BETWEEN MOTHERS AND SONS: Women Writers Talk About Having Sons and Raising Men

Rating:
Summary: Memorable reading, great range of experiences
Review: Each in her own way, the writers in this collection make complex connections -- with their sons and with readers. There's a great range of experiences here for the reader who wants to concentrate on the mother-son relationship rather than on family relationships in general.

I sometimes cried and more often laughed -- but I also thought about my female friends and their sons, and agreed with what I was reading -- then remembered my mother and sisters and their sons, and argued back -- considered my male friends, and understood more than I had before.

The authors had some great stories to tell, and the quality of the writing fully repaid a second (and for some essays, a third) reading. The author's own very moving contribution was my favorite, but months after reading the book, there are many moments I remember.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I bought Between Mothers and Sons for myself as a Mother's Day gift when my son was 3 months old. I was moved viscerally by the essays contained in this book. Although I do agree with the reviewer from Wisconsin that the collective voice of these essays is limited, I feel that the emotional tumult felt and expressed by these very talented women is universal.

Rating:
Summary: Great writing but limited perspective
Review: Stevens has gathered a well-written and insightful collection of essays by very talented women. The challenges of raising sons are presented in sometimes poignant, frequently amusing, and generally thought-provoking ways. But I kept wishing for some other perspectives. All of the women whose writings are collected here seem to be on a single page. They're all feminists; few get any child-rearing help or wisdom from the boys' fathers; most seem to have no spiritual foundation (LaMott is an obvious exception). I would have liked to read a more balanced collection of authors.