Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)

Szachowicz-Sempruch, Justyna

Book Reviews 
~Barbara regrets events on her fortieth birthday, so she is going to give 
herself a fortieth birthday party on an unbirthday date. 
~Betty harbors bad feelings about the way she was fired from her job, 
so her support group is going to role-play a job termination that is 
respectful. Betty will indicate what she wants to have happen. 
The book ought to have included more positive information about 
parenting. References to parenting styles from diverse regions, ethnocultural 
groups, and types of families also would have enriched this text. Although 
limited in scope, this collection may serve the needs of readers who are trying 
to understand the range of parenting styles that exist. 
The Therapist's Notebook for Families 
Bob Bertolino and Gary Schultheis 
Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2002 
Reviewed by Justyna Szachowicz-Sernpruch 
In a crystal ball, record your vision ofthe future and what you have done to solve 
your problems. Put into a time capsule five ideas that will move you toward the 
future that you envision. 
The "crystal ball" and "time machine" are two of the many exercises 
available in The Therapist's Notebookfor Families, a carefilly drafted collection 
of tasks for working with parents, children, and adolescents. In this book, Bob 
Bertolino and Gary Schultheis offer an interesting insight into family therapy: 
successful therapy has less to do with technique and more to do with personal 
factors and relationships between therapists and patients. According to the 
authors, therapy is meant to promote health and well-being. Whiie reading this 
book, I thought of the many times I sought to solve problems but was unable 
to see beyond them. This book is effective in providing different strategies to 
help clinicians, parents, and children feel acknowledged, validated, and to 
effect the change they desire. 
Raising children and adolescents can cause parents to doubt and blame 
themselves at times of difficulty. This book suggests that recovering from 
difficulties is an extremely important relationship skill. What matters is not 
that parents and children differ in significant ways but how they cope with their 
differences. The proposed solution-oriented exercises are designed to remind 
individuals of what they value and what they do well as parents or caregivers. 
The exercises are organized into sections intended to help family members and 
therapists in scaling their goals, clarifying preferred outcomes, and identifying 
best ways to generate solutions, augment change, and establish alliances: 
'What qualities do you look for in a therapist?; "Are there other things that you 
188 / Volume 6, Number 2 
Book Reviews 
think we should be discussing instead?"; "Is there anythlng I should be doing 
differently?" The psychoanalytical treatment, as we learn from The Therapist? 
Notebook, is a client-informed enterprise, a suggestive collaboration designed to 
soften hostility. Sometimes therapy is a matter of listening to clients express 
their ideas and emphasize their strengths. 
Bertolino and Schultheis also explore alternatives if solutions are not 
available: "ifwe offer an exercise and a parent does not believe in going home 
and trying it, then we would shifi our approach." Family members may "have 
great ideas and we ought to attend to their voices whenever possible." In 
formulating such approaches, the authors suggest that words as pervasive as 
"always," "never," "nobody," or "all the time" imply that problems stay with us 
forever and give us little incentive to change negative behaviour. Focused 
qualifiers, such as "recently," "in the last while," and "in the past month," 
however, suggest that problems are temporary. Thus, rather than furing our 
attention on problems, the book cleverly refocuses on positive changes in our 
families. We  learn to write down the various things that help us recharge our 
batteries, to notice when children engage in behaviours that meet our approval, 
and to acknowledge others' points of view. Acknowledgement also means, as 
the authors suggest, that we pay attention to the words used by others to identify 
patterns that maintain problems. I t  is necessary to explore the patterns 
surrounding problems - a small change is often all that is needed to break 
unhelpful patterns. In fact, small changes are necessary, since these lead to 
further changes and solutions soon appear on the horizon. When they identify 
interim solutions, clients notice that they are making progress and further 
change occurs. This is an important therapeutic stage since ofien we become 
frustrated, anxious, or disinterested if we do not recognize progress. 
The authors teach us to regard experiences as learning opportunities. Ifyou 
knew that the world was to end tomorrow, what are three things you would do? 
What was the most meaningful thing you did in the past? What could you do 
in the nearest future that would move you toward becoming who you want to 
be? This is a change-promoting book: it helps identify the context of a problem 
and to sustain change once it has been achieved. 
Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain 
Phyllis T. Stein and Joshua Kendall 
Binghamton, NY: HMTP Press, 2004 
Reviewed by Channa Verbian 
In Psychological Trauma and t6e Developing Brain, Phyllis Stein and Joshua 
Kendall study the intimate connection between experience and genetics in 
understanding and treating the effects of trauma on children. The authors 
Journal oftbe Associafionfor Research on Mothering 1 189 


