Rating: 
Summary: tackling too much and therefore nothing well
Review: This isn't a typical pregnancy/childbirth book, as it's more of a political statement. Naomi Wolf takes issue with the American medical establishment, which has turned a natural process into a medicated event. In this part of the book, she doesn't do nearly as good a job addressing the various issues as does Henci Goer in "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth." So buy that book instead. The rest of the book is kind of a mish-mash. Naomi tackles too many issues, with the result that none are handled thoroughly or well. She makes some interesting comments about how American society is not kind to mothers and how marriages tend to change after the birth of a child, but she doesn't offer much beyond her personal observations. (E.g, why not go out and interview 100 couples and ask the men why they do the things she complains that they do? -- THAT would be interesting!) So while I agree with her on a number of points, and I am glad that a well known feminist is addressing this topic, I just can't recommend the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but too much for just one book
Review: I liked this book overall. The book made me feel better about my own pregnancy and birth experiences. But, I felt Wolf tried to cover too much information in one book. She had to skim over some items that could have been really good chapters in themselves. And at the end, it seemed like out of the blue she was calling for public policy/legislation. She could have just kept the book personal, but it seemed she decided at the end to make it more far-reaching than she'd originally inteneded.
Rating: 
Summary: There are better books out there
Review: If you are interested in this subject matter, I would suggest that you read Nina Barrett's "I Wish Someone Had Told Me: A Realistic Guide to Early Motherhood." It is a MUCH better book.
Rating:
Summary: important to read
Review: No matter what you chose on your road to motherhood, this book gives some great insight. I was very disappointed that Ms. Wolf did not learn from her own mistakes, and therefore ended up right back in the C-sec room. Hindsight is supposed to be 20-20 Naomi. However, there is much more to glean from this tale. The important info is in the sections on relationships with partners and PPD. How comforting to know that many women are not alone in their feelings after childbirth. I am reccommending this book to every woman I know in the hopes that change for birth-care is in the future for the USA.
Rating:
Summary: Big Disappointment
Review: I was thrilled at the premise of this book: an expose by a renowned feminist writer of the for-profit, anti-woman, anti-baby birth industry and all the harmful, needless tests and interventions it pushes. For that reason I'm glad this book was published, and hopefully it will open some eyes. But this book in general is, at best, whiny and self-absorbed, and at worst, contradictory and hypocritical. She moans about the lack of support there is in this country for breastfeeding women. In the same breath, she snidely derides, in derogatory terms, La Leche League, an activist group whose sole mission is to provide support and education for breastfeeding women!! Totally baffling. (She herself feeds her baby formula--another harmful, largely useless product pushed on mothers by the corporate entities she claims to be rebelling against. ) It's terrific that she realized, after going through a typically awful, sterile hospital labor, followed by unnecessary interventions and a c-section, that there are certain profound flaws in the medical model of birth (even if one wonders why a woman with her education, brains and resources couldn't have found all that out before her birth, during the beginning of her pregnancy). She has a dramatic realization that midwifery care is the way to go. Yet, inexplicably, in the epilogue we learn that for her second birth, years later, she again chooses an expensive uptown OB/GYN! Only weeks before her due date she switches to a hospital-based midwife, only to undergo another c-section. The book is absolutely rife with contradictions like these. The women she interviews are clearly her own upper crust friends. And I think what people mean when they say she sounds "privileged" and "entitled" is not that she doesn't have a right to tell her story, but that she makes her own situation (works from home AND has a nanny, plenty of money, plenty of friends) sound like the very most trying and desperate situation there is. Puh-LEEZE!! There's very little here that wasn't said better by Henci Goer, J. Mitford, Thomas Strong, etc. I appreciate her sentiment, but she needs to dig a little deeper next time.
Rating: 
Summary: Monumental!
Review: For all women who find themselves falling into traditional gender roles and not completely content about it, let this book motivate you to do something. A huge source of validation, comfort and hope for me.
I will read her other books just for her writing.
Overall, my favorite book on motherhood!
(And I take offense at the book review from Publisher's Weekly saying that this book is for the privileged minority--I am definitely not in that group.)
