Television for Women

by Danit Brown

A darkly humorous debut novel in which we meet Estie, who’s wrestling with the horrors of banality, such as not enjoying her marriage and not liking motherhood much either…

Estie isn’t sure she likes being eight months pregnant. She isn’t sure she likes her husband anymore, either, who got fired from his tenured position as a professor just in time for parenthood. Goodbye, upward mobility! Goodbye, life as Estie imagined it! And goodbye Alice, Estie’s preppy, East Coast best friend, who’s been ignoring her calls ever since Estie told her about the baby.

When Estie gives birth to a girl she can’t be certain she loves, she begins to suspect that all the stories she’s been told about marriage and motherhood might not be true. How is someone as flawed as Estie supposed to help her baby grow into a woman who looks hot in yoga pants? Estie fears she’s destined to end up like her own mother, divorced and crying in the bathroom while her daughter stands outside the door and wonders if she’s okay.

Darkly humorous and startlingly honest, Television for Women explores the realities of life postpartum—the demands of children on women’s identities and relationships, and the mad acts one commits to stop from losing control. Perfect for fans of Lorrie Moore and Kristen Arnett.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult

272 pages, Paperback

Published June 24, 2025

Reviews

[Jillian B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estie is ambivalent about having kids. She’s pretty sure she wants them someday—but as a married 32-year-old with a good job, hasn’t “someday” arrived? So when her husband decides he desperately wants a child, she goes along with it. Then, when she’s heavily pregnant, he loses his job over a lie, and cracks begin to form in their marriage. When the baby is born, Estie’s biggest emotions are exhaustion and regret…not the overwhelming feeling of love that she was promised. Her childfree best friend is dodging her calls and the only help her mom seems to offer is criticism and frozen lasagnas. How is she supposed to do this for 18 more years?

I’m going to be honest, I think this is one that will resonate more deeply with parents. As someone without kids, there are definitely novels about motherhood that I’ve loved, but this one wasn’t a favourite for me. I really enjoyed the writing and the messy but loveable characters (especially Estie!) but I think mothers who are happy to be past the newborn days will be the target audience for this one. I did appreciate that it handled postpartum depression with a sense of humour, realism and hope, and I’m glad this book is in the world, even if it’s not really for me.

[keeks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.
Easy read clearly as finished in 24hrs
Defo confirmed why I don’t wanna be a mum xxxx

[SHELBY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Television for Women paints a stunningly vivid portrait of what exactly it means to become a mother.

I can honestly say this book made me feel SEEN. As a mother who experienced post partum depression, I could have written this book myself. It so accurately depicts the grief, worry, fear, angst, resentment, loss of self, and despair all with the backdrop of the feeling that you SHOULD be happy because you just experienced the absolute miracle of life.

This was an easy five star read that I couldn’t put down the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley, Melville House Publishing for the arc, and to Danit Brown for destigmatizing the experience of first time motherhood and postpartum depression.

[Ryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marking as spoilers because I talk about one incident that happens over half-way through this book that's a big turning point for the main character. If you're interested in this book and want to read my review, I marked where I talk about the incident so you can gloss over it.

I'm glad that we're seeing a push in literature that focuses on the darker sides of motherhood that are often left unsaid. This book deal with post-partum depression, which I feel like is a very important subject when it comes to post-partum health.

Television for Women is a very raw, unflinching, account of a woman who suffers from PPD. This book showcases all the intensity associated with it and doesn't hold back in it's portrayal. It touches on facets of motherhood that are often kept behind locked doors--the lack of attachment, isolation from your peers, feeling like an alien in your own body, and navigating between who you were and who you are now-- and I think that's admirable and opens up the potential towards lots of discussions. Which I can see this book being a great discussion piece regarding women's health.

Danit Brown's writing is fantastic and she's able to paint such an intense picture that any woman could relate to. The journey that Estie goes through is emotional, exhausting, yet so realistic that it carries the story into a very profound experience. I don't have kids, I never plan on having kids, but I was able to sympathize with her story in a way that felt personal and emotional.

