2006 ( )

Didn't quite get where I wanted it to go, but I got over that. Quite good writing for this genre. Not too annoying. Fast-moving storytelling, multiple points of view, character grows up a bit, and there are some endearing and funny scenes. Some very believable characters too. Easy to read, enjoyable. ( )

This is the story of Claudia and Ben, a couple who meet on the most perfect blind date. One of the attractions for Claudia is the fact that Ben does not want children - she has known since childhood that she does not want to have children, and therefore feels that it is meant to be. After a blissful few years of marriage, Ben confesses to wanting children. After discovering that they have no ability to compromise on this matter, Claudia issues an ultimatum of 'having children or having me'. Ben chooses the former.

Against the backdrop of this main storyline, we also meet Jess, Claudia's best friend, and Maura and Daphne, her two sisters. In each case Giffin deals sensitively with different aspects of children. The couple that desperately want children but find they're infertile. The couple who are staying together for the sake of their children. And the person who wonders about having a child in order to force a married man to make a commitment to her. I really enjoyed all of the background stories, and felt that these secondary characters were actually drawn more realistically than the two main characters.

My main complaint is that we actually see very little of Ben. Because the story is told from a first person perspective, during the split we stay very much with Claudia. We also cannot see Ben's thoughts, which means his extreme turnaround from wanting no children to suddenly wanting a family cannot be deciphered (although I guess we are then very much in Claudia's position!) Did he want children to start with and merely lied? Did it come along gradually? Was it seeing his best friend's become parents that convinced him he was ready? Because Ben was so one-dimensional it was hard to care about the fairytale ending.

And it was very much a fairytale ending! Not only do Ben and Claudia realise that they belong together, but Claudia believes that she will do anything to keep Ben - including having a child. This is not a complete turnaround, since she still isn't sure she wants a child, but she is most certainly compromising - something that she stated she could never do.

So, altogether more disappointing fare from the person who brought us two such excellent books as Something Borrowed and Something Blue. ( )

I wish I had borrowed this book instead of buying it. It started very slowly. The language does not captivate and the story's "everyday" feel is just like everyday - boring. The end was far too short and extremely unsatisfying. ( )

I don't usually read books that fall into the "chick-lit" classification - but I picked this one up when I ran into it at a used book store, because I was intrigued by the premise. [SPOILER ALERT in this review]

So, Baby Proof is a book about a childfree (CF) woman who marries a man who says he's the same way, but then changes his mind, after their mutual closest friends have babies. The author recounts some earlier experiences around kids for the couple, I think to give the idea that he didn't initially seem to be a fencesitter, but the backstory is too thin to understand if he really had a major about-face or was just lying all along about his intentions. Our main character is understandably upset, and gives him an ultimatum - she's not going to have children just because he wants them and rejects with clear explanation his theory that they could "compromise" by having one kid. They divorce, they both date other people. She has a lot of kid-focused things going on: she considers her infertile sister's request that she donate an egg to them and babysits for her other sister's kids, whom she loves. (She likes kids, but doesn't want them). She misses her husband.

Up until almost the very end, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The main character is likable and compassionate - she's not portrayed as cold and selfish. The author goes through the responses to some of the common cultural insistences that we must all want to have babies - spends a good two pages on why having kids because you want someone to take care of you when you get old is not an appropriate rationale. It is the first time I'd ever seen a CF character in a book - especially as the main focus of the book - and I liked that. I liked seeing these ideas put forth as reasonable and sensible, and the crazy child-insistent coming off as the weirdos. I hate to say it, but it felt kind of empowering.

There's also every conceivable range here of women with kids. The sister who's infertile and wants them badly - then decides to adopt. The sister who has three of them and has been staying in a crap marriage because of them - but then decides not to take it anymore. The roommate who always dates the bad, unreliable guy - getting pregnant accidentally on purpose, because she wants kids more than she wants a good relationship.

But, I can't recommend the book, because of the way it ends.

Missing her ex-husband is killing this woman. The new, perfect guy she's found can't keep her happy - or even keep her attention - despite some mind-blowing sex. She can't stop thinking about and missing her husband. And I understand that kind of pain - really, I don't object to characters suffering an extreme amount. It even seemed likely here. But what I can't get behind is that she caves in. She decides to tell him she will do whatever it takes to get back together - even have a child. After some mixups, the book ends with them getting in bed together, after a month. She looks at her pill pack in the bathroom - you can't tell if she takes the pill or decides to skip it. She gets into bed, and he turns over and says he doesn't think he does need to be a dad to be happy - he just needs her.

Author gets points for at least not giving her main character some kind of wholesale conversion - she doesn't come out wanting kids; it's clear she's considering them as a sacrifice to get back with the man. But even doing so casts aspersions on her earlier convictions and feelings, and the conversation they had at the beginning about how having one kid is no compromise at all. It supports the idea that all women really do want children - if you think you don't, it's just because something is wrong with you (main character has mommy issues - there's a suggestion here that once her mom says "you're not like me" she can turn around and want kids.). The author probably can't conceive of this, as she mentions she has kids herself, but there are people who don't want babies at all - don't want the work, don't want the responsibility, don't want the hardship. There is nothing you can say to these people to make them change their minds. And someone who really didn't want kids for these reasons, who had really thought about it - she's not going to change her mind just because of some heartbreak - because that's not a win-win. That's a lose-lose. In real life, this woman would go on to be a resentful mother, and end up hating the husband she used to love because she did this for him and she didn't really want to. This is not a situation with a happy ending for people who really feel this way. The ending made me really really angry. I threw the book in the recycling. ( )