Ratings4
Average rating3.9
For readers of Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti, a profound novel about caretaking and creativity from "one of the leading lights in contemporary Latin American literature" (Valeria Luiselli).Alina and Laura are independent and career-driven women in their mid-thirties, neither of whom have built their future around the prospect of a family. Laura is so determined not to become a mother that she has taken the drastic decision to have her tubes tied. But when she announces this to her friend, she learns that Alina has made the opposite decision and is preparing to have a child of her own.Alina's pregnancy shakes the women's lives, first creating distance and then a remarkable closeness between them. When Alina's daughter survives childbirth--after a diagnosis that predicted the opposite--and Laura becomes attached to her neighbor's son, both women are forced to reckon with the complexity of their emotions, their needs, and the needs of the people who are dependent upon them.In prose that is as gripping as it is insightful, Guadalupe Nettel explores maternal ambivalence with a surgeon's touch, carefully dissecting the contradictions that make up the lived experiences of women.
Reviews with the most likes.
I have to say that I really vibe with Nettel's storytelling style. This story is generally not something I would have expected to enjoy based on the themes but I found myself just turning pages and going along for the ride. The characters were pretty relatable, and they came across as fully formed individuals.
There's a lot of potentially sensitive topics in there (still births, difficulties conceiving, abortion, child neglect, domestic abuse, ableism). I don't think these are treated without sensitivity but if you're sensitive to that stuff do approach with caution.