FitzcarraldoEditions

Still Born | Guadalupe Nettel

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Sometimes life doesn‘t work out as you planned. And sometimes that‘s ok.

Two women, best friends, who never intended to have children. But Alina‘s views change as she gets older, leading to a difficult, life-changing pregnancy that neither she nor the doctors foresaw. Meanwhile Laura unexpectedly starts taking on a mothering role to her neighbour‘s child.

I really enjoyed this. It‘s messy and complicated, and people change their minds and love

rockpools their children to bits, even as they think the worst or feel guilty or can‘t cope. It‘s a very different and non-judgmental look at motherhood and non-motherhood and mothering, set against the backdrop of Mexico City, and a society which expects a woman to become a biological mother.

The writing feels very real - the main character talks like a close friend, while, when she tells Alina‘s story it feels almost like a human-interest news report. 3y

rockpools And yet somehow it works to build a very affecting story without being manipulative or mawkish. Major content warnings for everything around pregnancies that don‘t work out as expected.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #FitzcarraldoEditions who gave me this as a free ARC. I read it in the space of an evening, which is very unusual. 3y

squirrelbrain Great review! 3y

See All 7 Comments

Cinfhen Just ordered this one from #BookDepository - sounds promising 2y

rockpools @Cinfhen 🤞It did several things I wasn‘t expecting - so far it‘s the one I‘d like to win the International Booker, and I‘ll be very surprised if it doesn‘t make the shortlist. That‘ll stop that happening then! I need to review this for the IBP blog now, and it‘s so long so I read it, I should probably re-read. Hmm 🤔 2y

BarbaraBB Reading this now and loving your review. 2y

rockpools @BarbaraBB Thank you. I may re-read this. I think I‘d like it to win. 2y

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