant on the author's experience of motherhood. The research referred to comprised a small part of the text. I would have enjoyed it more had it been a) more honsestly about one woman's experiences or b) better researched and more objective. All in all, I preferred Operating Instructions which was more like a), and The Mother Dance which was a bit more like b).
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but not especially illuminating
Review: I enjoyed this book, but at a few points I felt very out of touch with the author. What planet did she come from? How did she imagine that having children would be fun and easy? Didn't watching her own parents clue her in? Maybe it's because I am the middle of 7 children and I did a fair amount of babysitting when younger, but I felt no shock. I mean, of course it's harder when you yourself go through something rather than being an observer, but it is the intensity of it all rather than its existence that I find hard to cope with, at times. Who is "denying" the experience? Most parents I talk with all agree "it's hard." Most mothers I speak with all say "It's hard, it's often boring..." So when I experience hardship, boredom, fury, etc. I am not surpised. Maybe I was just fortunate that I listened to and believed what my eyes saw and what my friends and relatives said. Maybe I am just lucky in that the "mask" never fit me very tightly. I take advice from my mom, my m-i-l, friendsm neighbors and books. I try to find the pearls of wisdom. Perhaps I am just lucky that my relative's advice matches fairly closely with "the experts"? Maybe I am lucky that both I and my husband were breatfed so I got realistic advice from both sides...? Re: "masks of motherhood" perpetuated in popular culture. I would recommend that folks check out internet groups like misc.kids and read comic strips like "Baby Blues" or Roz Chast's "Childproof". These are sources that very often (IMHO) show what it's motherhood is really like.
Rating: 
Summary: She manages to write many pages without saying anything
Review: I have purchased Susan Maushart's book recently because it was recommended as "debunking the myths of motherhood". The book indeed attempts to reveal and dissect the problems with mothers' identity in our society. Unfortunately, Ms Maushart is too enamored with the idea of making all options equal, not offending anyone, and with sounding scientific. She talks and talks, finding many different ways to say the same thing over and over and not telling us anything new. What's worse, she belittles breastfeeding as just one of those dumb old things we were led to believe are better, "like cooking things from scratch". It's too bad that Ms Maushart, in her attempt to sound well researched and scientific, has forgotten to actually look at scientific research.
Rating: 
Summary: A frank, honest discussion of what motherhood is really like
Review: I have survived the first year of my first child's life (barely) and thought that no one else must be feeling what I do. What a relief to read an honest, intelligent book that shatters the masks all us mothers wear. People often say that having a child completely changes your life. They are wrong. It completely ENDS your life, and you begin a new life. Susan Maushart articulates the fears and hardships of this huge adjustment with much wit and insight. I cannot recommend this book enough to those mothers out there who are feeling conflicted and/or downright depressed. You are not alone and although there are no concrete "solutions" to what you are feeling, just knowing that it is ok to feel it is a help.
Rating:
Summary: Necessary Read!
Review: I just finished this book and found it to be incredibly thought-provoking and honest. I think that this should be required reading for anyone, man or woman, who is considering the life-altering decision of parenthood. I don't presently have children and feel so much more educated about making a real decision one way or the other having read this book. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: What a relief!
Review: I loved this book. I was living in Australia when I fell pregnant with our first child, unexpectedly. Our obstetrician recommended I read the Mask of Motherhood so I could come to terms with some of the negative feelings I had about being pregnant and becoming a mother. It was such a relief to feel normal. I thought - hey, if others feel this way and become mothers, maybe I can too. I have bought six copies since and given them to friends either during or just after their pregnancies. They have all loved it. I don't know what I would have done without it.
Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I loved this book. I wish there were more along these lines on the market. Its about time motherhood was discussed openly and honestly. All the glossy parenting magazines have such a soft focus on all aspects of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood in general. Then most of us come out of the delivery room completely shell-shocked and saying 'no-one ever told me it would be like that'. Not to say everyone has a difficult birth experience, but in this age of the epidural it can sometimes come as a shock to find out what real childbirth is actually like.
I nearly cried with relief at the validation my feelings recieved through reading this book. We are told over and over again in many different ways how wonderful motherhood is, and it IS, but never is the 'shadow side' of motherhood discussed with as much candour. Even among my closest friends, we sometimes only hint at just how ambivilent out feelings sometimes are and just how much our children challenge us. Often we joke about this sort of thing, knowing all too well that we can say things in humour that are so hard to say otherwise.
