Torn

Real Mothers. Real Careers. Real Conflict.In forty-eight refreshingly honest and often laugh-out-loud essays, Torn captures the voices of a generation of women caught in the crossfire of motherhood, career, and family obligations. Beneficiaries of their feminist foremothers' idealism, today's mothers were raised and educated to believe they could "have it all"a successful career, a happy marriage, a lovely home, accomplished children, and anything else they put their minds to. Rather than feeling liberated by this wealth of opportunity, many are collapsing under the pressure to achieve the impossible. Torn addresses the very real toll that contemporary motherhood is taking on women and the collateral damage to their marriages, careers, and physical and mental health. The stories in the collection reveal the messy realities of motherhood and life's inevitable crises, both small and large: from breast pump mishaps to battles with cancer; diaper blowouts to debilitating depression; competitive cupcake baking to coming home from war. In the end, the reader can take comfort in the knowledge that there is no perfect mother; nor is there a perfect balance when it comes to kids and career. The real challenge facing women today is not juggling their many roles, but realigning their expectations of what is possible and accepting that success does not equal "doing it all."