Rockabye: A Review

Ha! Did you see that post title. Tre professional, don’t you think? Hey, cut me some slack, this is my first big book review. And my creativity is at an all time low due to the several hours I spent in the basement last night with an onery toddler and a hungry Rottweiler hiding from tornados.

I first saw a plug for the book Rockabye: From Wild to Child on a fellow blogger’s links (sorry, can’t remember who it was). The cover alone caught my eye. Before I even get into the amazing writing in this memoir, will you look at the cover art?

If that doesn’t make you want to pick up this book immediately, then there is something seriously wrong with your eyes.

OK, now that I’ve hurled some insults at you lovely readers, let’s get back to the book.

Rockabye is the memoir of Rebecca Woolf, a young mom and writer from Los Angeles. Rebecca was a 22-year-old party girl, who loved smoking cigarettes, hanging out at bars and listening to local bands at the latest hours of the night when she found out she was pregnant. This book follows her journey, from who she was to who she is today, a young mom still working every day to figure out how to be the best parent and still not lose herself.

OK, so I’m sure you’ll all seeing the connection here. 22-years-old. Check! Pregnant unexpectedly. Check, check! Marries boyfriend and father of the baby. Check, check, check!

I know it’s pretty obvious why I would like this book, as Rebecca’s story and mine are so eerily similar, but that is not the only reason. Rebecca tells her story with such beauty and honestly, not glossing over the dirty parts of unexpected, unplanned parenthood as so many writers do. She gives you humor, yes, but she also gives you the bare bones tale of what it is to be forced to change your entire life overnight, without any warning or time to comprehend anything. The intro alone is something I dearly wish I could have read the day I sat on my bathroom floor, face blotchy and eyes red, shaking my head in total fear and disbelief. Because even to this day, I have never met anyone that “got it.” Anyone who could understand how awful and horrible and wonderful and frightening it is to be in that position. How there was no way I could be happy about it. And how hard it is to deal with something that makes you unhappy, when everyone thinks you should be happy about it.

“It’s OK to be afraid. It’s OK to mourn your single life and all your yesterdays, to look in the mirror and find your self unrecognizable, to feel as if you are sleepwalking, sick to your stomach, speechless. There is nothing wrong with silences and blank thoughts. There is nothing wrong with being afraid.”

Now, for those of you that aren’t unexpected, young parents, don’t count this book out just yet. While the first half of the book deals with Rebecca’s pregnancy, the second half deals with raising a child in a society that says every baby must be perfect. She struggles with milestones and expectations, while trying to decide if they are even worth paying attention to. One of my favorite lines from the book is, “Who are we to tame our children before they even understand what it means to be wild?“ Exactly.

If you are a young mother, I definitely recommend this book. You’ll find yourself smiling and crying along Rebecca’s journey. And if you’re any kind of mother, young or old, you will also enjoy this story. Because really, what comes out of this book is the fact that all mothers struggle. We are all looking for a way to be the world’s best mom and the world’s best me. And I think while this book doesn’t give all the answers, it poses questions that can only help us in the long run.

You can buy Rockabye: From Wild to Child at Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or check your local bookstore. You can read Rebecca’s blog, Girl’s Gone Child, by clicking here.