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Mothers
Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty | Jacqueline Rose
14 posts | 3 read | 11 to read
A daring and provocative book-length essay on why we both romanticize and vilify mothers A simple argument guides this book: motherhood is the place in our culture where we lodge, or rather bury, the reality of our own conflictsand what it means to be fully human. By making mothers the objects of licensed cruelty, we blind ourselves to the world's iniquities and shut down the portals of the heart. Mothers are the ultimate scapegoat for our personal and political failings, for everything that is wrong with the world, which becomes their task (unrealizable, of course) to repair. Unless we recognize the role that we are asking mothers to perform in the world, and for the world, we will continue to tear both the world and mothers to pieces. Mothers is an incisive, rousing call to action from one of our most important contemporary thinkers. "Jacqueline Rose has no peer among critics of her generation. The brilliance of her literary insight, the lucidity of her prose, and the subtlety of her analyses are simply breathtaking." Edward Said
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Tianarose
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RobertLong4man
Pickpick

Yeaaaaah

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Mccall0113
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My mother‘s name is Rosaletta. Close enough!

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Kshakal
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I consider myself so lucky omg to have the best mom... she is my rock and I love all the adventures we go on together!! #mothers #readingresolutions @Jess7

LazyDays Awww💗💗 6y
vkois88 Cute! You are definitely her spitting image! 6y
Kshakal @vkois88 😊😊 6y
30 likes3 comments
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saresmoore
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My goodness, I had such a whirlwind week with family in town—so dizzying that I forgot to post my heartfelt thanks to the beautiful and brilliant Subashini when this arrived in the mail! I‘m so honored by this gift, Suba. You just, like, really get me, ya know? Thank you so much, my friend!

Centique @batsy is the best isn‘t she? Beautiful gift! @ReadingEnvy this book sounds so interesting and reminds me of our conversation (about mothers in literature) after you read that difficult book! I have to read this for sure. 6y
Suet624 💕💕💕💕 @batsy 💕💕💕💕 @saresmoore 6y
RohitSawant How wonderful! 6y
batsy Ooh, I'm so glad it arrived! I haven't read it so I hope it's not a letdown. But it did seem like it would be just the kind of thing for you... 💕 6y
batsy @Centique @Suet624 ❤️❤️ 6y
88 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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BookishBlonde12
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Happy Mother‘s Day to all the moms out there! Here is my mom and I. She loves that both my brother and I share a love of reading. Love her to pieces...even if she isn‘t a big reader. 😉✨🤓💕🤗

youneverarrived Lovely 💖 7y
AmyG 💕 7y
56 likes2 comments
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Books_Wine_Repeat
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Happy Mother‘s Day to all the hardworking, self sacrificing mothers out there! You‘re appreciated every day. 💐💗

vivastory I'm glad to see you back on Litsy! 7y
Books_Wine_Repeat @vivastory Thanks! I‘m glad to be back! 💛 7y
Reggie Hey stranger!!!! Nice to see you again. 7y
Books_Wine_Repeat @Reggie Hiii! Likewise! 💛 7y
56 likes4 comments
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Rachel.Rencher
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Happy mother's day to all of the lovely mommas on here! 😊❤🌹

Redwritinghood Thank you! Happy Mother‘s Day! 7y
asiriusreader Thank you! Happy Mother‘s Day! 7y
77 likes2 comments
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Kshakal
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Happy Mother‘s Day to all of the moms out there and especially to mine!! I am lucky enough to call my mom not only Mom but one of my best friends!!! #mothers #readingresolutions @Jess7

AmyG 💕 7y
JoScho ❤️❤️❤️ 7y
44 likes2 comments
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laurieluna
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Mehso-so

Don't quite know what to make of this. Wasn't what I was expecting, didn't agree with some of it and it just went so far off point sometimes. I found some things quite disturbing in their presumptions. An entire chapter on someones fictional works on motherhood and I wasn't quite sure what point was being made. A lot of words and I don't feel I've come away with much. Hmmm. 2.5🌟

laurieluna Everytime breastfeeding was mentioned it was always in a sexual or incestuous context. How awful. I don't see it that way at all and it was so disheartening to read this in so called feminist literature. 😔 7y
TrishB I disagreed with a lot of those comments. Not all feminist literature puts forward the same views- these are hers and definitely shouldn‘t be seen as representing a whole movement. The chapter on the fictional books was just terrible and didn‘t fit at all!! 7y
laurieluna @TrishB I just felt it was weird. I was expecting an exploration of modern pressures on and representations of mothers and it started out well and ended up somewhere else completely. However I will be looking up some of the texts mentioned within and in the reference list. 7y
laurieluna @TrishB I think the best way to put it is I thought it was about the love and cruelty projected on to mothers, but instead turned into being about the love and cruelty of mothers. 7y
TrishB That‘s a good summary. Same as you - I thought it was going to be about pressures put on us as mums and it wasn‘t! I think some of it was controversial on purpose. (edited) 7y
80 likes5 comments
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TrishB
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Pickpick

