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A review by reverie_and_books
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Proceed with care, this book deals with pregnancy, motherhood, and huge fears regarding both.
The novel is devastating and hopeful. It asks seemingly unquestionable questions. To someone not exactly knowing what they’re talking about here (I don’t have children), the author seems to keep the sugarcoating away but also shines a light on the good things. It seems balanced out, relatable, while being also very far away from me. In some way it is tragic. In some other way it is life affirming.
“I have to admit, I have never really got along well with children.” This is a thought of the main character, Laura, on page one. She goes further and seems to investigate the cause, the why, the reason, why women still want to become mothers, and suspects society and their families as the only driving forces.
But there is a twist, a tragically beautiful one. Her best friend (suddenly) wants to have a child, gets pregnant, but there are complications and huge worries.
Accompanied by a pigeon nest on her balcony rafters, her neighbors son Nicolás, who keeps smashing his head against the wall, and his mother Doris, traumatized and overwhelmed, Lauras perceived world grows in size:
“The more we love a person, the more fragile and insecure we feel because of them.”
Life is complex, frightening, beautiful. I want to end this review by quoting a sentence from the blurb:
“In prose that is as gripping as it is insightful, Still Born explores maternal ambivalence with a surgeon’s touch, carefully dissecting the contradictions that make up the lived experiences of women.” While I expected something different, I know that this book will take permanent residency in the back of my mind.
The novel is devastating and hopeful. It asks seemingly unquestionable questions. To someone not exactly knowing what they’re talking about here (I don’t have children), the author seems to keep the sugarcoating away but also shines a light on the good things. It seems balanced out, relatable, while being also very far away from me. In some way it is tragic. In some other way it is life affirming.
“I have to admit, I have never really got along well with children.” This is a thought of the main character, Laura, on page one. She goes further and seems to investigate the cause, the why, the reason, why women still want to become mothers, and suspects society and their families as the only driving forces.
But there is a twist, a tragically beautiful one. Her best friend (suddenly) wants to have a child, gets pregnant, but there are complications and huge worries.
Accompanied by a pigeon nest on her balcony rafters, her neighbors son Nicolás, who keeps smashing his head against the wall, and his mother Doris, traumatized and overwhelmed, Lauras perceived world grows in size:
“The more we love a person, the more fragile and insecure we feel because of them.”
Life is complex, frightening, beautiful. I want to end this review by quoting a sentence from the blurb:
“In prose that is as gripping as it is insightful, Still Born explores maternal ambivalence with a surgeon’s touch, carefully dissecting the contradictions that make up the lived experiences of women.” While I expected something different, I know that this book will take permanent residency in the back of my mind.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Chronic illness