.com At age 40, Chicana writer and activist Cherrie Moraga decided she wanted to have a child. Waiting in the Wings comprises diary entries made during her pregnancy and the first difficult years of her son's life, as well as retrospective essays on motherhood, partnership, men and woman, and families. Moraga's writing is a rich, fluid mix of English and Spanish that explores the personal, social, and spiritual consequences of lesbian motherhood.From Library JournalMoraga, coeditor of the classic This Bridge Called My Back (1983), has written a memoir of the birth of her son. Through the use of journal entries and other prose styles, Moraga tells the story of her insemination, premature birth, and subsequent medical complications and the effect of her son's birth on her relationship with her lover, Ella. Moraga's prose is clean and riveting, and the story she tells is well crafted?so well crafted, in fact, that it loses some immediacy. The power of this work lies more in the life-and-death issues Moraga faced with her child's premature birth than it does in her experiences as a lesbian mother. Nevertheless, Moraga does address the issues that lesbian mothers, both biological and coparent, face. Recommended for all medium and larger libraries and any libraries with lesbian, women's, or Chicana collections.?Melodie Frances, Golden Gate Univ. Lib., San FranciscoCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus sAn honest, introspective memoir of evolving lesbian motherhood. When Chicana lesbian writer Moraga (coeditor, This Bridge Called My Back, not reviewed) was 40, she decided to have a child. She asked her white lover (who is called Ella here, the Spanish word for ``she'') to help, not so much to be the other mother as to continue to be Moraga's partner and support; inevitably, though, Ella does turn out to be a ``co-mother.'' Moraga asks her much younger Mexican friend Pablo to donate sperm; he too ends up becoming very involved with the baby. Against the odds, Moraga gets pregnant the first time they try. In this memoir, Moraga muses honestly on how she feels about having a boy (at first ambivalent, then pleased). She is also thoughtful on the meaning of blood and family; as a lesbian, she's always created her own ``familia,'' yet she is also quite close to her parents and sister, and it was important to her that her baby's father also be Mexican. Both her sister and Ella are present at Rafael's birth, which is premature, and he fights for his life the first few months. Moraga writes well about the struggle and the exhaustion of daily facing this new loved one's death after months of creating his life. When Rafael is well, Moraga battles to find the energy to write. Her relationship with Ella suffers and Ella moves out, though it seems they may stay together. Some of the writing in this memoir is a bit indulgent, having been culled from journals. However, much of it is powerful, and the journal form does give the narrative a sense of immediacy. A strong, though sometimes scattered, account of a baby's struggle for survival and a mother's struggle to define her own new life. -- Copyright 1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. what is bookhub Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. lovely portrait of queer motherhoodBy Mary Weismantelthoughtful and at times quite lovely portrait of queer motherhood by a great latinx feminist writer.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. making familia from scratchBy A CustomerMoraga's text is a thoughtful meditation on the dialectics of biology and social construction of gender, sexuality, and bodies. She offers very personal reflections on how her choice to bear a child disrupts societal expectations for lesbians and how her choice is also shaped by race culture. Ultimately, she envisions her child and the ghosts of those who have passed on (her Mexican uncle who died of lung cancer as well as gay male friends who died of AIDS) surrounding him as well as those present as part of a larger community of familia and a future generation that is inclusive of racial-ethnic minorities and sexual minorities. Moraga's trajectory as a writer is fascinating to explore--I would recommend reading The Last Generation before this book, and then reading the new sections from Loving in the War Years afterward. I also would suggest keeping an eye out for Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano's book on Moraga's work, being published by University of Texas Press.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Luminous!By Eclectic ReaderThis is a beautifully written and insightful memoir. Moraga communicates a deep love of self, family and community in this finely crafted volume. I was particularly inspired by the seamless way the recounting of her personal story addressed so many larger political and spiritual issues.(A better case for the honoring of queer famlies could not be made). More than this, however, Moraga is just an exceptionally gifted writer, and this book highlights her luminous talent. One poetic phrase follows another, until the reader is left with one of the most elegant memoirs out there. Read it, and experience a unique glimpse into the heart of her fiercely loving mother's heart.