Staff Pick
Reading books is the closest I'll ever get to reading minds — I felt that keenly throughout this razor-sharp debut. Using motherhood as a collective theme, Polly Rosenwaike dissects the major and minor ambiguities of modern life. Her characters are people I wish I knew: people I would find inscrutable in reality, but are rendered transparent in fiction. Their thoughts and secret longings were so realistically conveyed that by the end of this collection I felt as though I were the one exposed. Look How Happy I'm Making You is quietly brilliant, a subtle and lovely read! Recommended By Lauren P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
“A beautifully written and beautifully conceived series of stories about, well, conception…Among the thousands of books for prospective and new parents, I doubt any will make you feel more understood and less alone than this one.” — Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See
A candid, ultimately buoyant debut story collection about the realities of the “baby years,” whether you’re having one or not
The women in Polly Rosenwaike’s Look How Happy I’m Making You want to be mothers, or aren’t sure they want to be mothers, or — having recently given birth — are overwhelmed by what they’ve wrought. Sharp and unsettling, wry and moving in its depiction of love, friendship, and family, this collection expands the conversation about what having a baby looks like.
One woman struggling with infertility deals with the news that her sister is pregnant. Another woman nervous about her biological clock “forgets” to take her birth control while dating a younger man and must confront the possibility of becoming a single parent. Four motherless women who meet in a bar every Mother’s Day contend with their losses and what it would mean to have a child.
Witty, empathetic, and precisely observed, Look How Happy I’m Making You offers the rare, honest portrayal of pregnancy and new motherhood in a culture obsessed with women’s most intimate choices.
Review
“With incisive pluck, Rosenwaike’s stories turn an empathetic and humorous eye on the time in women’s lives when the question of motherhood—-whether gained or lost or desired at all — is central. Rosenwaike fearlessly plumbs the depths of women’s interior lives, giving due space to their complexity, gravity, and lightness.” Danielle Lazarin, author of Back Talk
Review
“Whatever choices Polly Rosenwaike’s characters make, they struggle and question and find joy, and through their stories we come to understand parenthood and its influence all the more deeply. Rosenwaike’s debut is funny, honest, and written with grace and empathy.”
Edan Lepucki, author of Woman No.17 and California
Review
“In this lovely collection, Polly Rosenwaike deftly traverses the season of life that is often collapsed into the shorthand ”childbearing years,“ honoring the pain, joy, and possibility that accompanies women’s reproductive lives with her nuanced and entertaining stories. I felt bereft when I came to the end.” Lydia Kiesling, author of Golden State
Review
“I rejoiced in this collection. A radical, unflinching cycle of stories that radiate with truth and depth and care. I could weep for how good it is to see such rich, profound narratives about women’s reproductive lives. Happy tears.” Elisa Albert, author of After Birth
About the Author
POLLY ROSENWAIKE has published stories, essays, and reviews in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2013, The New York Times Book Review, Glimmer Train, New England Review, The Millions, and the San Francisco Chronicle. The fiction editor for Michigan Quarterly Review, she lives in Ann Arbor with the poet Cody Walker and their two daughters.
Polly Rosenwaike on PowellsBooks.Blog
Like many things about motherhood, reading to my kids hasn’t turned out the way I envisioned it before the kids came along. When I was a girl, perhaps beginning around eight or so, the age my older daughter is now, I imagined having a daughter with whom I could share the books I adored...
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