I've Always Meant to Tell You : Letters to Our Mothers : An Anthology of Contemporary Women Writers [Hardcover]

Constance Warloe (Author), Hilma Wolitzer (Author), Barbara Kingsolver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1997

In a collection of original letters, more than seventy-five distinguished daughters, including Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Kingsolver, Ntozake Shange, and Hilma Wolitzer, speak to their mothers, both living and deceased, with messages from the heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Published just in time for Mothers' Day, this volume collects original letters, poems, essays, stories, and drawings from 80 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and cartoonists, who reflect on one of the most intimate human relationships?with one's mother. Warloe, the founding editor of the American River Literary Review, states in her introduction that most of the writers found this assignment to be exceedingly difficult. Passages are arranged alphabetically by author, with brief biographies of mother and daughter, each with a photograph. Contributions include comic strips by Lynda Berry and Nicole Hollander and pieces from writers Rita Mae Brown, Rita Dove, Ellen Gilchrist, Barbara Kingsolver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Ntozake Shange. Highly recommended for women's studies, literature, and general collections.?Janice Braun, Mills Coll., Oakland, Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

With wrenching precision, 79 women recall their mothers in original letters, essays, poems, and stories, evoking basic truths about the inescapability of mother-daughter similarities, the lifelong rapture of mother for child, and the daughter's unquenchable longing for mother after her death. Contributors range from established literary figures (Joyce Carol Oates, Rosellen Brown) to less well known writers and artists. Some of these pieces reveal anger at a mother's abandonment or at failure to protect a child from violence. All of them seek to relive the past, especially those moments when (as Lynne Sharon Schwartz says of her mother's singing) ``life becomes more than itself, so intense and fulfilled that we wish it could be that way always.'' Most also express need--``how much I need to reach out and touch your hand,'' Carol Shields says of her long-deceased mother--and the realization that querying the source of one's predilections is often unnecessary. As Ellen Gilchrist tells her mother: ``Every morning you think the world is beginning all over and all will be well with the world. I think so too. Where do you think I got an idea like that?'' Edited by novelist Warloe (The Legend of Olivia Cosmos Montevideo, 1994), the pieces are well-chosen, with every type of revelation expressed. But the mass of memories raises the question: How many truths can one take in a book? Maybe not as many as are presented here. The problem is that the letters are addictive: Like listening to a top-40 station, you hang on to hear what's next. What will Rita Dove say? Andrea Barrett? Barbara Kingsolver? Whether exhausted or delighted by the book, be warned: Memories of one's own mother may arise and wilt the page with tears. Best to punctuate the readings with a viewing of Albert Brooks's Mother. (b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Atria; First edition. edition (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671563246
• ISBN-13: 978-0671563240
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,330,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gift Of Love, April 1, 1998

By 

"alisaundre" - See all my reviews

This review is from: I've Always Meant to Tell You : Letters to Our Mothers : An Anthology of Contemporary Women Writers (Hardcover)

I received a copy of this book from my daughter who was about to celebrate her 33rd birthday. The Amazon gift wrap was lovely. And she wrote and told me this was a gift for giving life to her and more. And I began to read the essays and the letters and the poems. And although each author had a different mother, there seemed to be a universal theme....love. And in some cases, lack of love. These are letters and poems that one can read and re-read and share with friends because there is so much thought and insights into that special unique relationship between mother and daughter. To have received this book from my daughter
makes it all the more special....but the collection
is filled with words that make my memories spin
and I am happy that my daughter has always
told me what she has meant to say...Mothers can send this book to their daughters. Daughters should send this book to their mothers. And if any man wishes to know why the relationship between mother and daughter

is so very special, he can read this book too.
Thanks to the editor who compiled the various
works! This book is a keeper!

5.0 out of 5 stars Barbara Kingsolver, December 10, 2011

By 

SarahSomething - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I've Always Meant to Tell You : Letters to Our Mothers : An Anthology of Contemporary Women Writers (Hardcover)

Has great short stories about stuff children have always wanted to tell their mothers. Barbara Kingsolver has a short story in here, which is why I bought the book in the first place. I did my senior paper in college on her and this book was really helpful.