The Mother Dance

How Children Change Your Life

By: Harriet Lerner

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

From the celebrated author of The Dance of Anger comes an extraordinary book about mothering and how it transforms us -- and all our relationships -- inside and out. Written from her dual perspective as a psychologist and a mother, Lerner brings us deeply personal tales that run the gamut from the hilarious to the heart-wrenching. From birth or adoption to the empty nest, The Mother Dance teaches the basic lessons of motherhood: that we are not in control of what happens to our children, that most of what we worry about doesn't happen, and that our children will love us with all our imperfections if we can do the same for them. Here is a gloriously witty and moving book about what it means to dance the mother dance.

Excellent this book is excellent. I have read all

this book is excellent. I have read all of her books and I hope she keeps writing

Greatness

A book that doesn't make you feel being judged as a mom. Thank you!! Great perspectives

Great listen

The performance was Perfect for the book! How stories were told were great. I enjoyed it. I can really relate to the mother dance.

laborious

I found the transatlantic accent of the reader off-putting and it made the self-important story telling that much more arrogant sounding and laborious to slog through. There were some helpful tidbits strewn throughout but I certainly wasn't invested in the book.

Decent information with slight author bias

There were times that I laughed out loud while reading this book. It definitely has its moments. There were two things that made it difficult for me to love this book.
1. While many of her insights were enlightening, Lerner seems quite sure that all women resent the stereotype to stay at home and take care of the children. I loved the role of homemaker, and full-time mom, so I felt that some of her advice had a personal bias.
2. The narrator was overly dramatic, in my opinion. There were times when her dramatic and condescending tone didn't seem to match Lerner's intended tone. This often amplified the disdain that Lerner seems to feel for gender roles.

I general, there were good stories about motherhood, and good advice/information on the parent-child relationship. I would recommend reading over listening to this one.