Babyville (Green, Jane) - Hardcover

Green, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0767912233 ISBN 13: 9780767912235

Publisher: Broadway Books, 2003

Synopsis

Three friends cope with the diverse challenges of maternity in their individual ways as Julia, obsessed with fertility rituals, struggles to conceive with her uninterested boyfriend; Maeve, a careerwoman and ardent fan of no-strings nightlife, deals with unexpected pregancy; and happily married Samantha, who finds marital strife and exhaustion after a new baby.

About this title

Review:

To have a baby or not to have a baby, that is the question that's facing Jane Green's heroines in her fifth novel, Babyville. Julia, Maeve and Sam are pondering the pros and cons of procreation; the effect that it could have on their careers, partners and lives.

The novel opens with Julia, a successful TV producer, with her legs straight up in the air, encouraging her boyfriend Mark's sperm to reach their destination. Julia thinks she wants a baby to fill the huge gap that has suddenly appeared in her life. But Mark thinks:

We don't make love anymore. We make babies. And we're failing.

Maeve, who also works in TV, is adamant that she doesn't want a baby or a relationship; she's happy as a single, ambitious, career girl: "The togetherness. The cosiness. That coupledom that is pure anathema to me." But she finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand and finds that her preconceptions turn out to be misconceptions. And finally there is Sam; voluptuously, glowingly pregnant at the beginning of the book, but near the end screaming at her beloved partner Chris: "You haven't been stuck in all day with a screaming baby. You have absolutely no idea what it's like for me." Chris feels "neglected. Abandoned . Unwanted."

Babyville is played out in the present tense, with a staccato style delivery, with beats of humour between the emotional labour. The emotions may be powerful and universal, but the prose style may need a longer fermentation period. --Eithne Farry

Review:

Once you pick up Babyville, it's unlikely you'll put it down (Mirror)

Warm, lively, wise (Hello!)

About this edition

• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0767912233
• ISBN 13: 9780767912235
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448