Look How Happy I'm Making You
Stories
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
"Among the thousands of books for prospective and new parents, I doubt any will make you feel more understood and less alone than this one."—ANTHONY DOERR, author of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
“Armed with wit, tenderness and candor, [Look How Happy I'm Making You] helps obliterate any taboos that may still exist surrounding the tribulations of women’s reproductive lives.”—PEOPLE MAGAZINE
A candid, ultimately buoyant debut story collection about the realities of the "baby years," whether you're having one or not
The women in Polly Rosenwaike's Look How Happy I'm Making You want to be mothers, or aren't sure they want to be mothers, or--having recently given birth--are overwhelmed by what they've wrought. Sharp and unsettling, wry and moving in its depiction of love, friendship, and family, this collection expands the conversation about what having a baby looks like.
One woman struggling with infertility deals with the news that her sister is pregnant. Another woman nervous about her biological clock "forgets" to take her birth control while dating a younger man and must confront the possibility of becoming a single parent. Four motherless women who meet in a bar every Mother's Day contend with their losses and what it would mean to have a child.
Witty, empathetic, and precisely observed, Look How Happy I'm Making You offers the rare, honest portrayal of pregnancy and new motherhood in a culture obsessed with women's most intimate choices.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 12 stories in Rosenwaike's striking debut collection portray women of childbearing age confronting the challenges of becoming, or not becoming, a mother. In "Grow Your Eyelashes," a web developer admires a baby on a bus while recalling her own fruitless efforts to get pregnant. Freelance editor Cora, of "Period, Ellipsis, Full Stop," has a miscarriage. In incisive language, Rosenwaike evokes the baby's miniature hands and swollen cheeks; the cavernous, windowless institute where Leah works; and Cora writing pleasant work emails despite her throbbing uterus. Longing and anxiety pervade "White Carnations" as four motherless, childless friends celebrate Mother's Day together, and "June," in which an expectant mother feels torn between her unborn daughter and dying aunt. Self-aware humor helps baby Alice's parents through her first Christmas/Hanukkah gathering in "Welcome to Your Family" and a wakeful infant's parents through the night in "Parental Fade." The road to parenthood is paved with denial in "The Dissembler's Guide to Pregnancy," resistance in "Ten Warning Signs of Postpartum Depression," and overwhelming affection in "Love Bug, Sweetie Dear, Pumpkin Pie, Etc." Rosenwaike's edgy stories are endearingly honest, excruciatingly detailed, and irresistibly intimate, expertly depicting what motherhood means to millennials.
