The Mother Trip Book Review

Another grab off the library shelf that caught my interest, doesn’t disappoint.  The Mother Trip: Hip Mama's Guide to Staying Sane in the Chaos of Motherhood (Live Girls) by Ariel Gore  is broken into four main sections.

• Forget the Rules
• Beware of Those Who Talk About Sacrifice
• Mama Blues
• The Whole Mom

Within these four sections, the chapters are really short (mostly 2-3 pages).  It is easier to read when you have a little one around because you are always finished with a chapter quickly.  The chapters cover the author’s personal experience having a child when she was a teenager and all the challenges that she overcame.  There are also discussions by other mothers and what experiences they have had through the journey of motherhood. 

Each short chapter is entertaining and has you looking forward to seeing what the author is going to talk about next.  Starting with her giving birth alone in Italy, talking about her mom marrying a Catholic priest who left the priesthood for her, through the challenges of living on government support, and the bad dreams that she has of what is going to happen to her and her daughter. 

I think that even if you can directly relate to her circumstances, you can relate to her feelings as she is going through the experiences.  Talking about lack of sleep and not enough time to bathe which are feelings that every mother has gone through at one time or another.  She also talks about the transformation that she went through to put her daughter first when she was born.

By page 166, nothing should surprise the reader as they follow through the book but it still did with recipes for chicken soup through pumpkin muffins.  I hope that this books shocks you all the way through…minus the spoiler for the recipes J

I recommend this entertaining read for all mothers, especially single mothers.  Pick it up at your local library or bookstore and let me know what you think.