A sometimes-difficult but uplifting read about the resilience of parents, even before their child-rearing journey begins.
A debut novel, based on the author’s experiences, about a hopeful young woman’s trials and tribulations with infertility and family planning.
Lauren and Mack Weiss, a young, upwardly mobile couple, agree to start a family but quickly discover numerous obstacles impeding their plans. At the book’s start, narrator Lauren seems to have it all: a doting husband, a high-powered political job, a fancy car. Describing themselves as “dinks”—double income no kids—Lauren and Mack are financially very comfortable. The only thing they need to complete the picture is a baby in the proverbial baby carriage. After several months of fruitless “TTC” (trying to conceive), Lauren begins an endless tour of doctors’ offices. Slowly and painstakingly, she discovers both physiological and psychological issues that may be standing in her way of conceiving. As Lauren researches and addresses potential avenues for getting a baby of her own, she’s confronted with many false starts and devastating losses. Along the way, Weinberg provides copious information about modern medical advances in fertility treatment and prenatal care in a manner that is interesting and accessible, as well as supportive of the narrative. Despite its heavy subject matter, the story is well-paced and witty, sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny. There are moments throughout the story, however, where the author overuses adjectives and superlatives—for example, when the narrator repeatedly declares such truisms as “Mack [is] the world’s most thoughtful husband.” Aside from its overly descriptive tone, the narrative is fast-paced and engaging, often reading like a casual conversation between girlfriends. As the book progresses, readers witness Lauren’s and Mack’s pain and hope, their longing and despair, and their endearing dedication to each other in the face of misfortune. Based on the true story of the author’s own difficulties starting a family, the tale will ring true for many who have endured similar struggles.
A sometimes-difficult but uplifting read about the resilience of parents, even before their child-rearing journey begins.Pub Date: June 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1626464124
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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