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Comments for Baby Proof
Baby Proof: 01/09/11
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin poses a question: what does it take to be a family? More specifically it asks do a married couple have to children to be happy? Yes, no, maybe.
I read the book not because I needed answers to these questions. My husband and I had already made our decision. I read it because it was an orphaned book. No one else at the monthly book club wanted to.
Claudia Parr doesn't want children. She never has. She figures she'll never get married because the men she dates all seem to want children. That is until she meets Ben. They fall in love, get married and that should be that. Except that a few years down the line, Ben has a change of heart.
The book is fairly typical of American chick lit. It's set in Manhattan with a well to do, hardworking Caucasian protagonist. There's a lot name dropping and location dropping and it's no different than Presley musing about San Francisco and Treasure Island. Claudia is as madly in love with Manhattan as she is with Ben.
What kept me reading though was Claudia's steadfast sense of self. She doesn't want children and she has her reasons and won't be bullied into compromising even though all around her friends and family are deciding to become parents.
Thankfully not all the baby plots are happy ones. There's an unplanned pregnancy, and another couple struggling with infertility. Both of these stories play against Claudia's separation from Ben over her refusal to have a child.
I was afraid I would hate the ending. Either Claudia would give in or she would some how be punished for not giving in. Thankfully neither of those outcomes happens. Instead there's something different that took me by surprise.
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books | Emily Giffin | fiction | 2006
Comments (4)
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Comment #1: Monday, January, 10, 2011 at 01:49:41
I read this one quite a while ago, so I can't remember all of the details, I just remember that I really enjoyed it!
Comment #2: Friday, January 14, 2011 at 19:28:14
Pussreboots
It was an enjoyable and sometimes thought provoking book.
Comment #3: Monday, January, 10, 2011 at 15:21:31
I loved the books Something Borrowed and Something Blue, but Baby Proof just didn't grab me at all. I am glad the book exists- not wanting to have kids, especially among female protagonists, is very uncommon. For me though, it just lacked the charm of Griffin's first 2 books. Haven't read Heart of the Matter yet, but its in my TBR pile.
Comment #4: Friday, January 14, 2011 at 19:29:52
Pussreboots
I haven't read Something Borrowed or Something Blue but I will keep an eye out for them.