What you can achieve with some determination! Managed to finish whilst they‘re still at the cinema! Some where between a pick and a so-so- mainly as I didn‘t feel there was a lot of new stuff in it- but also because I like discussions that have suggestions for change and there wasn‘t any suggestions!
Didn‘t agree with everything either- but that‘s fine!.

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TrishB
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#selfcaresunday #hopintospring
Apart from the dog, I‘m on my own in the house!!! This hardly ever happens.....son stayed at friends last night, daughter and hubby gone to see that new superhero film!! So my self care is to read as much as I can whilst everyone is out. Wanted to read this one since @miralunasbooknook posted it a few weeks ago! Off I go.

LauraBeth Enjoy! 🙌🙌 7y
Kalalalatja Enjoy enjoy! 7y
Cathythoughts Enjoy 👍🏻❤️ 7y
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Yay!!!! ☺️ 7y
ephemeralwaltz Yay!! Enjoy😘😘 7y
Tanisha_A Have fun! 😀 Are you planning to watch Infinity Wars sometime? 😄 7y
TrishB @Tanisha_A no- they‘re not really my thing! They‘re also one of the daddy/daughter things they have which is a good thing 👍🏻I‘m constantly laughed at for not having a clue that there‘s differences between DC and Marvel....😁 7y
laurieluna Hope you enjoy it! I started this a couple of days ago and have found it uncomfortable reading, mostly for it's honesty, which isn't a bad thing! 7y
TrishB @miralunasbooknook I‘ve just finished- I didn‘t think a lot of it was new- but maybe that‘s just because I‘m old and I‘ve read a lot of feminist literature!! Some good insights and a good summary of where we are in relation to motherhood etc! 7y
vkois88 Sounds perfect! Enjoy the alone time ❤ 7y
laurieluna @TrishB I haven't read much being a non fiction phobe, but I'm slowly getting there. If you have an suggestions for me, I would love some! X 7y
TrishB @miralunasbooknook I think most of the things I would recommend are actually name checked in the book. She has some great references in there. I‘ll let you read and say what bits you‘re interested in before suggesting anything! 7y
laurieluna @TrishB ok 😊 It's top of my list to finish first in May so hoping to have it read by next weekend once I've shifted this months current reads 🙈 x 7y
TrishB @miralunasbooknook no worries 😁 enjoy your reading x 7y
118 likes1 stack add14 comments
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laurieluna
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Well that got pre ordered! I'm really getting into non-fiction now, and this sounded too interesting to pass up. #tbrtemptation

Sophoclessweetheart Ooh! Wonderful to hear when others start devouring nonfiction 😍💛 7y
laurieluna @Wanderingwithwords it actually started in December when I read Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking, and has escalated from there! 😄 7y
batsy Just added it on Goodreads earlier today... Sounds amazing. 7y
See All 11 Comments
Kaye NF ...it‘s always good to see others jump on the bandwagon. 7y
laurieluna @batsy I think it was on Goodreads that I saw it so I probably saw your 'wants to read' post! 😄 7y
laurieluna @Kaye books are now my main source of information as I don't read or watch mainstream news. So I'm branching out to non fiction so that I at least know whats happening to some extent. 7y
Kaye Yep. Same. After 11-9-16 , and the repeatedly chaotic news stories, I‘ve gone on News Blackout TIL further notice. Books are safer. 7y
Sophoclessweetheart Oh! Wishful Drinking is such a good book. Made me well up so badly. I recommend The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher if you enjoyed that one xx 7y
laurieluna @Wanderingwithwords it's sat waiting on my kindle 😊 I'm currently reading The Goblins of Bellwater on it and I try to stick to just one at a time. 7y
laurieluna @Kaye April last year for me, same time I got rid of facebook. It's been amaxing for my mental health. 7y
Kaye Yep. I‘ve learned to make my world smaller for the time being. Why spend my time being annoyed ? I like it here. Peace and quiet. No drama, no arguments. @miralunasbooknook 7y
90 likes4 stack adds11 comments