*SPOILERS HERE*
Time to address the elephant in the room... Herbert the Cat. I understood the allegory that Herbert is supposed to mirror the baby. But euthanasia for no reason, really? It was so shocking and out of nowhere that it sours the rest of the book. This woman is clearly going through a mental crisis and is begging to have her cat killed and these vets willingly did it? I don't know if I'm just being sensitive because it is a cat but I feel like this could've been handled better. That whole scene is the reason why I knocked it down a star.
*SPOILERS OVER*

All in all, I think this books is a fantastic read for all the women out there. I think it opens the door to potential discussions about parenthood and women's health that would be beneficial for anyone to have. If this sounds interesting, I highly recommend it.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Melville House Publishing for providing me an ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own*

[Annaliese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estie is a point-blank portrayal of all those thoughts you think but would never want anyone else to know that you think them. Sometimes I cringe, sometimes I sympathize.

This book does not shy away from the realities of postpartum depression. I *did* almost stop after she unnecessarily put down the cat. I mean…yikes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for the ARC.

[Caleb North · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was equal parts darkly hilarious yet also extremely heartbreaking. It really showed an unfiltered look into motherhood and reality that is postpartum depression. I rooted for our girl Estie the whole time. Everyone else…there’s the door.

[Leslie Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in 2 days, in spite of the fact that I found myself re-reading passages just because I loved the word choice or turn of phrase. And it’s SO funny. Actually only 4.5 stars because of some kinda (but not very) disturbing imagery. Tho that was also part of the great and funny experience.

[Jamie Cheval · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of the most unpleasant books I’ve ever read, and I can’t think of one good thing to say about it. I’m assuming this book is meant to be a blunt portrayal of a first-time mom suffering from PPD, but I had zero empathy for the main character, Estie. I disliked her so much. She may have suffered from depression, but she was also a terrible person who should not have had a baby. She made one bad decision after another, and this behavior continues to happen throughout the entire book. She didn’t seem to have much remorse. She said I’m sorry a lot, but didn’t seem to actually be sorry and then continued to make more bad decisions. And that whole trip she made with Penny? I can’t believe Penny stayed in contact with her after that. After Estie decides to euthanize her cat for no reason, I was completely done with her.

I think everyone understands that maintaining a marriage and having kids is challenging. But Estie was an extremely unlikable character from the start. She has zero redeeming qualities. All the other characters (with the exception of Penny) are unlikable- Owen, Alice, and Estie’s parents. What even was the point of this novel? It’s very depressing and overall, extremely frustrating as the main character makes bad decisions (or no decisions at all) throughout the entire book. I finished it with a bad taste in my mouth.

[Lily's Libros · Rating 3 out of 5]

EDIT: My mom said "If you had to call me at 1am to vent about the cat, then the author did a good job." And I can't argue with that. Ultimately I think this is a very engaging and excellent novel, that (despite the parallels between Herbert/Rosie and Owen/Alice) does an exceptional job at revealing the struggles many new mothers go through. I identified with Estie until nearly the end. I felt betrayed by the author, but I also understand what the author was trying to portray. The cat represents the baby. But he also had way more personality than the baby.

There are two good characters here. Herbert the cat, and Penny. It doesn't end well for Herbert, and despite really liking this book at first, I can't get past his ending. I stopped reading after that. That sucked. Alice sucked, too. I'm going to adopt Herbert and make a friend date with Penny. I loved it up until Herbert's tragedy. That felt wholly unnecessary and vile. I'm also not thrilled with the novel blaming PPD on Estie's depression instead of her husband's really crappy behavior. Had Herbert not died, I would give this 4 or 5 stars. But he did. So no.

