This book, I believe, would be great to use in a classroom to talk about the way we view parenting as a primarily female pursuit, to analyze the way writing causes the mother anxiety and guilt, and the way we try to put mothers into a box. It would be very useful for analysis and discussion. In terms of just enjoyment, for me personally the writing felt a bit over the top, a bit wordy. I felt like in some places it was falling into a trap of being literary for the sake of it, where the author is enjoying showing off her artistry more than crafting any sort of narrative. A bit indulgent.

While the cover and the themes of the book (motherhood, infertility and writing) are all topics I am interested in, this book was not for me.

I love the way the cover looks like a vintage womens' magazine. This is the story of a woman who's biological clock is ticking so she does something about it. Did I say story? I meant memoir, so they're her own views. All i can say is thank you for providing them!

The profound changes a woman goes through when she becomes a mother or even begins to contemplate the idea of being a mother are unparalleled. Labari expounds upon her own desires and sacrifices when it comes to having children and the impact it has had on other aspects of her life. She talks about the expectations her husband, her mother, and society at large have of her and her body. The observations she makes are nuanced and relatable. The translation is seamless as the prose flows naturally and organically.

Some of the reviews are bothered by the fact that she refers to her husband as the Man and her kids as D1 and D2, deeming it impersonal. It is apparent to me that the reason she did this was to keep the focus of this memoir about motherhood on herself, the mother. She refers to all of the other people in the book as their title, not using their name (MyMother, TheNanny, etc). As she mentions in the book, mothers are often overlooked and taken for granted, and she did not want that to happen in this narrative. I'm baffled by how readers can perceive that as impersonal when the stories she shares are vulnerable, uncomfortable, and deeply revealing.

This book is a memoir/essays from the author's life primarily focusing on motherhood and womanhood. It is definitely written from a new lens showcasing a school of thought that might be harder for some people to accept. It left me thinking more about whether motherhood really is a calling for every woman or not. I have read and loved memoirs before and they have proven to be great reading experiences, especially for non-fiction readers. However, I feel this one could have been structured better, maybe by the editor or author, I don't know. It is engaging, but not 100% enjoyable. Not with reference to the topic, but at times feels disassociative and impersonal maybe.

As a young mother I could not relate to this book its told In a strange series of events where the author almost seems to detest children. Not a fan of this type of nonsense writing.

An interesting meditation on the nature of motherhood and the decision to have or not have children. This is a popular topic these days, but left me feeling a bit cold without much to say.

Told in a series of vignettes, we follow Nuria as she explores themes of motherhood and womanhood more broadly.

Some sections were focused on the practicalities - feeding, birthing and caring for a child as well as the logistics of getting pregnant using medical interventions and the strain that places on a couple whose hopes (and let's face it finances) are tied up in a tiny bundle of cells which may or may not go on to become a human being.

We know in the end that Nuria will go on to have 2 daughters who she refers to as D1 and D2. Those who have spent any amount of time on pregnancy/trying to conceive forums will know that abbreviations such as these are common and form a kind of shorthand for women brought together by their shared desire to become mothers or for reassurance that the things they are experiencing are normal. I think therein lies the value of Labari's book (wonderfully translated from the Spanish by Katie Whittemore); it gives readers the chance to feel a sense of kinship or comradery. Naria does not hold back in expressing her feelings and she does not always do so in ways that would be considered lady-like. Sometimes the sheer responsibility of motherhood overwhelms her, sometimes she inhabits her body and its ability to bear children in a way that seems to transcend her humanity turning her body into something spiritual, almost god-like. She often shares something bordering on contempt for the father of her children who she refers to only as 'Man' throughout the book who is unable to fully understand the extent of her emotions being himself incapable of giving birth.

Some of the vignettes border on the surreal, the most memorable of these being a conversation Nuria has with Lucy - the first woman - in which she tried to convey modern sensibilities to a pre-historic/mythical being. It was these stranger vignettes that lessened my enjoyment of the book overall. I was much better able to connect with the real struggles she explains around fertility, motherhood and the persistent feeling of imposter syndrome that must come with being a parent. The final section in particular where she has to make a very difficult decision truly gripped me and I found myself wishing that more of the book had been written like that.

As a memoir of motherhood told in fragments, I thought it was fairly good but not great. However, I think readers will find value in parts of this work even if not in its totality and I, for one, am glad I read it.

Wow. This is great. It’s easy to read, it flows in such a natural way, sort of like a stream of consciousness but all the wittier and enlightenment with it.

The author is fabulous. I hope she writes more.

