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shannonw19's review against another edition
2.0
The Art of Waiting is a highly anticipated memoir from Belle Boggs based on her essay published on the internet of the same name. I was looking forward to reading the book.
I will admit that I did not finish the book. I just did not find it to be my cup of tea. I found her tone to be too academic and too condescending to get into the book father than the third essay of chapter. I wish I could have gotten through it, but I found myself looking at reading this book as a chore and I do not want to read books if they are chores. It's entirely possible that other people will read and thoroughly enjoy this book. I unfortunately am not one of those people.
I won this book from Goodreads and did not receive any other compensation for my review. The opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
I will admit that I did not finish the book. I just did not find it to be my cup of tea. I found her tone to be too academic and too condescending to get into the book father than the third essay of chapter. I wish I could have gotten through it, but I found myself looking at reading this book as a chore and I do not want to read books if they are chores. It's entirely possible that other people will read and thoroughly enjoy this book. I unfortunately am not one of those people.
I won this book from Goodreads and did not receive any other compensation for my review. The opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
keenanator's review against another edition
3.0
I turned to this book after a miscarriage and over a year of trying for a child with my husband. I think I was looking more for some inspiration on waiting. However, that is not what this book is about. It leans heavily on Boggs experience to get pregnant and while I appreciated deep dive into the different medical options and treatments, it just wasn’t what I was looking for.
The book was a hard read due to the research aspect (not my cup of tea). However, it was extremely informative on the options available to those looking to start a family. It also provided some interesting aspects into the American Culture of TTC and compared it to some animal cultures and cultures outside of the US. I would recommend this book as an informative on the options available to start a family and less on the notion that it will help you during the waiting period.
The book was a hard read due to the research aspect (not my cup of tea). However, it was extremely informative on the options available to those looking to start a family. It also provided some interesting aspects into the American Culture of TTC and compared it to some animal cultures and cultures outside of the US. I would recommend this book as an informative on the options available to start a family and less on the notion that it will help you during the waiting period.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
As usual, Graywolf hits it out of the park. Boggs intertwined the story of her own struggle with infertility with a larger look at the ethics of and barriers to assisted reproductive technologies and the cultural pressure to have children. The resulting book is a thoughtful examination of child-bearing in the 21st century and the pressures placed on women both physically and psychologically when the biology doesn't work as society assumes it should. Boggs also tried to expand her work into the specific barriers facing same-sex couples, single parents, and people of color - few ART resources are readily available to women who are not white, well-off heteronormative married couples, an area of institutional discrimination that needs a great deal of work.
pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
“The life an infertile person seeks comes to her not by accident and not by fate but by hard-fought choices. How to put together the portfolio of photographs. How to answer at the home study. What clinic or doctor or procedure. Donor egg or donor sperm or donor embryo. Open or closed adoption. What country, what boxes to check or uncheck. What questions to ask, and ask again. When to start and when to stop. What to say when her child says, Tell me my story.”
I was extremely lucky when my husband and I decided to have children. I got pregnant right away. Which made me so grateful for the pill – we couldn’t have afforded children before that time. I did miscarry with my first pregnancy but was able to get pregnant again as soon as I was ready to begin again. We went on to have two beautiful children who are very wonderful adults.
Our daughter-in-law was not so lucky, but after some trials and tribulations, she and our son have two lovely children that we all adore. I do wish that I had been more open about my miscarriage. Maybe they would have been willing to be more open about the trials and tribulations. I don’t know.
Our daughter and son-in-law have one baby who is only 3 months old so time will tell if they have more children. I hope so, but it isn’t my business.
All this is to say that I am not sure why I am so interested in stories about pregnancy loss and infertility. Maybe because I am a mom and I hope that no woman would find motherhood hard to achieve. For whatever reason, women don’t share many stories about how hard pregnancy can be for some women.
Boggs does a great job of sharing her story. I hope that the women that need to hear how others work out the issues of IVF, testing, shots, etc., get to read this book. And those of us that found our way to motherhood with few trials and tribulations, need to be aware of the heartaches some women go through. I am very grateful to Boggs for this book.
I was extremely lucky when my husband and I decided to have children. I got pregnant right away. Which made me so grateful for the pill – we couldn’t have afforded children before that time. I did miscarry with my first pregnancy but was able to get pregnant again as soon as I was ready to begin again. We went on to have two beautiful children who are very wonderful adults.
Our daughter-in-law was not so lucky, but after some trials and tribulations, she and our son have two lovely children that we all adore. I do wish that I had been more open about my miscarriage. Maybe they would have been willing to be more open about the trials and tribulations. I don’t know.
Our daughter and son-in-law have one baby who is only 3 months old so time will tell if they have more children. I hope so, but it isn’t my business.
All this is to say that I am not sure why I am so interested in stories about pregnancy loss and infertility. Maybe because I am a mom and I hope that no woman would find motherhood hard to achieve. For whatever reason, women don’t share many stories about how hard pregnancy can be for some women.
Boggs does a great job of sharing her story. I hope that the women that need to hear how others work out the issues of IVF, testing, shots, etc., get to read this book. And those of us that found our way to motherhood with few trials and tribulations, need to be aware of the heartaches some women go through. I am very grateful to Boggs for this book.
sterkaim's review against another edition
3.0
Way more science and all kinds of info on all kinds of ways of becoming a family than actual memoir which is really what I wanted to read after my own IVF journey. I learned a few things but didn't really feel anything--no real connection to the author or her journey.
amsenter's review against another edition
4.0
I was thrilled to win a copy of this book from a Goodreads Giveaway! I really enjoyed learning about infertility and the different ways that people build their families. I thought the author included a good mixture of personal anecdotes, other people's stories, and science. Recommend for anyone interested in fertility issues and family planning.
walwoodr's review against another edition
3.0
This book was poignant, well written, and contained a nice smattering of scientific and cultural research. At the same time, it struggled at times to hang together. The book read as only a collection of essays, each one individually a high quality discourse on the subject, but that didn't come together to form an exceptional book on the subject.
brdgtc's review against another edition
4.0
After thinking about this book a few days I had to come back to give it another star - it really sticks with you in some ways. It is well written (the author is a writing teacher), but it was the combination of personal experience and historical and biological facts that made it powerful. The ways in which she explained and then carefully deconstructed our notions of "natural" in relation to motherhood, family, and pregnancy make it both more relatable and more challenging.
k80uva's review against another edition
4.0
There's so much warmth and tenderness in Belle Boggs' writing and I enjoyed her style in a nonfiction setting.