Reviews

The colossal breadth of this book worked as a credit and a detriment. The prose is clear and crisp, and I loved the conversational sections which cut through more dense slabs of research. Thought provoking. Pitched at a very specific audience.

saskiapetris's review

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4.0

This book covers so much content, and still feels like it only scratches the surface of things to talk about motherhood. Rushton does a fantastic job of outlining the facts in a way that makes no judgement on the decision. The idea that there is no ‘good’ morale choice, only a ‘good’ intellectual choice for the individual is very clear by the end of the book. And that there is no way to know how you will be changed by the experience without going through it yourself. Some parts were very confronting to read, particularly about the environmental impact of having children and the earth they will inherent. But it also stays very hopeful in a realistic way.

felo's review

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3.0

3.5
Really worth reading for the discussion is pushed further than the general, often polarised, stereotypical issues.

nicklerew's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

destinyr's review against another edition

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5.0

This book was stunning and heartbreaking and healing all at the same time. This is the book I have been helplessly searching for since I found out I was pregnant 5 years ago. This is the book I’ve been needing to put into words all the heaviness and all of the hope that has lived in my heart but I haven’t been able to articulate. Gina Rushton’s writing is what makes me hold fast to nonfiction even when the world makes me want to escape it.

shelby1994's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Pairs Well With:

Commiserating about sexism in the group chat
Engaging critically with third and fourth wave feminism
Children of Men

“Nothing so quickly confirms what you fear most about the world and yourself as the question of whether or not you want children.”

Starting this year off with back-to-back explorations of open marriages and choosing whether to have a child in this dumpster fire of a society is exposing my complete lack of chill.

Australian journalist Gina Rushton is nearing 30 when she is diagnosed with endometriosis and has to have emergency surgery to remove one of her ovaries.

Faced with her window of fertility suddenly and rapidly closing after a lifetime of assuming she would not want a child, Rushton races to cobble together a definitive path toward either a childfree life or parenthood.

This was everything I wanted and needed to start 2024 off with. Everyone’s opinion on parenthood seems to be violently self-assured, and it is reassuring to read Rushton’s discussions with dozens of folks as they too, stumble their way toward an uncertain future. Rushton is uncommonly generous to everyone she meets, and I was left with both a greater sense of security in my own decision to lead a childfree life, AND a deeper love for all the parents in my life.

Thank you Astra House for the gifted copy!

Content Warnings

zasobel's review

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5.0

4.5/5. Wow! The book I wanted about the choice to become a mother! This book references Motherhood by Sheila Heti a few times, which is funny because I really struggled to connect with that book. This is everything that I wanted it to be. So thoughtful, insightful, measured, relatable, and readable. Definitely a must-read if you're an Australian woman in your twenties grappling with this choice.

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