I really enjoyed Gipson 's interpretation of all the ways there are to be a mother and how our own mothers affect us a women and mothers. I had a great relationship with my mothers but they were fraught with issues as well. They didn't really settle down until I was an adult and I had a different understanding of my moms. Gipson touches on those subjects from her POV and I definitely second her emotions. She gets it!

Mothers and Other Fictional Characters is an intelligent collection of essays that examines motherhood and what it means to be female in all its wonderful and myriad ways. Many of the essays examine the ways women have been portrayed in literature (Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," Shakespeare's Rosalind in "As You Like It"), as a means to make sense of desire, gender, independence. Lipson interrogates herself as much as any of literature's heroines in a well-written, satisfying read. Much thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the opportunity to read this wonderful eArc.

A brilliant, raw exploration of motherhood as a construct and an embodied reality. This will change the way readers look at mothers in fiction--and as fiction in their own lives, their own stories.

This collection of stories grapples with the experience of being mother. The decisions we make, the ways we are discarded, how little time we get to ourselves, and how we process it (or perhaps, how we cannot) when our kid says fuck you. There were several quotes I found very meaningful to my motherhood experience and I think regardless of where the reader is on their motherhood journey, they will find important quotes for themselves as well.

This is the first book written by and about motherhood in which I felt truly seen in multiple instances. The writer's block Lipson dealt with was described as a void, just an inability to create or be creative. I thought that was just some fluke I dealt with when my kids were small. The way our thoughts are filled with our new responsibilities such that there's no room for anything else. She writes about her relationship with her daughters vs. her sons, her infertility struggles, and her friendships. Woven throughout these essays are her reflections of poets, essayists, and writers who wrote about women and motherhood in their own way. This was fascinating to me, and I found myself saving the titles and authors that she referenced. I wish I had had this book when my first son was born, but I am eager to turn back to it as my boys get older. It was very reminiscent of the early parent blogs in the mid 2000's with an honest edge, and the facts laid bare. I found myself missing the Gen X parent bloggers in a world of Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram influencer parents. We need more honesty like Nicole Graev Lipson and her peers offer.

Oh, this book. I am so sorry it ended. I absolutely loved every word. The stories and the beautiful writing resonated in my heart. I found myself re-reading (and copying out) sections because Lipson so divinely nails the experience of being a mother. I will be gifting this book to many mothers I know. And I truly hope she has another one in the works. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and offer my honest review - what a delight. One of the best books I've read this year.

What a beautiful book. I felt transported in each of the chapters. When the chapters ended, I feel like it took me a while to break from the book and come back to my real life. The author writes so beautifully, the images and scenes really come alive through description and through the literary comparisons. She explores topics that I am forever pondering (motherhood, mother/daughter relationships, aging as a woman, death, solitude, a mother's sense of time) in such a way that I have never seen done before. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Chronicle books for this ARC!

This is one of those books that you deeply submerge yourself into, and when you are done, you feel changed. You feel seen. You've experienced--and grasped--something beautiful, something meaningful. This is a literary masterpiece that every mother and every woman must devour. I envy those who get to read it for the first time. Meanwhile, I gratefully join the ranks of those who will undoubtedly return to it over and over through the ensuing years. Brava, Nicole Graev Lipson! (less)