[lexluvsb00ks · Rating 1 out of 5]

genuinely one of the most unlikable female main characters ever. if you love animals dont read this, she treats her pet terribly and does the worst thing possible to her innocent animal. on top of that shes jealous of her best friend and is constantly forcing them into a competition, literally a bully to her childhood friend whos done nothing but be kind to her when she doesnt deserve it, possessive to the point of delusion over a man she dated 10 years ago, and a deeply insecure mean girl . this book is exactly the kind of person i never want to be outside of its main goal of highlighting post partum depression because she was insufferable and mean before she was pregnant

[Madeline Elsinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Television for Women Explores the lack of having "a village" after the baby arrives, postpartum anxiety and depression, and the imbalance of labour put on mothers compared to fathers.

A very raw and realistic look at postpartum motherhood and the struggle of those first months. While I deeply disliked every single character, I could still empathize with our MC Estie and found her story to be important for understanding PPD and PPA. I also empathized with Alice especially in light of a lot of questionable shit Estie was doing/saying pre-baby. Estie didn’t have much of a difference between pre and post baby, based on flashbacks she’s always been self-centered, insecure, fatphobic, and desperately needed therapy even before the PPD hit.

Despite empathizing with Estie and Alice, I found absolutely nothing to like about Estie’s mother and Owen 😂 I kept chanting “leave your husband” as Owen is the stereotypical man that I wouldn’t even wish upon my worst enemy to have to co-parent with.

It was an engaging read that had me wanting to come back for more at every opportunity for most of the novel. It started off really well but started to lose me as I realized the novel was not going the direction I expected (and hoped for). Plus a certain scene made me want to DNF despite being nearly done with the book (iykyk).

It’s definitely a dark and depressing book, and while it’s compared to nightbitch and said to have dark humor I found nothing of the sort. I haven’t read nightbitch yet but based on things friends have said and how they’ve described it, this isn’t comparable (the only thing they share is the PPD). I still enjoyed it and thought it was important for understanding postpartum depression and anxiety, and I might check out more from Brown in the future.



TW/CW: dubious consent, pregnancy, medical content, blood, postpartum depression and anxiety, body shaming, fatphobia, pet death, emotional abuse, gaslighting, toxic friendship

[Amanda Lindquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of similar to Nightbitch, this book gives a raw, unfiltered look at early motherhood. Though it lacks the supernatural elements Nightbitch featured, it’s perhaps more terrifying. There’s no humorous or fantastical release from the monotonous postpartum stress and loneliness the main character experiences and we’re instead left to watch her struggle to find herself in her new role. A difficult but realistic read and I think many readers will find parallels to their own experiences. There is a questionable moment with pet loss that I felt we could’ve probably done without, but I suppose it served to illustrate how low the main character had sunk. Overall I enjoyed the book and the unabashed look at motherhood and appreciate the thoughts and discussions it should spark.

Thanks to Melville House & NetGalley for the ARC.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had learned a couple of things about postpartum depression during college that surprised me. This book sums it all up; if you want a good understanding of what some people go through after giving birth, it’s a great read. The nonstop impulsive and unhinged things Estie would do made me want to put the book down. But I couldn’t stop; I needed to know if things would change, if Estie would ask for help, or if she even knew what was going on. Out of everything, I cried during the cat scene. I don’t know why I had to read that; I guess it emphasizes her complete spiral into instability. I love the reality of the story; there is nothing set in stone, and nothing magically fixes everything in the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing I received a ARC for an honest review !

[Megan Uhran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book I’d recommend, but I’m glad I read it. It would be very interesting to reread this after having children. Unlike other reviews, I wasn’t too pressed about Herbert (but then again I’ve never been a cat person) and instead was beyond annoyed by the Alice & Dan plot line. Overall, it felt like a good reminder to pick your head up and not let life just happen to you, otherwise it will completely trample you into the ground.

[Alli Duffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would’ve given this 4 stars if she didn’t do that to Herbert ☹️

Also not sure why so many reviews say this book is funny?? PPD is no joke man, and nothing about this book was funny.

