Rating: 
Summary: Food for thought
Review: A book that generates the kinds of strong-minded opinions seen in these reviews merits the quick read required to get through Surrendering to Motherhood. Although I don't agree with Iris' opinions in all areas and didn't require as much time in life as she did to recognize the pure joy and peace-amidst-chaos that accompanies motherhood, I found her book full of powerful insights, intriguing explorations, and beautiful experiences to which I could relate. Some view the surrender of self to a higher purpose as a weak-minded sellout. Choosing to prioritize family over one's self requires greater strength, integrity, wisdom, independence, and confidence in one's identity and purpose than any other role that can be filled by a woman. This kind of surrender does not exclude women who work as Iris notes. She does a wonderful job of exemplifying how surrender to motherhood results in complete fulfillment and a peace with one's identity that cannot be fully understood without allowing priorities to be reorganized.
Rating:
Summary: Food for thought
Review: A book that generates the kinds of strong-minded opinions seen in these reviews merits the quick read required to get through Surrendering to Motherhood. Although I don't agree with Iris' opinions in all areas and didn't require as much time in life as she did to recognize the pure joy and peace-amidst-chaos that accompanies motherhood, I found her book full of powerful insights, intriguing explorations, and beautiful experiences to which I could relate. Some view the surrender of self to a higher purpose as a weak-minded sellout. Choosing to prioritize family over one's self requires greater strength, integrity, wisdom, independence, and confidence in one's identity and purpose than any other role that can be filled by a woman. This kind of surrender does not exclude women who work as Iris notes. She does a wonderful job of exemplifying how surrender to motherhood results in complete fulfillment and a peace with one's identity that cannot be fully understood without allowing priorities to be reorganized.
Rating: 
Summary: repetitive, hypocritical and self-justifying
Review: And yes, I am a mother -- of three, sorry, not four sons. And I "stay home" having come to my own version of the surrender implied in her title. But as I read I got more and more annoyed. You just can't glamourize motherhood, even by writing about picking up egg from the floor. It is not, and it will never be, intellectually stimulating. I have to agree with other reviewers who called it disingenuous and pointed to Krasnow's many other vocations besides motherhood. But what really irked me throughout was the repetition of the same "wonder of motherhood" speeches... I'm reading Mary Kay Blakely's American Mom right now and it's much better. Also, let's face it, being an expert on stay at home parenting when your oldest is about 8 doesn't exactly cut it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read for the Career Mom
Review: As a mother of three boys under five - including a set of two year old twins - I felt I was reading about my life. Krasnow captured the essence of what is so essential to ENJOYING motherhood: being where you are when you are there. This is a book for all of us who have juggled to balance the demands of wonderful children and honest ambition
Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Iris! I feel as if I know you.
Review: Be careful what you wish for. You may get it!
After 24 years in a BIG company doing BIG
jobs (yes, I'm old too), I resigned to become
a full time mother of two toddlers. I got
what I had dreamed of for so many years. And
then the real work began.
Leave behind money, power, travel, excitement
and career? For diapers, sleeplessness,
laundry, tantrums? You must be kidding! Why
would any sane woman do that? Why? Because
being a mother can be the most wonderful and
most challenging job of your life. Krasnow
articulates with humor and love what
motherhood in the Nineties entails. Most
importantly, she has captured why we have made
those incredible choices. To walk away from
the known world of career to the unknown
world of motherhood takes courage
and strength. Krasnow has both.
Rating:
Summary: Struck a chord.
Review: I am inspired about my responsibility as a mother of two energetic little girls. Thank you, Iris for writing a book that affirms the worth of women, smart and capable women, who set aside other aspirations to be home with their babies. I've listened to many mothers of grown children speak fondly of that frenzied season of life when their babies were little, as if longing at times to recapture even a moment of it all. And I've heard regrets about not having really been there enough. But, I've never had any woman complain to me that she was there for her children too much. I'm glad we as women have more choices today; but I think all parents, mommies AND daddies, need to be careful that we don't live too much for the future. I think C.S. Lewis makes the point well in his classic "Screwtape Letters," that God would have us set our hearts on eternity and the present, pondering the future only "just so much as is necessary for NOW planning the acts of justice or charity which will probably be [our] duty tomorrow." Iris Krasnow does a wonderful job sharing some of those priceless moments of living in the present, "being where you are when you are there," with her four boys. As parents we have the difficult assignment of providing for our children, not just materially, but emotionally and spiritually. Children can't be put on hold. We moms and dads have been chosen to love, nurture, and provide for them for a few short years and we should consider it a high calling. We should do all within our power to do the job well, and that in itself is a noble and ambitious task. I would never want to add to any mother's guilt (don't mothers feel guilty enough already?) for taking advantage of some help with her duties. Everyone needs a break once in awhile. But I think Iris is right in calling her choice a "surrendering to motherhood," for she is letting go of her past life and giving freely the attention (the love) her little people need from her today.
Rating: 
Summary: not a classic, but enjoyable enough
Review: I do not share Iris Krasnow's driving ambition, nor her good fortune at being financially well-off. In fact I am about as different from her as one could possibly get. But I do relate to her in one way: I have found myself needing to be in the process of surrendering to motherhood. I have had to struggle to allow myself to let go of expectations (from myself and others) to "do something worthwhile" with my life and "contribute to society," i.e., have a successful career. I have also had to struggle to let go of this mindset that says that I always have to be looking forward and away, rather than just appreciating the moment. I have also had to struggle to give of myself, a struggle even when it was in my own best interest. She affirms, from her personal experience, that it is *okay* to choose this path. It is valid, as well as fulfilling and honorable. That's a nice thing to hear when you've grown up in a culture that has no respect for and devalues the woman (or man, for that matter) who wishes to make her children, rather than her career, the priority in her life. Iris herself is quite a character, and though she does tend to be unnecessarily (and sometimes tediously) verbose, I enjoyed reading about her career and often fruitless search for truth and happiness. She is simple and honest and does not take herself too seriously, speaking of her missteps with tenderness and forgiveness toward herself.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed this
Review: I enjoyed this book. It helped me to relax and enjoy my young boys instead of continuing to daydream about the career I had and wonder what I am missing out on. Thank you for writing this and I will be reading Surrendering to Marriage next.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed this
Review: I enjoyed this book. It helped me to relax and enjoy my young boys instead of continuing to daydream about the career I had and wonder what I am missing out on. Thank you for writing this and I will be reading Surrendering to Marriage next.
Rating:
Summary: It's about time: Full-time mothering is where it's at!
Review: I liked this book for it's openness and honesty. It may not be "cool" to stay at home with our children, but no other job in the world could come close to the importance of full-time parenting. This realization came to Ms. Krasnow not as a bolt of lightening, but as a gradual unfolding. I applaud her for baring her soul and for putting the message out there at a time when it's become normal and natural to leave something as precious as our own children in a "center" while we tend to "important business." I hope Ms. Krasnow's book will help put right a very wrong trend in our country.
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