This started reasonably well - a woman, at 36, finds that she would like to have children after all, and describes her journey into motherhood - but it quickly went downhill and I found it really difficult to finish. Despite vaguely acknowledging that she initially didn't think of having children, the author quickly gets pretty adament that this is basically a woman's calling, and that motherhood is some sort of elite club.
Nuria Labari makes some great points every now and then about the universality of men's experience vs women, or about being a mother AND an artist and a writer, or about the cost of becoming pregnant when dealing with infertility; but the tone feels... judgmental and braggy and harsh. The chapters that make up this short memoir were disorganised; her strange habit of calling her husband Man and her daughters D1 and D2 made me feel like I was reading a long thread on Mumsnet.
The translation was lovely - smooth, clean, pleasant to read. But reading the book made me feel angry and bored.

World's Best Mother is a mostly non-fiction, memoir/essay hybrid, on the topic of what it means to be a woman, a mother and a daughter; and the author’s personal account of facing her ambivalence and overcoming difficulties to become a mother. There are some surreal, imaginary scenes, including one where the author converses with ‘Lucy’ the first and mother of all mothers.

it's written in an interesting non-linear style and is effectively translated from the spanish

a book that potentially is trying too many things at once, woven with feelings of fiction when we visit the imagery and dream-like settings, alongside personal memoir and some essays. the form felt disjointed to me, and although the content around motherhood was interesting, I think it didn't tie well together in the end

I often request translations from NetGalley when I notice them, especially from Spanish, and this had the bonus of being written by a Madrid-based writer, so it was fun to get a glimpse of my city too.

It’s hard to describe this book. It’s a mostly non-fiction, memoir/essay hybrid, on the topic of what it means to be a woman, a mother and a daughter; and the author’s personal account of facing her ambivalence and overcoming difficulties to become a mother. There are some surreal, imaginary scenes, including one where the author converses with ‘Lucy’ the first and mother of all mothers.

I did find most of the ideas and themes raised by the author interesting, including her mother’s stance that people don’t ‘decide’ to have children and if they had to, they never would. Which seems at once naïve, old-fashioned and downright cruel to say to someone whose lifelong infertility has meant it could never be left to fate. She raises other thought-provoking questions: why should women pay to have a baby with their own genetic material? And how can some people who are so opposed to the sale of puppies treat the adoption of human babies like Russian roulette?

However, there were quite a few things I didn’t enjoy. Aside from the imaginary scenes I’ve already mentioned (which just seem out of place but do taper off later on) the book seems very disorganised and lacking cohesion.

I also found it very strange that the author chose not to name her daughters but instead labelled them D1 and D2. I found this so lacking in warmth, it makes them sound like robots or components of some machine rather than much loved babies. She also refers to her mother as MyMother (one word) and the girls’ father as Man (in Spanish I suppose this would be ‘Hombre’ and perhaps is meaningful in that the same word is used for woman and wife but not for man and husband).

Finally, perhaps I’m wrong to have an opinion on this but I got the distinct impression that the author and Man were not married – there were certainly some comments on the decline of marriage and the unimportance of it. They are, however, I found withing seconds of Googling afterwards. It’s certainly not the point of the book but I felt a little duped, as if the reader were not supposed know how traditional they are after all.

I wouldn’t readily recommend this book, even though it’s short and some issues raised are interesting, it is rather confused in its style and genre and its non-linear progression doesn’t help matters much.

A note on the translation: I think the translator did a great job here, the text reads very naturally and idiomatically. I didn’t notice anything unusual or jarring at all.

Thank you NetGalley and World Editions for the opportunity to read this.

Writing is okay and I hate DNFing ARCs so I forced myself to finish it and found myself speed reading just to get through it.

Some chapters were just...ugh. I cringed and rolled my eyes 30% of the time. Maybe it’s the translation or the synopsis but this book is not what I expected, and I honestly hated it. I still don’t know if it’s fiction or a memoir?

I did enjoy the discussions of double standards between fathers and mothers particularly when mothers decide to go back to work or not.

It’s ironic that in the beginning the author talked about all the women telling her she “would understand when she became a mother” although she didn’t always want to have kids and be a mother. But now she’s saying “i became convinced that anyone who couldn’t be a mother was in fact an inferior creature” IM SORRY WHAT?!
The synopsis makes it seem like it’s a book about the inner battles of becoming a mother and the myth that motherhood completed you, and yet that’s all the author talks about and says “the best thing to happen to a woman is to become a mother” 🤢

She gets upset for being shamed for her choices and yet SHE SHAMES AND LOOKS DOWN ON OTHERS FOR THEIR PARENTING CHOICES. Again maybe that’s the point of this book but to not address the issues around shaming women for the choices they make as mothers makes it seem like the author views there being only one “right way” to raise kids.

Not at all what I was expecting, and unfortunately not my cup of tea. Interesting concept that I’m sure other readers will jive with though.

at times i found this hard to get into but then i related it to how my own mother must feel with being a mum and all of the benefits and whatnot that come with it. it’s a beautiful memoir written in a way which you find yourself picturing your own mother in and in that way it’s relatable

Book Review for World's Best Mother by Nuria Labari
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

A beautiful memoir presenting motherhood in all its glory (some of the time), and the pain and disappointment at other times. Written in a wonderful manner and highly recommended!