[Ashling Preston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read anything that captured the raw, unfiltered reality of early motherhood with such brutal and unrelenting accuracy. Television for Women doesn't flinch at all. It doesn't sugarcoat. It doesn't swerve or dodge or offer platitudes. It just... sits in the mess of it -- the exhaustion, the resentment, the rumination, the identity crisis, and the quiet terror that this is forever. Danit Brown "goes there" with a level of honesty that almost feels transgressive. It's not the picture of motherhood you find on those IG pages where they pretend to be honest about the difficulty ("you're doing your best mama!"), it's realer and deeper than that.

It's painful, yes. But it's also stunning in its precision. There were moments in this book that cut so deeply that they transported me right back to those early postpartum days -- ones that most of us barely speak about because it's impossible to square them with the joy and love you're supposed to be feeling. Brown tells the truth anyways. And by doing that, she doesn't just write a HELL of a debut, she makes space for those who have lived it.

And then, right there at the end, she gives us the most perfect, poignant, and accurate summation of how the fog starts to lift: "Even with the benefit of hindsight, Estie couldn't pinpoint the moment she started feeling better. She'd been miserable to begin with, and then, one day, she wasn't miserable anymore." That is EXACTLY how it happened for me, and I can't believe how simply and accurately she summed up one of the most stunning emotional transformations of my life in two sentences. No grand epiphany, no one coming to save you, no sweeping transformation, just a slow, imperceptible shift until, one day, it isn't so heavy.

I cannot overstate how much respect I have for what Brown has done here. THIS NOVEL WILL NOT BE FOR EVERYONE, but for those who see something of their own experience here, this will hit so different.

Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for the advance copy, and for Danit Brown for writing this.

[Danni · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED????

This is not a feel-good story. There’s no silver lining tied up with a cute little bow. It’s messy and uncomfortable and unfiltered. It says the quiet parts out loud—the stuff about motherhood no one wants to admit. The crushing loneliness. The way your identity starts to disappear. The constant fear that maybe you’ll never actually feel like yourself again.

Estie is not glowing. She’s not transformed. She’s not basking in some magical new mom glow. She’s exhausted. She feels abandoned. Her life doesn’t look anything like what she thought it would. Her husband is basically useless. Her best friend ghosted her. Even the cat doesn’t care. And that deep, instant bond everyone talks about with your baby? Yeah, she’s still waiting on that.

This book doesn’t try to soften the blow. The humor hits, but it doesn’t make things easier—it makes them feel even more real. Estie’s struggle isn’t about being a bad mom. It’s about being honest about how brutally hard it all is. And the scariest part is that she’s not sure she’ll ever feel like herself again.

This story isn’t here to comfort you. It’s here to tell the truth, even when it hurts. And somehow, in the middle of all that chaos, it makes you feel seen. It makes you feel less alone.

Four stars no notes. Not because it’s an easy read, but because it’s a necessary one.

[Kennedy Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

rooted for our girl the entire time, but everyone else can get lost lol

thank you melville house for the digital arc!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb tells you just about everything* that's going to happen in this short, sometimes heavy, but quick read. I'm struggling to see where the "darkly humorous" bits were but everybody experiences marriage, pregnancy, motherhood, and reading a book about all the former things differently.

Estie was doomed from early on in the book when the reader witnesses the way in which she becomes pregnant. This serves as a first glimpse into the disconnect between Estie and Owen, Estie and herself, her visions of a "good" or "proper" life and the one she is currently existing in. I suspect that many women will be able to relate to not knowing what they want, "just what [they] ought to want." I suppose this feeling of surrendering, trying to relax because it's pointless to object, could be triggering for some readers. It is brief, though, and happens in the span of a paragraph or two.

