The Independent
Link: My Terrible Addiction by Caitriona Palmer
Miami Herald
Link: Her Body of Work - Literally by Mirta Ojito
The Oregonian
Link: Book Review: Impossible Motherhood
Washington Post
Link: An Addiction That Only Motherhood Could Cure by Manuel Roig-Franzia
Los Angeles Times
Link: Memoir of a Former Abortion Addict by Robin Abcarian
Sacramento Book Review
Link: Book Review: Impossible Motherhood
Huffington Post
Link: Abortion Addict Speaks
National Post
Link: Woman 'Addicted to Abortion' Releases Memoir by Mary Vallis
ForeWord Mag Review Quote
“Vilar does not mean to advocate on either side of the abortion debate; ranging far beyond the politics of abortion, her book is a controversial and intense tale of generational and national trauma… [Vilar is] a writer of brutal honesty and profound intelligence.”
—ForeWord Magazine
Gloria Feldt quote
“Irene Vilar's dramatic and beautifully drawn story forces the reader to confront the power of sexuality and procreation that often is the only power a young woman perceives she owns in this world. Impossible Motherhood is profound, raw, wrenching, and honest to the bone. Yet despite the title, its message is that no matter how intense the pain one has experienced, healing and redemption are in fact possible.”
—Gloria Feldt
Gregory Rabassa’s “If this be Treason,” New Directions 2006
Link: Read excerpt at Google Books
Benigno Trigo’s “Remembering Maternal Bodies”
Melanie A. Pérez Ortiz’s “Irene Vilar: Critique of Self-Sacrifice…”
Laura Halperin’s “Rape’s Shadow: Seized Freedoms in Irene Vilar’s ‘The Ladies’ Gallery’”
Mirta Ojito article in The New York Times
“Ms. Vilar, who prefers discussing poetry to politics, says she wrote the book not to add to or detract from her grandmother’s near-mythic status, but to give a voice to herself and to her dead mother, Gladys Mendez. Both, she says, have languished in the shadow of Ms. Lebron.”