A review by wordsaremything
The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano, by Donna Freitas
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I so wanted to love this book. I thought the premise of it — a woman makes 9 different decisions about pregnancy and being childless — sounded absolutely fascinating.
Nine lives? That's so many chances for interesting things to happen. What happens if she decides to get pregnant and they discover they are infertile? What happens if they learn their child would have a terrible birth abnormality? What happens if, a couple years into being parents, there is a tragedy that takes their child from them? What happens if she says no, I don't want to be childless, and they move to Europe like her aunt?
There were all these fascinating possibilities, and the author chose 0 of them.
1 -- she gets pregnant, loves her daughter, loses Luke, ends up with Thomas
2 -- she doesn't get pregnant, loses Luke, ends up with Thomas, who has a daughter (with her daughter's same name)
3 -- she dies in childbirth
That's it. Those are all the story lines possible out of nine different variations. So even though Rose never wanted to become a parent / have a child, she either becomes a mom or a stepmom. There is no future for her, no life for her, where she is alive, living her life, without a child in it.
Maybe that's comforting for some people, to know that there are certain tracks you are "bound" to, that no matter how much you mess up, you'll end up there. I thought this sounded absolutely horrendous. No free will? What's the point of her wondering what different lives could have looked like for her, if she ends up in the same place every time? And even if she decides to have a child, her husband still cheats on her. They fail to have a single useful, open, emotional conversation. Where is the couples counseling? Where is the empathy for another person?
A great idea, a disappointing execution.
Nine lives? That's so many chances for interesting things to happen. What happens if she decides to get pregnant and they discover they are infertile? What happens if they learn their child would have a terrible birth abnormality? What happens if, a couple years into being parents, there is a tragedy that takes their child from them? What happens if she says no, I don't want to be childless, and they move to Europe like her aunt?
There were all these fascinating possibilities, and the author chose 0 of them.
Spoiler
There are exactly three ways the choices go:1 -- she gets pregnant, loves her daughter, loses Luke, ends up with Thomas
2 -- she doesn't get pregnant, loses Luke, ends up with Thomas, who has a daughter (with her daughter's same name)
3 -- she dies in childbirth
That's it. Those are all the story lines possible out of nine different variations. So even though Rose never wanted to become a parent / have a child, she either becomes a mom or a stepmom. There is no future for her, no life for her, where she is alive, living her life, without a child in it.
Maybe that's comforting for some people, to know that there are certain tracks you are "bound" to, that no matter how much you mess up, you'll end up there. I thought this sounded absolutely horrendous. No free will? What's the point of her wondering what different lives could have looked like for her, if she ends up in the same place every time? And even if she decides to have a child, her husband still cheats on her. They fail to have a single useful, open, emotional conversation. Where is the couples counseling? Where is the empathy for another person?
A great idea, a disappointing execution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, and Infidelity