Estie didn't have that enviable pregnancy glow, endured a long and painful labor, and isn't shying away from expressing (to the reader, and her husband) how terrible and hard motherhood is. While I've made an argument that you don't have to enjoy the characters in a book to like the story, this story features some seriously unlikable characters. Luckily, you don't have to like anybody here to appreciate the message. Parenthood is tough work, even with a present partner and willing, loving, able friends and family around. So, imagine Estie's dismay at venturing into this all-consuming journey she wasn't prepared for without her village. She fully displays her "hormonal" rage, resentment, exhaustion, grief, and despair. Even women who relish in being mothers come face to face with some ugly monsters about choices, loss of self, self-worth, and self-esteem. Brown doesn't shy away from showing the miserable, dark, scary parts of postpartum depression. Nor does she shy away from hard revelations that some relationships, some friendships, are romanticized even when they no longer serve us. Initially I could understand Estie's growing frustration with Owen, but when his face is down in her lap and he tenderly asks her to "maybe rest [her] hand on [his] head," my heart exploded and softened all at once. Owen suffers a few major missteps, but I think he serves as a reminder that we often feel overwhelmed and resentful without taking into account what that other person has been doing (probably their best, too). It's not like Alice is available to sing songs about boobs, after all.

I couldn't help but think of something Blair Waldorf once said, yes from Gossip Girl , "you can't help who you love but you can choose how you love them." In the end, Estie finds her voice, finds hope, and finds a reason to do everything again and again, as often as needed... love for her daughter and husband. "She'd been miserable to begin with, and then, one day, she wasn't miserable anymore." Some struggles kept repeating, dragging on, others that felt heavier were glossed over and forgotten, and while self-deprecating, Etsie is wholly self-centered. The concept of ppd is relatable, but I don't know that I'd have liked our main character from before either, so, ultimately, I'm giving this three stars. It can serve as somewhat informational or spark a candid conversation, but I don't suspect I'll be thinking of this after so much as taking a whiff of my next read.

*There is an animal (cat) death in the story. An impulsive, brash, horrible thing to do to your pet of many, many years.

Thanks to Melville House and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

[Grace Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um so this made me feel so much? As someone who doesn’t have kids and doesn’t ever want to have kids, I wasn’t sure what this book would do for me but I was surprised that I didn’t feel too disconnected from Estie. She is relatable and imperfect and says the quiet things out loud. It was refreshing to see a realistically flawed female character HOWEVER (in all caps because this was big for me) I don’t think I will ever understand why Herbert ended the way he did. It felt unnecessary and cruel. I felt disgusted after reading that. Couldn’t she have changed her mind as she got to the vet and still felt ashamed, guilty, and remorseful once coming home and realizing that putting the cat down is not the answer??? I just can’t imagine doing this to an animal even knowing that Herbert was a connection to Alice and Estie felt like she had to break that bond for good. It was just really really bad and way too much. And since we’re talking about Herbert let’s talk about Owen??? He’s so annoying! I know he’s supposed to be annoying but GOD I would choose Herbert over Owen any day. Owen’s character is a reminder for ALL OF US not to settle and not to go for the breeding kink because that shit has consequences fr!!! Estie & her mom’s relationship ended up very satisfying I love that for them! I lowkey pictured them as Lorelei and Emily from Gilmore Girls lol. I feel like people may disagree but I didn’t mind Alice? I could understand her point of view. If I was in her situation I wouldn’t be so cold and flaky to texts/calls but I understand the role she plays. Penny was nice but I feel like her character was only there as a convenience for Estie. Whenever Estie needed something and Owen was at work, or she didn’t want to call her mom, Penny was there. And Penny very easily forgave Estie without even having a conversation about stuff that was going on? It just felt a little easy to me? which is crazy to say bc so much about this book was not easy but anyway,, I liked the writing of this book and thought that it was a good length, structured well, and had a believable setting. I really will just never get over Herbert, I just don’t even know how the fuck you decide to do that ugh although this quote made me feel slightly better and I’ll leave it at that:

“She was ridiculous. She was a horrible person. She'd broken her promise not just to Alice, but to Herbert. There had been no reason to euthanize him, and there certainly had been no rush: she could have taken her time, could have asked Penny if she wanted a cat, or asked her mother, or even Mara, but instead she'd opted for the drama, for the supposedly grand gesture that—was there any other way to see it?— served as an elaborate Fuck You to Alice, who didn't know and didn't care, and to Owen, whom she was supposed to love and honor, and whose allergies she'd ignored right up until the moment they'd inconvenienced her. And so she'd killed a small, helpless animal. According to most movies, that made her a psychopath / serial killer, or, at the very least, a villain.”

