Book two-fifty-four: Baby Proof

Baby Proof (2006)
Emily Giffin

Rating: 1.5/5

I really liked all of Giffin’s previous novels. This one however annoyed me so much. I actually gave up reading it at the point where she leaves her husband over one comment and divorces him without even TALKING to him about it.

I decided to start reading it again, figuring that I must have misinterpreted something. No, she really did leave him over one comment.

Well, not really. She left him because he wanted to have a baby after they had already agreed not to. Fair enough I guess. (I can’t even be bothered to go into the fact that this book makes no wanting to have children seem like such a Big Deal.)

But the scene in which this all comes to a head and she walks out is just so anti-climatic and lame that I just couldn’t believe that someone would actually leave after it.

I suppose in a novel such as this one, you are supposed to believe that her husband is wonderful. I mean, you read a recount of them falling in love. You’re supposed to see he’s great. Amazing.

So why does she deserve him when all she’s offering him is someone who’ll walk out after a non-fight.

The writing also kind of annoyed me here. So much of what she writes is retelling in past tense, with occasional dialogue. Sometimes it feels like you are reading nothing but background, waiting for the story to start.

Claudia and Ben seem to be the perfect couple. Ever since their first date, when they discovered that neither saw children in their future, the path of their relationship seems destined to succeed. They envisage a life filled with freedom, possibility and exploration. Claudia and Ben are together because they want to be, not because children are caging them with eighteen years of obligation. But things don't always stay the same. Ben's best friend and his wife get pregnant, and suddenly Ben changes his mind. He does want children after all. This is the story of a couple at a crossroads - and a woman who must decide what she wants most in life. BABY PROOF explores searing emotional consequences and impossible dilemmas with sensitivity and wit, depth and lashings of heart.

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Finished: Tuesday 8/1/08