A review by babewithabookandabeer
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel

5.0

Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing for my edition of STILL BORN on Netgalley, out on 8/8/23 and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023.

When I first started Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel (translated by Rosalind Harvey), I didn’t know if I was going to like it or hate it. It follows two women, Alina and Laura, exploring one of life’s most consequential decisions asked of women over and over and over… should I have children? 

As I’m nearing thirty as a single woman who is career-driven and fulfilled in many ways, it’s a question I am forced to reckon with every single day, every month and after every failed Hinge date. This book was very personal to me and while I found myself reeling with more questions than answers, I have to say... I loved it and didn’t want it to end. I wanted to know more and more of Laura and Alina’s thoughts, and flaws, and questions, and decisions. I wanted to be a part of their lives. I wanted to have a cup of coffee with them. I wanted to go on a long walk and ask them how they are. No, really, how are you?

Neither woman has built their future around the prospect of a family, but when Laura makes the drastic decision to be sterilized, Alina decides she is now drawn to the idea of being a mother. Complications arise with Alina’s pregnancy and she is forced to make a difficult decision, one that only a mother can make. Laura becomes attached to her neighbor’s son, whose mother is dealing with deepening depression. Both women are forced to reckon with the complexity of their experiences and their emotions. Just like the synopsis says, it truly does dissect the contradictions that make up womanhood. To be a woman is a more profound and depth-defying experience than it is to just be human. It’s something you can’t put into words, you have to live it, well… unless you’re Guadalupe Nettel.