I really believe it is only through facing and accepting the negative can real change and healing take place. This book is a step in the right direction because it helps give mothers permission to be honest and authentic about sharing their real experiences, thoughts and feelings.
In the end this does not diminish the positive aspects of motherhood, but actually frees us up to celebrate them more fully.
CF
Rating: 
Summary: Required reading if you DON'T want to be a mother
Review: I picked this book out hoping for some profound insight into the myths of motherhood and instead I got a hate-filled diatribe that is enough to make anyone wonder why this woman chose to have three children. She manages to be hateful and offensive about anyone who dares to say that their birth experience or breastfeeding experience (or any type of mothering experience, for that matter) was anything other than miserable. If one dares say anything that hints at positive about childbirth or breastfeeding, they must be lying, according to this book. I am so sorry for any children who are parented by someone who feels this way. This book is nothing more than pathetic and I can only feel sympathy for someone who obviously thinks that parenthood is something we are mired down in.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money-whine, whine, whine
Review: I picked up Susan Maushart's book because I was interested in a different perspective of motherhood. What a disappointment! Instead of an unbiased view of motherhood, I bought a book which was completely biased against motherhood and the various stages of pregnancy. The book is dry, lacking clear statistics and contact information to organizations mentioned in the book. It doesn't flow easily, instead rushing from subject to subject, with bits and pieces of information judiciously extracted from sources to cover her various opiniated points of view. The book has a large variety of voices whining to be heard-they whine about pregnancy, they whine about labor, they whine about lactating, they whine about lack of sleep. I find it hard to believe that the author couldn't find ANY redeeming value in motherhood, considering over 90% of women have children. Besides mentioning a variety of frightening ailments that occur in pregnancy, labor and early developmental years, the author seems to go out of her way to find women who were most affected by each of these stages of motherhood, and relishes pointing out each detail of their trauma over and over and over again-whether it be hard childbirth, sleepless nights or bloody nipples from breastfeeding. Frankly, I was disappointed in Penguin Books for publishing what is obviously an angry women's revenge about motherhood. She points out how American society desires thin women, but restricts pregnant women and breastfeeding, how physical pain and suffering are expected with labor, yet American society has a mask of secrecy about pain and suffering of motherhood. Who is she kidding? Doesn't she read ANY books or magazines at all? Do yourself a favor--save your money, and buy another book from an author who isn't out to tell you how miserable motherhood is and how all mothers are suffering terribly. You'll be glad you didn't read this book--if only to save yourself from this drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Don't take off that mask!
Review: I read the Mask of Motherhood looking forward to what I thought would be perhaps a more honest assessment of the trials and travails of motherhood and maybe a little validation on what a hard job it is to balance everything and find a little time for yourself. What I found was just one more diatribe on how life with kids is full of impossible sacrifice and boy how no one is going to help you out and won't you resent your kids or your husband or your obstetrician or whomever for the terrible mess your life is.... I found the Mask of Motherhood to be a really negative read and wondered quite a bit why Susan Mausart bothered to have three children if it was all so potentially and personally disappointing.... Yes the book was in some ways refreshing because finally, someone was willing to admit breastfeeding is difficult, labor can be traumatic, life with children may mean you have to change your perspective to accomodate another person (one with really bad communication skills to boot - I am talking the infant here - not grown family)and etc.... but hey, lighten up! Its not that bad and I say this after spending a super-stressful first year with my son where I felt I no support from anyone and was in over my head. As the working mother of two preschool age kids (who both has to and wants to work - me not the kids), I think I am really lucky not to have the completely depressed outlook of Ms. Mausart - it certainly makes getting up in the morning easier. I would also add, I tend to see the problems that arise when combining work and family as a problem with American individual's and society's expectations of what work is supposed to mean and its importance. Ranting aside, this book was a real downer, it wasn't particularly well edited and the statistics seemed a little wacky to me. Taken with a grain of salt and some over ebullient parenting magazine that assumes that you can stay at home, have a gross family income of $200,000 per year, and that you and your kids never have an inconvient emotion, it probably is worth reading. It would also be good preparation (and maybe good birth control)for people who are considering parenting and want scary statistics on the down-side.
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