Being a mother in 2008 seems to be more challenging than ever. Expectations of parents seem to have grown immensely. There is the familiar guilty tug women have between being with their children and working as a support to the family or for their professional satisfaction. At the same time expectations of parental involvement in children's academic and social lives has grown. Parents have nagging food and safety issues to consider, too.Ayelet Waldman, a Harvard-trained lawyer and mother of four, sees the traps and pitfalls with a clear eye. She challenges the politically correct, perfectionist model of parenting. Children in her novels eat junk food, watch videos, sometimes skip the booster seat in taxis before 6 years of age, and don't get into the best schools. The mothers are grumpy, overweight and make mistakes but still love their children and find a way to happiness in family life.
Read her Mommy-track Mysteries for quick, funny, clever stories, featuring a sta
y-at-home mom turned part-time investigator in Southern California. Start with Nursery Crimes.
Her novel, Daughter's Keeper tells the tale of a young Northern California woman caught as an accessory to a drug deal set up by an informer. Readers learn about mothers of young children with peripheral roles in crimes being locked up for years because of Federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. The daughter and her mother struggle to understand each other and keep their rela
tionship going.In Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, a grieving mother struggles with her own infant's death, her marriage and her new role as stepmother to a five year old. Waldman's website says that Natalie Portman will be starring in the movie based on the book which began filming in November. Read the Variety article about it.
posted by mb