English

The Therapist's Notebook for Families

Salmon, Amy

"It Takes a Community": Constructing Aboriginal Mothers and Children with FAS/FAE as Objects of Moral Panic in/through a FAS/FAE Prevention

Harde, Roxanne

The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger. Vol. I: The Woman Rebel, 1900-1928

Contributor Notes

Editorial Masthead

Schalge, Susan

Who Compares to Mother (Nani Kama Mama)?

Bartlett, Alison

Book Reviews 
pivotal in bringing about the pre-Roe repeal laws in New York and the 
restrictive laws in Pennsylvania. The book is thrilling and suspenseful. It reads 
like a cliffhanger but instead of passively sitting in my chair waiting to witness 
the killer's next move, I read of yet another court decision or the story of the 
battle turned to war between the Clergy Consultation Service and the Catholic 
Conferences. But the fight I was reading about was taking place over my body 
and the body of all women. 
Nossiff identifies three key results that came out of the years preceding 
Roe: (i) the emergence of women as key political figures; (ii) the power and 
federalist structure of the judicial branch; and lastly, (iii) the monumental 
decision of Roe v. Wade. 
In the end, Nossiff reminds us that the abortion conflict remains unre- 
solved. Abortion policy post-Roe has witnessed a backlash and in many states 
access to abortion has been severely curtailed. I read Before Roe as a call to 
action-to all women to know our history, to be aware of the contested terrain 
and weak ground upon which we sit, and to continue fighting for what is lefi 
of our civil liberties. The book also points to the power of broad based 
coalitions. Without coalitions, the gains in abortion rights would have been 
merely a dream, a timely reminder in today's political climate. 
Hollywood Moms: Photographs by Joyce Ostin 
Joyce Ostin 
New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001 
Reviewed by Alison Bartlett 
This is a handsome coffee table book of 50 black and white glamour shots of 
Hollywood mothers and daughters. All proceeds from the book go towards 
breast cancer, which is perhaps one ofthe book's most redeeming features. The 
photographer is a survivor ofbreast cancer and writes in the preface that this is 
her gift back to the world: "a photography book about the celebration of life. 
And the love between mother and daughter." Joyce Ostin had an interest in 
photography for only three years before embarking on this project which, she 
suggests, involves all people she knows. If this is the case, the range of stars is 
quiteformidable: fiomMadonna, Goldie Hawn, CarolBurnett, Susan Sarandon, 
Michelle Pfeiffer, Melanie Griffith, Joanna Poitier, k.d. lang, and so on, to 
lesser known actresses, show hosts, writers, designers, and partners of famous 
actors. All the subjects were asked, 'What are the most nourishing moments 
you've shared with your mother or daughter?" and all answer in the most 
positive and lovingway, of course. Often the photographer adds her impression 
of the love she felt in the family she was photographing. 
196 1 VoIume 6, Number 1 
Book Reviews 
While the preface speaks of the fear and uncertainty involved in surviving 
cancer, and the introduction by Carrie Fisher speaks of the tensions, flamma- 
bility, flaws and intermittent difficulties in her relationship with her mother 
Debbie Reynolds, this is soon passed over in favour of the honeyed imagery of 
mother and daughter stars. Like a Hollywood production, this imagery 
contributes to the fantasy that there is a perfect relationship we are all seeking. 
There is a lot of blonde, white and lace; everyone is smiling, many of the 
mothers have their eyes closed or half closed in an expression ofbliss; sunshine 
often comes streaming through the background so that the warm fuzziness of 
mother and daughter love is woven into the photographic technique. Why are 
there no photos of mothers and daughters in cold environments, being icy to 
each other, or in wild, disgraceful positions? Because this is an extension of 
Hollywood and the reputation ofits stars as mothers and daughters. Mothering 
and daughtering, however, involves much more than this book represents, as 
it once again reminds us mere mortals how inadequate our relationships are in 
comparison to those offered by Hollywood. 
Writing in the Feminine in French and English 
Canada: A Question of Ethics 
Marie Carritre 
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002 
Reviewed by Jill Scott 
In Writing in the Feminine in French and English Canada:A Question ofEthics, 
Marie Carritre invites her readers to imagine an ethical space of intersubjectivity 
and, guided by five poets, dares us to dream alternative material possibilities and 
negotiate new ways of being beyond the limitations of fured notions of gender 
and sexual difference. In this beautifully written and exquisitely crafted book, 
Carribe fills a significant scholarly lacuna by treating the experimental poetry 
known as "writing in the feminine" or "ecriture au ftminin" by writers in both 
English and French Canada: Nicole Brossard, France Thtoret, Di Brandt, 
Erin Moure, and Lola Lemire Tostevin. The project transcends the barriers of 
languistic and cultural differences to chart a much-needed literary history of a 
particularly charged period for feminist poetic production from the seventies to 
the early nineties. 
Much more than a critical introduction to these poets' works, Writing in 
the Feminine proposes a theory of relational ethics based on the philosophy of 
Emmanuel Levinas, Paul Ricoeur, and Luce Irigaray. Carritre is justified in her 
choice of theorists since the poets in question have all been informed by post- 
structural thought and often self-consciously invoke their influences, which 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering ( 197 


