A review by carodonahue
The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano, by Donna Freitas

Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
The structure was interesting, but as a stepmother who is biologically childfree by choice, reading about this woman getting bullied into having a baby was really stressful. Thankfully my family hasn’t put this kind of pressure on me, but I was similarly irked by the lives in which Rose did end up having a baby and suddenly loving being a parent and naturally taking to it with no evidence of postpartum or regret. To me this just furthers the narrative that women need to overcome any objections to becoming mothers because parenthood is the only way women can feel fulfillment. Yes, she keeps her career and yes there may be additional lives I didn’t reach where she has a baby and does experience frustration that she was pressured into the choice, but I wasn’t willing to hang out with the story that long. I was also quite clear on my choice nearly my whole life and disagree with this presentation of it. I also disliked the assumption that „if your man wants a baby and you don’t want to have one, he‘s going to cheat on you and pretty much everyone will agree that it‘s your own fault.“ I am clearly not the target audience for this one.
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