Story Hoarder

Some books are moving, some books are funny, some make your stomach turn. Today I bring to you a book that will do all that and more – Lucia Etxebarria’s Un Milagro En Equilibrio (A Miracle in Equilibrium).

First of all – a disclaimer – I am not a mother, only a daughter, so if any of you mothers out there disagree with me on anything – that’s OK. The book’s narrative is quite simple – Eva, a successful yet self-doubting writer, gives birth to a baby girl. She then sits down to write a memoir in which she describes her life before motherhood to her daughter, so as to someday let her know who her mother is, without embellishing the gory stuff.

This is a book that is so real and speaks so much to women of my generation, it sometimes hurts. The brutally frank discussion of the fight to become independent, of the difficulty of leaving your past (and childhood) behind, the ways in which we think of ourselves as feminist, liberated women but sometimes behave like we know nothing about it, and many many more issues are at the heart of what every young career woman out in the dating pool is going through.

The book also offers a poignant look into one of the most complex relationships in nature – the relationship between a mother and her daughter. As one of two sisters growing up with a single mother, this is one subject I can never get enough of, and Etxbarria jumps into it feet first.

All in all, a very refreshing and recommended book, sparing you nothing but still keeping it readable and not too scary. Have fun!

I am leaving you with a song about one of the most (if not the most) iconic mothers – The Beatles’ ” Lady Madonna”: