A review by madfoot
Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence by Rebecca Walker

3.0

I found this book to be a bit devastating, and months after finishing it I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I was one of Alice Walker's legion of fangirls, back in the day, and still felt fond of her work when I picked Rebecca Walker's two memoirs up. The first made me feel a bit sick; this finished the job. As self-absorbed as Rebecca can be, I still appreciated the many feelings, of both power and vulnerability, that she described. (didn't hurt that I was pregnant at the time, I'm sure). I really identified with her, and especially appreciated her rueful realization that the serene, natural childbirth she'd wished for was just not in the cards for her. All this made her mom's distancing and cruelty all the more painful. Of course I know there are two sides to every story, and this did read a bit like it should be titled "hippie dearest," but I still feel a bit like I just found out there's no tooth fairy.