|
| Baby Proof | 
 enlarge | Author: Emily Giffin
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $5.99
You Save: $17.96 (75%)
New (11) Used (16) from $4.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  258 reviews
Sales Rank: 4032
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st. EDITION
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
ASIN: B0012BR8GU
Publication Date: June 13, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From the author of the smash hits Something Borrowed and Something Blue comes a novel that explores the question: is there ever a deal-breaker when it comes to true love?
First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes . . . a baby carriage? Isn’t that what all women want?
Not so for Claudia Parr. And just as she gives up on finding a man who feels the same way, she meets warm, wonderful Ben. Things seem too good to be true when they fall in love and agree to buck tradition with a satisfying, child-free marriage. Then the unexpected occurs: one of them has a change of heart. One of them wants children after all.
This is the witty, heartfelt story about what happens to the perfect couple when they suddenly want different things. It’s about feeling that your life is set and then realizing that nothing is as you thought it was--and that there is no possible compromise. It’s about deciding what is most important in life, and taking chances to get it. But most of all, it’s about the things we will do--and won’t do--for love.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 253 more reviews...
 Promises Made, Promises Broken December 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Claudia Parr has decided she does not want children. Her hopes of finding someone that felt the same seem slim. That is, until she meets Ben. He feels the same way and now things are perfect. They fall in love and get married. Happily ever after, right?? NOT. Claudia and Ben's closest friends become pregnant. And now Ben changes their minds. Now everything is completely off balance. Claudia feels betrayed. And she insists that she will never have a child.
Giffin infuses humor in this all so difficult topic. Will Claudia and Ben stay together? Will she decide to have a child? The cover is very deceiving. I thought with the sparkly booties it would be a rather slow and boring story. It was total opposite and I read the book in one sitting. I haven't read a book in one night in a while. You most definitely have to read this book.
Donnica Copeland
Sista Talk Book Club
Fascinating book November 22, 2008
I really loved this book and was fascinated by the topic. No, not the baby topic (though I thought it was very well drawn out with Claudia, her sisters and Jess), but the idea of what would be a non-negotiable issue in an otherwise wonderful relationship. Giffin is a smart writer and makes the book entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time. Also, really loved the ending. I love that some questions are answered, but that some are also left open. Makes it more authentic.
 Somewhat Disappointed... November 17, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've read Emily Giffin's two other novels (Something Borrowed/Something Blue) and I have to say that this one was not as enticing compared to the other two. The book didn't keep my attention like the other novels, I think because the ending was too predictable. In the middle of the book I already knew the outcome and I felt like I was forcing myself to finish the book to the no surprise ending.
Maybe this book was dull because her other books referenced to each other, however this one really had no reference to her previous books. I'm going to try her last novel... I hope the next one is better than this one.
 Author cannot write a believable childfree woman at all November 10, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Baby Proof is a fake childfree book written by a parent trying to impersonate the childfree voice, and she gets it all wrong.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Claudia, the main character, is like a background player in her own novel. I kept wondering why, in a book about a nominally childfree-by-choice woman, so much time was given to X, Y, or Z mommy or mommy-wannabe of the protagonist's acquaintance. She had no interests of her own besides her job; most of the time it felt like she was sitting around waiting for the phone to ring so she could listen to the mommies go on and on about themselves. All Claudia ever did was work and serve as a sounding board, babysitter, and supporter for the mommies she knew. When she finally hooks up with the hot childfree guy and goes on a fantastic vacation with him, she can't enjoy it because "something is missing." Gee, could the missing thing be...A BABY??!1?! Subtle, Giffin ain't.
And Ben, Claudia's husband, comes off as so shallow, naive, and selfish that I couldn't stand him, and couldn't comprehend why Claudia wanted him back. When she left him, I thought GOOD RIDDANCE! He came off like a whiny, pouting, manipulative child himself. I couldn't imagine how any woman would want HIM around, let alone want to have his baby.
Then towards the end, Claudia finally gets lonely and beaten-down enough to try to get back together with her husband by offering to have his baby, and at that point I wanted to throw the book across the room. It stopped being chick lit and became, for me, a very subtle horror story about how loneliness and relentless, soul-deadening social pressure force unmaternal women into having unwanted children just to get along in a world that treats non-mothers like second-class citizens. Yet Giffin depicts this slow erosion of her protagonist's true self as PROGRESS. Gee, glad to know that even women who are 100% sure they don't want children really-truly always want one deep down. Biology always IS destiny then, no matter what that woman's pesky CONSCIOUS MIND wants. Good to know.
A very insidious book. Perhaps for an encore, Giffin can write a novel about a gay woman who gets pressured into a heterosexual marriage because everyone in her life wants to pretend she's straight. Or maybe she can give us the story of Ben and Claudia's 16-year-old daughter, who grows up knowing that her mother Claudia never really wanted her and only had her because her father Ben demanded it.
Insightful and Fun - Addresses an Often Untalked about Topic October 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was a great book! It was funny, smart, and insightful. It tackled an often untalked about topic - making a choice to not have children. So often in our society, women who choose not to have children are labeled as selfish and uncaring. Honestly, if you think about some of the reasons that people have children, they are quite selfish. To decide not to have children in a world that expects nothing less requires someone has who has insight and a strong enough sense of self.
The author tackles this topic in a thoughtful and engaging way through the experiences of Claudia and Ben who have each chosen a childfree path. Heading into their marriage, there is an agreement that they will not have children. The story is about what transpires when Ben realizes that he actually does want a child while Claudia remains steadfast in her decision to live childfree.
I found myself empathizing with both and wanting each to have what he/she truly wanted, while at the same time having one another. Impossible. Baby Proof is a journey that doesn't disappoint. It is intelligently written with great dialogue.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
