Anna Solomon

So I'm six months pregnant and getting tired of reading blah prose about pregnancy and birth. I was really excited to find a book of essays about childbirth by great writers. Finally! A pregnancy book the English major in me can sink her teeth into (really the English major in me should say, "into which she can sink her teeth").

Now, I liked this book for the quality of the writing, but I'm going to say that I sort of regret reading it. If you're a pregnant lady trying to prepare for an unmedicated home birth (as I am), this is not the book for you. Many of the stories are horrifying. My last midwife appointment was full of me relating stories from this book and Shari assuring me, "That's very rare." It's almost impossible to shelter yourself from negative birth stories nowadays, but you certainly don't have to read this book and freak yourself out. So many of the stories start with some version of, "I really wanted to have an unmedicated birth," and end with epidurals, c-sections, and various traumas. Even though Ina May Gaskin's books are hardly poetry, they are meant to get to you to a place where you believe you can have an awesome birth.

To be fair, I know that these stories are all true and they are not all scary. Still, if you were about to take your first trip on an airplane, would you want to read a bunch of stories describing traumatic airplane trips that didn't go as planned? Probably not. Better to read it after safely landing at your destination.

I may alter my three-star rating after giving birth. There are some really great essays in here. I particularly liked Cheryl Strayed's, Gina Zucker's and Susan Burton's, but they are all worthwhile.… (meer)

Just in time for the holiday of Purim, this novel is very timely. There are three stories about women at different time periods. Esther is the heroine of the bible story about saving her people. This version is darker with a surprising conclusion. Vivian is a senator's wife in the early 1970's. When her husband asks her to do something humiliating, her reaction sets of a number of life changing events. Lily is a troubled young mother in contemporary times. She is faced with a life that she doesn't quite seem to manage. How the stories come together is very interesting. One theme that is very much of our times is the refusal of Vashti-the queen in Esther's story. Today her actions are seen are not treasonable but very correct. And this novel reconciles how Vashti might have changed history within the telling of the traditional story.… (meer)