Linea Nigra
by
87/99
Critics' Rating Index
67/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
51/99
Volume of Reviews
36/99
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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 ..."
"Barrera communicates her trenchant observations in gorgeous, highly efficient prose that sharply reflects the fragmented reality of pregnancy and early parenthood."
"a refreshingly different take on traditional what-to-expect titles for mothers-to-be ..."
"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 ..."
"A moving study of pregnancy, family, art, and loss ..."
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