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gabelawson's review
2.0
2.5/5
I picked this up after reading Chitra Ramaswamy's essay in 'Nasty Women' and while I loved the essay, this book was very disappointing. I wanted the real, authentic and sometimes negative perspective on pregnancy instead of the picture-perfect miracle it is painted to be, however she spoke so much about death and cancer that it was not just repetitive but a real overkill for me. Combine this with not mentioning any happiness about having a baby or starting a family until at least chapter 6/9, as a reader I couldn't help myself questioning if she even wanted/was ready to go through this experience at all. I understand this is a memoir and it may be how some people feel in pregnancy, but it made me feel sorry for her instead of empowered by a woman being able to speak freely about her own opinions that go against the grain.
I really wanted to enjoy this book and give it more stars but I feel like I read a totally different book to the other reviewers.
I picked this up after reading Chitra Ramaswamy's essay in 'Nasty Women' and while I loved the essay, this book was very disappointing. I wanted the real, authentic and sometimes negative perspective on pregnancy instead of the picture-perfect miracle it is painted to be, however she spoke so much about death and cancer that it was not just repetitive but a real overkill for me. Combine this with not mentioning any happiness about having a baby or starting a family until at least chapter 6/9, as a reader I couldn't help myself questioning if she even wanted/was ready to go through this experience at all. I understand this is a memoir and it may be how some people feel in pregnancy, but it made me feel sorry for her instead of empowered by a woman being able to speak freely about her own opinions that go against the grain.
I really wanted to enjoy this book and give it more stars but I feel like I read a totally different book to the other reviewers.
nakutski's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Blood, and Vomit
textpublishing's review
5.0
‘Immediately, poignantly, gripping…magnificent.’
Zoe Williams, Guardian
‘Thoughtful and entertaining…Ramaswamy manages to take the blindingly obvious…and turn it into something strange and new.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Drawing on Sylvia Plath, Susan Sontag and Gustave Courbet’s dramatic The Origin of the World, Chitra explores the heightened sense of her pregnant body. All of which rings with authenticity right up to the agony of birth, the relief of a Caesarean and the bliss of the baby’s first cry.’
Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald
‘Beautifully conceived in a nine-chapter structure pregnant with symbolic meaning, it’s a universal book that should appeal to anyone interested in the human condition, not just those who are expecting.’
SBS Online
Zoe Williams, Guardian
‘Thoughtful and entertaining…Ramaswamy manages to take the blindingly obvious…and turn it into something strange and new.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Drawing on Sylvia Plath, Susan Sontag and Gustave Courbet’s dramatic The Origin of the World, Chitra explores the heightened sense of her pregnant body. All of which rings with authenticity right up to the agony of birth, the relief of a Caesarean and the bliss of the baby’s first cry.’
Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald
‘Beautifully conceived in a nine-chapter structure pregnant with symbolic meaning, it’s a universal book that should appeal to anyone interested in the human condition, not just those who are expecting.’
SBS Online
kaydee's review
4.0
A wonderful and empowering read. Ramaswarmy chronicles, in exquisite detail, her nine months of pregnancy, drawing parallels with art, literature, film and nature.
Her written experience of birthing her son, which in a lot of ways mirrored my own, is awe inspiring and captivating.
Her written experience of birthing her son, which in a lot of ways mirrored my own, is awe inspiring and captivating.
kyatic's review
5.0
Ramaswamy wrote this memoir of her pregnancy in the style of nature writing, following Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain, as she views pregnancy as being somewhat akin to scaling a metaphorical mountain, and it makes for a really close view of the human body as topography.
As an Indian woman in a lesbian relationship, Ramaswamy writes beautifully about how the human body undergoes the sea changes of fostering human life, and juxtaposes it with how society receives a brown body about to become a parent outside of a 'traditional' heterosexual marriage; one of the most moving chapters is Ramaswamy's musing about her child's potential resemblance to her white sperm donor, and what it means for her to give birth to a baby who, if it 'passes' for white, may automatically be perceived by strangers as the white offspring of a heterosexual relationship, rather than a mixed race child of a queer household.
Although the main focus of the book is the psychological and physical effects of pregnancy on a person, Ramaswamy's memoir challenges the limited viewpoint that often constrains narratives of pregnancy to notions of white heterosexual couples, and she speaks to the ultimate human connection to the creation of life that should be accessible to all people, but which is still so stigmatised when applied to certain bodies.
A really moving memoir of what it means to nurture life, and to do so beyond the boundaries of heteronormativity.
As an Indian woman in a lesbian relationship, Ramaswamy writes beautifully about how the human body undergoes the sea changes of fostering human life, and juxtaposes it with how society receives a brown body about to become a parent outside of a 'traditional' heterosexual marriage; one of the most moving chapters is Ramaswamy's musing about her child's potential resemblance to her white sperm donor, and what it means for her to give birth to a baby who, if it 'passes' for white, may automatically be perceived by strangers as the white offspring of a heterosexual relationship, rather than a mixed race child of a queer household.
Although the main focus of the book is the psychological and physical effects of pregnancy on a person, Ramaswamy's memoir challenges the limited viewpoint that often constrains narratives of pregnancy to notions of white heterosexual couples, and she speaks to the ultimate human connection to the creation of life that should be accessible to all people, but which is still so stigmatised when applied to certain bodies.
A really moving memoir of what it means to nurture life, and to do so beyond the boundaries of heteronormativity.
rabonallie's review
5.0
wow, you know, I really can't fault this.
pregnancy is not only something I know nothing about - it is an area I actively avoid. It kind of gives me an sad, icky kind of feeling, like one life is ending so another can begin (even though I know that is not the case). It's something I feel so removed from. However, when I heard about this book, I knew I had to pick it up. It reminds me why I need to read more non-fiction. You can experience writing that transports as much as it provokes. You can learn, all the while absorbing incredible literature.
Expecting is a transformative book that reflects upon life, birth, death, nature, art and literature. It was a pleasure and a whirlwind. Highly recommended!
pregnancy is not only something I know nothing about - it is an area I actively avoid. It kind of gives me an sad, icky kind of feeling, like one life is ending so another can begin (even though I know that is not the case). It's something I feel so removed from. However, when I heard about this book, I knew I had to pick it up. It reminds me why I need to read more non-fiction. You can experience writing that transports as much as it provokes. You can learn, all the while absorbing incredible literature.
Expecting is a transformative book that reflects upon life, birth, death, nature, art and literature. It was a pleasure and a whirlwind. Highly recommended!
heatherreadsbooks's review
4.0
I like it. Real experiences of pregnancy. Not perfect experience, but real. The thoughts that run through your mind month by month, experiences you have (or wish you could have), conversations, anecdotes, shifts in feelings across nine months. It's rammed with literary references too, which is always a bonus.
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