A review by laurencarsley
A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk

3.0

3.5. I tried to read this with the context of the time it was written in mind (early 2000s). Basically I read this as if it were horror, as it dwells almost entirely on the negative and dark aspects of pregnancy, birth and early parenting because there was a dearth of content in this area at the time. Cusk was an innovator in the “motherhood as war” genre, allowing for memoirists like Nelson, Barrera, and O’Connell to follow suit. However those that followed A Life’s Work, though obviously indebted to its existence, felt more nuanced, as if Cusk saying everything is shit enabled them to say, yes but also it can be a nice, enriching experience too.