Rating:
Summary: Truth revealed
Review: I don't think I have ever been so absorbed with a book on this subject. Although, a bit sparse on detail, Wolf still provides enlightenment by using a rich tapestry of thought provoking examples.
Rating:
Summary: Great on information, Low on Details
Review: Overall, I would say that this is an important book expressing information that the majority of the American public is unaware and needs to be aware of. In particular, it is a very valuable book to all women of child bearing age. I plan to send a copy to all my girlfriends, my sister-in-law, and my mom. First, I have not yet had a baby. And as such, I never wanted to know anything about the process as the thought terrified me. The stories I'd heard through the grapevine were horrifying. My only thoughts about birthing were "epidural" and "knock me out completely please". Reading this book really informed me about what to expect and removed much of the fear by citing statistics and what really happens. It also empowered me about the choices I can make when the time comes. I have been in hospitals several times for surgeries. I vividly remember how inhuman it all is - the cold of the rooms, the smell, the loud noises and bright lights, the lack of privacy, the flimsy little gowns, the institutionalness of it, the horrible IV and how cold it was, and the feeling that you're not even human while you're there. Many times I think the institution itself made the recovery far, far worse. To be in those same circumstances while attempting to give birth and interns are running in and out looking at your crotch, that horrifies me even more now that I know more facts about the American medical institution. There are lots of things that could also be said about the book, but it lifted a veil for me and perhaps that's the most important. It's about time someone was honest and informed and talked about it in a way that makes it available to a wider audience. And it's about time that women were empowered in the birthing process. My biggest complaint is there is no list of additional resources. She mentions there is a number of independent birthing centers but there is no appendix listing them. A book which cries for a revolution ought to assist readers who become motivated to do something by pointing towards next steps in taking action or learning more. There should be lists of groups that are working to get hospital cesarean and maternal/baby death rates reported by law. There should be lists of midwife certification groups. Ms. Wolf undoubtedly uncovered this material in her research and I consider it a major flaw that she does not list it. I would normally have taken off 2 stars for this oversight but since I think the material itself is important to read, I only deducted one. I hope Ms. Wolf puts together a web site or publishes a second edition with this information. Superficially, the book is very well written and it's refreshing to read a book from an educated author. However, as another reviewer pointed out, the book is badly edited with many typos some that should have been caught by a spell checker.
Rating: 
Summary: Self-centered and poorly thought out
Review: Having recently gone through pregnancy, childbirth and the trauma of early motherhood, at first I thought the title was promising, since there are VERY few honest books about birth and motherhood out there. But Wolf's "truth" seems to overlook a lot of facts. Women used to die in childbirth. So did babies. My own mother suffered lifetime cerebral palsy directly as a result of my grandmother's extended labor in 1929. Much of the technology and attempts to "speed up" labor derided by Wolf has saved lives and preserved maternal and infant health. In my view, the myths that have recently been built up (mostly by women) about the "perfect" natural birth scenario and how childbirth "should" go have done more to oppress women and distance them from their real experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood than the supposedly "evil" techno medical establishment. Sure, there are doctors who need to be more forthcoming and less paternalistic with their patients. Pregnant women deserve better information (which may help them understand that the fantasy of an ideal natural childbirth may not be realistic). But Wolf seems more fixated on railing against her "imperfect" birth scenario than on recognizing that the scenario in her head may have been an unattainable fantasy in the first place. Children, and motherhood, are precious gifts no matter what we have to go through to get them. If there are any "truths" about pregnancy and childbirth, they are: (a)everyone's experience is different, and (b) childbirth is ALWAYS extremely difficult even in the best of circumstances. Returning to a pre-scientific world isn't going to solve our childbirth problems and will in fact probably make it harder for pregnant women, not easier.
Rating:
Summary: This book lifted my Post Partum Depression!
Review: This book is awesome. I wish it had been out last year, before I had my son. For everyone who's been annoyed by "What to Expect When You are Expecting" but couldn't figure out why--read this book. And if you are a new mother, like me, at times you will laugh in relief as Naomi puts into words the concepts that have been floating in your head but you just couldn't put into concrete terms. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! ! ! !
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