Sleep is for the Weak: Brilliant Essays, One-Dimemsional
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Seventy-five years from now when our granddaughters are tracing the history of mom blogs, undoubtedly they will clamor to Sleep Is for the Weak: The Best of the Mommybloggers Including Amalah, Finslippy, Fussy, Woulda Coulda Shoulda, Mom-101, and More! (Blogher Book),
edited by Rita Arens as their ubiquitous starting point. They will hail it as the first anthology specifically about mommyblogging and it will forever deserve its rightful place in history as one of the first instances when mom blogs became tangible.The mom bloggers whose writing is featured in Sleep is for the Weak are without question the cream of the crop in the rapidly expanding world of mommyblogging. Their names and online handles are perpetually on the link lists of devoted fans, and when new moms join the ranks of mom bloggers they quickly realize that, yes, these moms are the ones who started it all. They are the ones who blogged before free products dazzled the socks off moms, before ad dollars could pay for vacations and months worth of daycare, and before moms turned blogging into full-time jobs. These moms are the early pioneers. And it shows.
The mom bloggers whose brilliant essays are featured in Sleep is for the Weak from Amalah to Jenny Lauck, are popular because they are, quite frankly, exceptionally talented writers who have the innate ability to string words together into powerful posts that deeply resonate with their legion of loyal readers. It's not an easy feat, to be sure. In fact, it rings difficult to be a capable writer of any sort, especially one with a baby in one arm and a screaming toddler in the other.
Despite the solid, well-written essays in Sleep is for the Weak, I couldn't help but notice how starkly one-dimensional the anthology is. Most of the essays collide into one big blur as if one mom blogger could have easily written them all. As a mom who has been blogging for five years I know that collectively mom bloggers are a diverse lot, with various backgrounds and a host of perspectives on motherhood and blogging. I just wish more colorful voices -- not necessarily based on race, but rather station in life -- were thrown into the contributors' mix to show our grandddaughters that in 2008 mommyblogging was a tightly-knit tapestry of varied maternal voices, not a cursory glance at one powerful niche within the community.
Buy Sleep Is for the Weak: The Best of the Mommybloggers Including Amalah, Finslippy, Fussy, Woulda Coulda Shoulda, Mom-101, and More! (Blogher Book)
-Jennifer James, Editor
Labels: anthologies, non-fiction, women
posted by The Mom Salon Editors @ 11:29 AM,
2 Comments:
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At October 28, 2008 9:55 AM,
Rita Arens said...
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Thanks for the wonderfully balanced review. I'd say it's very fair.
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At October 28, 2008 10:12 AM,
Jennifer James said...
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Hi Rita. Thank you for leaving a comment. I'm glad you read my review. Despite the one criticism I noted, I do think the anthology is a great compilation of some of the best blog writing out there. And it is true, when our granddaughters trace the history of mommyblogging you'll forever be one of those at the forefront of it. Cheers.
