Loved this brilliantly claustrophobic tale about a woman struggling with new motherhood. The cover alone is such a powerfully evocative image.
The narrator is suffering from postpartum depression and possibly even psychosis but the author deftly weaves humor into this otherwise very serious tale (โ๐๐ตโ๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ.โ) Before giving birth, the narrator worked as a translator and fantasizes about returning to her old life, and to her old self. And yet she canโt seem to leave the small apartment she shares with her husband.
The fears of I think most new parents are laid bare in this
sharply written story. Who wasnโt afraid to take their newborn home from the hospital? (โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข.๐ฎ. ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐น ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.โ)
While the narrator seems to slowly lose her grip on reality, she describes her postpartum recovery in almost ghastly detail. This book is not for the faint of heart but I found it to be an insightful and very intense glimpse into a darker side of motherhood.
(๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.)
About the Book:
A debut novel from a remarkable new talent: a visceral and revelatory portrait of a woman struggling with maternal fear and its looming madness, showing how difficult and fragile those postpartum days can be, and how vital love is to pull anyone out from the dark
There is the before and the after. Withering in the maternal prison of her apartment, a new mother finds herself spiraling into a state of complete disaffection. As a translator, she is usually happy to spend her days as the invisible interpreter. But now home alone with her newborn, she is ill at ease with this state of perpetual giving, carrying, feeding. The instinct to keep her baby safe conflicts with the intrusive thoughts of causing the baby harm, and she struggles to reclaim her identity just as it seems to dissolve from underneath her.
Feeling isolated from her supportive but ineffectual husband, she strikes up a tentative friendship with her ailing upstairs neighbor, Peter, who hushes the baby with his oxygen tank in tow. But they are both running out of time; something is soon to crack. Joyful early days of her pregnancy mingle with the anxious arrival of the baby, and culminate in a painful confrontationโmostly, between our narrator and herself. Striking and emotive, The Nursery documents the slow process of staggering back towards the simple pleasures of life and reentering the world after post-partum depression.
