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Linea Nigra

Linea Nigra

by Jazmina Barrera; Christina MacSweeney

Two Lines Press ·2022 ·184 pages
Best of 2020
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77/99
Top of the Pile

87/99

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Near the Top

67/99

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Scholars' Citation Index

51/99

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About This Book

Simultaneously a work of collaboration between mother and child and a diary of worry and joy, Linea Nigra is an intimate exploration of childbearing from the celebrated author of On Lighthouses. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations and traditions, from Louise Bourgeois to Ursula K. Le Guin to the influential indigenous Nahua model Luz Jiménez, Barrera's treatise is as philosophical as it is candid. It is a book that clarifies motherhood, but also celebrates the mysteries of the body—like the linea nigra, the black line, itself. Writing over the course of her first pregnancy, birthing, breastfeeding, and young motherhood, Barrera embraces her subject fully. She intersperses notes from her reading life, making lucid connections between maternity and earthquakes, lunar eclipses, plants, and animals. She sends out an impassioned call for a great proliferation of pregnancy books: for more writing by the expectant; for a canon and a counter-canon of motherhood prose—each of them a shrine and generous guide to all of these radical acts.


Reviews

"Despite the minimalist form that the brain fog of pregnancy might necessitate, Barrera's effect is expansive, foregrounding her identity as a person of color among predominantly white and middle-class narratives ..."

Nichole LeFebvre· Los Angeles Review of Books Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Barrera communicates her trenchant observations in gorgeous, highly efficient prose that sharply reflects the fragmented reality of pregnancy and early parenthood."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"a refreshingly different take on traditional what-to-expect titles for mothers-to-be ..."

Karen Springen· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Barrera lets the story write itself, like the child in her womb, and she points to the ways she, too, has been written by the mothers who came before her ..."

Elizabeth McNeill· The Chicago Review of Books Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A moving study of pregnancy, family, art, and loss ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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