Book Review x 2

Two memoirs this month, both ones I would highly highly recommend:


Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected by Kelle Hampton. Kelle is a blogger whose incredibly honest post about the birth of her second daughter who was unexpectedly born with Down Syndrome quickly spread around the internet about two years ago and brought thousands of readers to her blog. I was one of the thousands and I've really enjoyed reading Kelle's posts ever since. I was super excited to read this memoir of hers that focuses on the journey she's undertaken since the day of Nella's birth, as well as the journey that brought her to that point. Kelle is so passionate about living, about family, about being a mother,about photography, about creating beautiful things that I was not surprised (though very pleased) to find that her memoir included color photos on almost every page. It  is a gorgeous book just to look at, but the writing inside is just as beautiful. Kelle writes honestly, which means she gets at emotions and struggles that are usually easier to bury, but she shares them anyway. I think being on the verge of parenthood made it especially meaningful to me to read about a mother facing some extra challenges. There were several parts I read aloud to Tim that made us cry and laugh together. I've never met Kelle but I feel like I know her and I'd love to be her friend. Three and a half stars from me!


P.S. Can I just say that I love how bloggers have been publishing books lately? It gives blogging a level of credibility that really tickles me. That's all.




The Year My Son and I Were Born: A Story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood, and Self-Discovery by Kathryn Lynard Soper. I heard Kathy share a portion of this book at a Mormon women writers reading at UVU and I very much wanted to read the whole book, not only because I am always on the lookout for Mormon memoirs, but because it seemed like a powerful story from just the snippet I got. This is another memoir from a mother who had a child unexpectedly born with Down Syndrome and while there were a lot of similarities between this book and Bloom, they were very different stories. I think Kathy's experience was much harder in some ways - Thomas was born prematurely in addition to having Down Syndrome, so there were all kinds of complications they had to deal with for a long time after his birth because of that. Thomas was also Kathy's seventh child, so she didn't have the luxury of worrying about just him. Plus there was the religious aspect, which added a layer of guilt and pressure to what Kathy experienced. But over the course of the year described in the book, Kathy learns and grows as a mother and as a person, and it was beautiful to read. Three stars at least!


As a side note, even though these books are both ostensibly about Down Syndrome, really they were both about motherhood and facing down your fears and challenges as a woman and a mother. I don't expect to have these same challenges, but it was heartening to me to know that I don't have to be the perfect mom at the outset - I can grow and learn and give myself time to become someone better, and that growing process will bring its own very rich rewards.