“𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯: 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘖𝘳 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳: 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.”

Chantal Braganza’s writing immediately stood out to me—there’s something unique and compelling in the way she expresses herself. Her prose is thoughtful, poetic, and often beautifully layered with insight.

There are lines that genuinely stopped me in my tracks, offering reflections on parenthood I hadn’t heard or considered before. Those moments were deeply affecting and, at times, even awe-inspiring.

“𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦; 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦; 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦; 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵—𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺.”

However, the structure of the book felt somewhat scattered. The narrative jumps through time and people in a way that occasionally made it difficult to follow or find a clear timeline. I often wished for a stronger thread to hold onto.

Still, 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 is a moving and honest memoir about the emotional complexities of motherhood, loss, and identity. If you enjoy lyrical, introspective nonfiction, this one might be worth exploring.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of Story Of Your Mother.

For a man, I believe I am emotional, nostalgic, don’t mind a bit of romance and try to understand and care about the other genders world. However, I don’t think this book was meant for me. There were lots of sections about child parent relationships that I could connect with, but, many that are really about mother and child.
The second concern I have with this book is it is quite short. It is 180 IPad pages, which is already short. But, with many, many short chapters and only half a page or less used at the end of each chapter, I can safely call this a novella.

The third concern is the fact that this is a series of essays, that loosely fit together, each chapter was put together in ways that did not seamlessly fit together. In fact, one could say, it was all over the place. I do think she was trying to put together a bunch of seemingly unrelated parts to represent how she felt as someone made up of many parts, but it didn’t totally work.

Beautiful reflection on motherhood and all it means entails and shares incredible insight and reflection