thndrkat's review
5.0
A truly wonderful memoir. Detailed, honest, and exhaustive. Peacock turns her precise poet's sensibility on her own life in a painstaking yet ultimately satisfying exercise in self-awareness. Her account of her evolution as an artist, and the process of turning life's chaos into precise packages of poetry, is particularly gratifying and beautiful.
papernapkin's review
3.0
Molly Peacock (creator of the Poetry in Motion program in NYC, which places poem placards in public transit vehicles) writes about her decision to be child-free. Since she tells us how that decision was informed, the book is also a patchwork memoir recounting her childhood, which is the most interesting part of the book. I was amazed, as I always am, that people who choose not to have children encounter so much resistance. Almost as if the people she tells have to go through the 5 stages of grief for a child never conceived. Anyway, it's a pretty good read.
bitterindigo's review
3.0
What I learned from this book is that sometimes I'm a real bitch. I can't think of any other reason why it took me so long to warm up to Molly Peacock. I still think women that decide not to have children assume too easily that those of us who do have children aren't the least bit conflicted about it -- as if they're the only ones who have to think about whether their lives are fulfilling or not. But cripes, she had a hellish childhood and her family would put anyone off procreating, wihtout a whole lot of soul-searching if at all. This is an honest, well-written memoir, and I completely respect her decision, and her talent.
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