What do You think about Baby Proof (2006)?
Deciding early in life not to be a mother, invited a myriad of confrontations…Even as a little girl, Claudia’s decision was very clear. When she played dolls with her sisters, she only wanted to be an aunt, so she could move on to more exciting pursuits. In later years, discovering boys didn’t change her mind. When her high school prom night rolled around, the number of children she wished for was a firm zero. Claudia, now in her thirties, is a well known book editor in New York City. Her personal convictions are still unaltered. Life is filled with work, friends, and enjoyable pursuits, minus children. Love, that’s a different story. Everyone needs emotional attachments of the enduring kind. But for Claudia, her relationships quickly dissolved when the “no kid’s factor” came up. That was true, until she met Ben. It just seemed they were soul mates, everything just clicked.Claudia was thrilled when Ben was a firm believer in the “no kid’s factor” and they have been married for three years. The impulsiveness they enjoy, while being unencumbered with children, is a vital part of their relationship. They share many common interests and dreams, life just couldn’t be better. However, when their idyllic relationship is hit by a tornado, everything changes. Their best friends, ardent supporters of the “no kid’s factor”, have decide to have a child! Ben becomes absorbed in the entire process and when the baby arrives, he is hooked!Claudia is confident this is just a passing phase and eventually Ben will move out of it. He makes numerous attempts to convince her that a baby would be a wonderful experience to share. Claudia, on the other hand, emphasizes how a baby will burden and alter the life they now enjoy.What will be the outcome of this dilemma? Family influences, stubbornness and pride, will definitely have an impact.Baby Proof is an insightful look into personal choices and how they deeply affect those you love. However, it felt like the first person viewpoint occasionally droned on and on, with surplus information.
—Diane A Brown
This book is terrrible, horrible, awful, hideous and abominable. Not to mention that it's too boring and have no action. The protagonist is Claudia Parr, a woman in her 30's who doesn't want children and never has. Claudia has had a difficult time finding a partner due to the lack of maternal gene but a few years before the events of the book takes place she met Ben, her prince charming, who is like her in every way - including having no interest in becoming a parent.Ben is seriously one of the most unlikable characters I have ever read about in a book. I am not overexaggerating. Ben comes off as so shallow, whiny, and selfish that I couldn't stand him, and couldn't comprehend why Claudia wanted him back.(view spoiler)[So Claudia and Ben live happily until for no reason at all except that he saw a pregnant woman (seriously, has he never seen a pregnant woman before?), Ben does a complete 180 and decides that he wants kids and that Claudia had better well agree with him. Then Claudia and Ben finally split up (actually it's not that far in but you'll already feel like you've been reading forever) and Claudia goes about making her life her own. I was hoping that Claudia would find a nice new guy who doesn't want children and live happily ever after with him while Ben gets hit by a bus the next day. Nope. Of course Claudia finds someone but he just doesn't live up to Ben (!!!).Then towards the end, Claudia finally gets lonely and beaten-down enough to try to get back together with her husband by offering to have his baby. The book stopped being chick lit and became, for me, a very subtle horror story about how loneliness and relentless, soul-deadening social pressure force unmaternal women into having unwanted children just to get along in a world that treats non-mothers like second-class citizens. Yet, Giffin depicts this slow erosion of her protagonist's true self as PROGRESS. Gee, glad to know that even women who are 100% sure they don't want children really-truly always want one deep down. (hide spoiler)]
—Desislava
From the author of the smash hits Something Borrowed and Something Blue comes a novel that explores the question: is there ever a deal-breaker when it comes to true love?Women who don't want children? Are they monsters? That's how society makes us feel if you don't want babies. I was like that for awhile... slightly still am (I rather have dogs than babies) so maybe that's why I enjoyed this book, because I was able to relate to the main character. However, I gave it four stars because Claudia annoyed me in some parts.
—Love Fool
