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B o o k R e v i e w s 2 6 1 points out that in environmentalists’ self-satisfaction at having reached some of their environmental goals, such as saving the last few redwood trees, they may ignore a civilization eager to clear-cut any other unpro­ tected forests. Robinson’s view of wilderness comes not only from her think­ ing about contemporary environmental issues but also from her family’s western heritage. She writes: “I am an American of the kind whose family sought out wilderness generation after generation” (246). As western American literature develops in what Thomas J. Lyon and other critics say is its postfrontier phase, many western writers will continue to warn about our self-destructive civilization; as part of that prophesying, Robinson’s articulation of our self-endangerment may become a major force in changing our thinking. Consider how compellingly she can state the problem: One need not have an especially excitable or a particularly gloomy nature to be persuaded that we may be approaching the end of the day. For decades, environmentalists have concerned themselves with this spill and that encroachment, this depletion and that extinction, as if such phenomena were singular and exceptional. Our causes have even jostled for attention, each claiming a special urgency. This is, I think, like quarreling over which shadow brings evening. We are caught up in something much larger than its innumerable manifestations. (245) In such a passage, The Death of Adam makes the reader face the probable consequences of the systems of thought that have shaped the modem world. With Child: Mormon Women on Mothering. Edited by Marni Asplund-Campbell. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998. 187 pages, $14.95. Reviewed by Angela Ashurst-McGee Utah State University This book began as Marni Asplund-Campbell’s “personal search for mother-texts” that were neither technical nor dogmatic, neither vague nor sentimental (ix). She intends With Child to explore the modern context of Mormon motherhood, to break the silence that often surrounds mothers’ experiences, to forge a “new language” of motherhood, and to explore even the darkness that is “the twin part” to the joys of mothering (x, xi). The book’s poems, personal essays, reports, stories, and sermon present a confusing mix of genres: readers must guess if a piece is history, memoir, or fiction. While some are masterpieces, many of these writings gush about the physical and emotional wows of motherhood— despite AsplundCampbell ’s goal to avoid sentimentalism. The authors tend toward mushy 2 6 2 W A L 3 4 ( 2 ) SUMMER 1 9 9 9 indulgence in their self-exposure. The writing— its language and its con­ tent—often feels raw, almost awkward, definitely not polished. Yet these flaws flow directly into the collection’s greatest strength. It’s hard to avoid overblown sentiment when describing the variety and inten­ sity of pregnancy, labor, childrearing, and child loss. Each selection pulls its readers into the experiences and feelings of a real mother—and that is an important achievement. As Tessa Meyer Santiago makes clear in her essay “Mother’s Day,” confusion and discomfort, as well as real danger, result when our knowledge of mothers’ experiences is vague and insufficient. I panted along with the laboring character from Margaret Blair Young’s Salvador. With Julie Nichols and Dian Saderup, I felt the burden and relent­ lessness of caring for children. I felt part of the pain and loneliness of women who described losing, giving up, or never bearing their babies. An essay’s unrefined presentation often heightened the intensity of vicarious experi­ ence. The book’s sections—anticipating conception, pregnancy, delivery, child raising, and loss—mark the milestones of mothering and portray an appropriately varied array of ways of looking at, experiencing, and talking about motherhood. These Mormon women variously say the experience of mothering is like a birthday party, like a tutorial in Christian living, creepy and unreal, exhausting, erotic, exhilarating. Their descriptions never con­ geal into a unified portrait. My mood after reading this book was not entirely unlike my mood after giving birth: I was both energized and exhausted by the expanse of strong and simultaneous experiences and emotions. Mormonism...

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