Hollywood Moms

Home, Alice

The Work that Never Ends: Employed Mothers of Children with Disabilities

Sloss, Christine M.

Harper, Gary W.

Budd, Karen S.

Street Sex Work and Mothering

Christodoulides, Nephie

Book Reviews 
daughter, including the anticipated loss of long illnesses (which may involve 
"anticipatory grieving and attendant guilt (71), sudden death, parental suicide 
which can be experienced, especially by children, as parental rejection, and 
abandonment (physical or emotional). 
Edelman shows how the legacy of premature mother loss continues 
throughout life: the way the mother is mourned in childhood or early adulthood 
determines how future losses are dealt with and how "securen a person the 
daughter becomes. Three chapters consider the impact on relationships: with 
the father, with siblings, and with intimate others. The final chapters explore 
the complexities of identification and differentiation in the mother-daughter 
relationship when the mother has died young. Despite this cataloguing of the 
difficult legacy of mother loss, Edelman's book ends with the assertion that 
some positive legacies of loss can be identified, including the insights gained, 
the memories that are retained, and the reparative activities of creativity and 
intellectual achievement. 
Maternal Impressions: Pregnancy and Childbirth 
in Literature and Theory 
Cristina Mazzoni 
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002 
Reviewed by Nephie Christodoulides 
In Maternal Impressions, Cristina Mazzoni explores the multiple meanings of 
maternity (pregnancy, childbirth, post-partum, breastfeeding). Maternal im- 
pressions on the fetus, impressions of the fetus on the mother, the transformed 
maternal body in gestation, and parturition constitute Mazzoni's main focus. 
Her bold reading of the continuities and discontinuities of maternity is 
informed by religion, literature, science, feminism, and psychoanalysis. 
Mazzoni invokes the fairy tale of Rapunzel in her discussion of maternal 
cravings, for example, and she reads Luke's Visitation scene of Mary and 
Elizabeth for its significance to feminist theology and not as an example of 
quickening. Turn-of-the-century Italian scientists such as Paolo Mantegazza 
and Cesare Lombroso, known for their treatises on the nature ofwomen, are 
juxtaposed with contemporary Italian feminists Adriana Cavarero and Luisa 
Muraro. In tracing the "insoluble dilemmas, contradictory solutionsn (6) of 
maternity, she considers the work of Luce Irigaray, H6kne Cixous, and Julia 
Kristeva, as well as nineteenth and early twentieth century Italian women 
novelists. 
MaternalImpressions offers a wealth of information. Mazzoni transforms 
abstract, critical knowledge into a living text that is highly recommended to 
mothers, feminists, scholars, and scientists alike. 
182 / Volume 6, Number2 


Maternal Impressions: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Literature and Theory