cflo710's review
emotional
slow-paced
5.0
V relatable for me, personally. I cried like 36374737 times. It took me forever to read bc it was pretty painful/trigger-y read. Can we put this in the DSM? 😵💫
hannahburkle's review
slow-paced
1.75
Medium… I like what it was trying to do. But it just didn’t provide enough context for how unattainable this is for most people. While I understand the science behind these theories, it felt extremely exclusive and extremely gendered. I know the point of the book was about mothers but in no way did it address same sex couples or actually how fathers could help a child whose mother is unreachable for whatever reason.
To me it read like a long excuse for white women to wear a badge of trauma at the smallest hint of their mom not loving them in some perfect and primal way. Also… at one point I think she mentioned Margaret Sanger as an example of some kind of inspirational surrogate mother? A mess tbh.
To me it read like a long excuse for white women to wear a badge of trauma at the smallest hint of their mom not loving them in some perfect and primal way. Also… at one point I think she mentioned Margaret Sanger as an example of some kind of inspirational surrogate mother? A mess tbh.
hicksk's review
Came recommended and DNF'd in first chapter. Leans on gender essentialist arguments. Gay, trans or non-binary fathers apparently can be good caregivers, but will necessarily lack a certain something that apparently only "mothers" can give, setting their kids up for "mother hunger". Smells like TERF.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
sunnyrae21's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
libraryoflyssa's review
3.0
I was genuinely disappointed by this book, besides the final chapters that provided a few methods on how to heal "mother hunger". I think I craved a raw and honest book on dealing with the losses and/or abandonments of mothers, but this book didn't deliver that. Mother Hunger mostly shares anecdotal experiences of women losing their mothers due to death and/or abandonment but doesn't offer elaboration as to why a severed tie with a mother is so detrimental. There were surface discussions on attachment styles and generational trauma, but again, the random anecdotes with no solutions commandeered this book. I would recommend It Didn't Start With You by Mark Wolynn to fully understand how the relationship with your mother and her mother before then impacts us in our development and adulthood.