I struggled with parts of this book because they didn’t seem to match the topic of the book. There was a lot of focus on plate author’s marriage and friendships which didn’t seem to have a huge amount to do with disability and ableism. However, the bits the were very clearly about disability were very insightful and well-written, leading me to give this three stars.

This collection of personal essays are impactful and raw. The title and description would have one believe the focus is on the author's experience as a mother of a child with Down syndrome. However, many of the entries feel tangentially related at best. Most essays simply focus on the author herself and questions about her career and marriage and feel removed from anything disability related. This is not a terrible thing, but the title and description really don't feel like they represent the actual content.

Pros: This is a collection of essays, and it was quite refreshing to read a memoir structured as such.
The candidness, the honesty of the writing.
The themes of disability, motherhood, grief are all important and I appreciated the author’s talking about these,

Cons: There are no real cons, except that the tone of the prose and the topics did not always match. Due to the author’s life experience and expertise, I expected more depth than personal anecdotes in some parts. I cannot fully put my finger on what did not resonate with me, because I value the themes and topics, and Purdham’s insights.

thank you to netgalley and dundurn press for the ARC of this book.
this book was a mixed bag for me. i often read and review books with disability rep. i was expecting more on disability, activism and parenting someone with down syndrome.
the book really jumps all over the place, it felt a bit cumbersome and hard to read at times- not because the content but because it was just hard to follow the jumping timelines.
the book is more of a memoir about the author’s life. it isn’t necessarily a bad thing but less of what i expected.
i rated it three stars for these reasons.
however, the points and parts about disability and down syndrome were really great. i found the authors perspective as a parent of a disabled child to be refreshing in a sea of voices that are speaking only in negatives- i come from an autism background, as someone with autism, and i think of the autism mom vibes where moms wish to only exploit and discuss their child’s difficulties. this book was not like those voices. the challenges are acknowledged but in a positive way that is disability affirming and realistic.
i enjoyed the perspective of the author on this. i also learned more about down syndrome, which i enjoyed as someone who likes to read a variety of disabled experiences.