Australian scholar and feminist Giles (Dick for a Day) shows the personal is political (and vice versa) in this collection of accounts with commentaries, a look at the pleasures, difficulties and cultural attitudes about breastfeeding. She intersperses comforting images of Madonna-like mother-infant bonding with more disturbing and unexpected scenes: pus- and blood-oozing nipples, the sexuality of breastfeeding, "milkmaid" porn, nipples as technological fetish and a recipe for breast milk ice cream. Giles impressively argues that our culture's mixed message to women—breastfeed for the health of the child, but don't practice that disgusting act in public—reveals a squeamishness about the pure animality of breastfeeding, as well as an unwillingness to come to terms with its inherent sexuality. As Giles comments, "The stories in this book reach toward a wider, and a wilder, space in which breastfeeding might more freely ebb and flow." Drawn from historical research, conversations, questionnaire responses and Giles's own experience, some stories are presented straight from their sources; others are combined and fictionalized. The accompanying remarks are often as long as the stories, and readers may get confused about the identity of the narrator at any given moment. But this collection is sure to provoke deep thought and strong reactions, both visceral and emotional, from revulsion to longing, sometimes both at once. Agent, Elaine Markson. (Apr.)
Forecast:Giles's nonjudgmental approach toward many taboo subjects makes her book rare, and it should attract feminists as well as new and expectant parents.
