A Lazy Reader's Review of "Still Born" by Guadalupe Nettel

Synopsis

    Still Born, Guadalupe Nettel's fourth novel, treats one of the most consequential decisions of early adulthood – whether or not to have children – with the intelligence and originality that have won her international acclaim. Alina and Laura are independent and career-driven women in their mid-thirties, neither of whom have built their future around the prospect of a family. Laura has taken the drastic decision to be sterilized, but as time goes by Alina becomes drawn to the idea of becoming a mother. When Alina's daughter survives childbirth – after a diagnosis that predicted the opposite – and Laura becomes attached to her neighbor's son, both women are forced to reckon with the complexity of their emotions.

Review

    I feel like I have no words for this book. But, I'll try.

    Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed about this book is the writing. Guadalupe Nettel has an incredible way with words. Her writing style, her prose, her characterization are all incredibly . . . incredible. I took a while to finish this book, almost a week, but that's only because I really wanted to take my time with it and really absorb everything she was Nettel was trying to convey to the reader.

    Motherhood is such a tough topic to tackle and I feel like she did it in a way that is compassionate, real and raw. The two women that this book focuses on felt so incredibly real and relatable. Laura has no interest in becoming pregnant and being a mother, so she elects to have her tubes tied in order to prevent that from every happening. But she becomes a sort of surrogate mother to her young neighbor who struggles with behavioral problems. She finds herself feeling very attached to this young boy and begins to almost question her decision of being childless but she soon realizes that her choice was made in good faith as she isn't willing to give up any of her freedom or time for a child.

    Her best friend, Alina, who used to share her sentiments of remaining childless, changed her mind and decided that she did, in fact, wish to be a mother. In the beginning of her and her husband's attempts she found herself struggling with fertility issues and had eventually given up her pursuits. That is until she found herself unexpectedly pregnant. Now, being thirty-seven years old, her pregnancy was considered high risk but it wasn't until around six months along her pregnancy that she discovers that her daughter's brain was not as far developed as it should have been. Because of this, her doctors all said that as soon as she was born, her daughter would die. Alina spends the rest of her pregnancy grieving for her daughter as if she was already dead. It isn't until she goes into labor that she is given the news that her daughter survived. Her doctors continued to tell her that it was unlikely that her daughter would live long but despite all of this, she did.

    I'm still trying to wrap my head around this book and I'm starting to think that I should wait until the day after I finish reading a book to write my review. Regardless, I really recommend this book.

Nov. 18, 2024 – Nov. 23, 2024

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

I couldn't possibly pick just one quote, this book is full of them.