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Danit Brown Television for Women Melville Publishing House, June 2025.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

I found this a profoundly disappointing reflection upon a woman’s first few months home with her baby. To Estie, ‘the baby,’ until well into their departure from the safety of the hospital to the home in which the baby’s parents harbour disappointments, the baby at last becomes Rosie to her mother. This is a clever acknowledgement of the distance between Estie, the only source of food, and Rosie who is dependent upon her mother’s presence. That this is only a physical presence is conveyed well by the distancing language. However, this is the redeeming feature for me. Unfortunately, Estie’s self-regard, referred to herself as ‘hormonal’, and later, her behaviour the result of ‘depression’, was a stumbling block for my becoming immersed sympathetically in Estie’s undoubtably distressing and challenging first months of motherhood.

Estie and Owen have chosen parenthood with little thought to its consequences. The birth although not easy, becomes of infinitesimal concern after their abrupt release from the hospital into their car carefully fitted with its safety baby capsule, and then into their home. Here, the cat, a source of Owen’s allergies, Estie’s love/hate feelings, and her mother’s prognostication of threat to Rosie, is a symbol for Estie’s dependence on her relationship with Alice, a college friend. Her need for her friendship, and Alice’s need to deflect this is an important part of Estie’s past. Also impacting on Estie’s present is her parents’ marriage and divorce. Penny, another friend, and Dan, a past lover, all feature in Estie’s attempts to come to terms with the adulthood forced upon her as the most important source of comfort for her daughter.

The never-ending accumulation of soiled laundry, unwashed dishes, unvacuumed and uncleaned surfaces is well depicted. The grinding despair of never having enough sleep, resentfulness at lack of assistance or help inadequately provided all rings true to parents. Even the jealousy of the first smile being given to someone other than herself, and Estie’s fear that her college lover, Dan might be involved with Alice, are understandable. However, driving a force through this is Estie’s relentless ability to place herself first. Becoming mother is not easy. It is also difficult to make legitimate demands. However, this novel, while addressing the first, does not persuade me that Estie is unable to do the latter, making it difficult for me to always engage sympathetically with her story.

[Katie | KatieWithHerKindle · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨️Review✨️
Television For Women: by Danit Brown
6/5 🌙's
ARC release date June 2025

Overview: Estie isn’t sure she likes being eight months pregnant. She isn’t even sure she likes her husband anymore, especially after he hid that he’s been fired from his job—just in time for parenthood. Goodbye upward mobility! Goodbye life as Estie imagined it! Now, she’s stranded and bloated and alone. Her cat is not a people person, and on top of it all, her best friend has been ignoring her calls ever since Estie told her about the baby.

This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review via @netgalley

Review: *First let me start this statement by saying that I did Review this book very high. Although I didn't care for a few of the characters choices in the book I understand that post partum depression effects everyone differently. This Review may contain spoilers so let me say this first:
Every father, mother, brother, sister should read this book and pay attention to the women in your life post partum. They may truly need your help*


Spoilers possible after here:
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.
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Second let me say as a mother who suffered with post partum depression after giving birth to my first child I believe this book was very accurate. The deep feelings, the emotions, the painful thoughts, all of it was very real. I read this book in a couple of days after a long slump. It was exactly what I needed. It was gripping, it was emotional, and it was relatable. I would say more importantly it is EDUCATIONAL. Yes I said that right. Post partum depression is real and many women suffer with this condition. I was able to mask in front of my family members outside of my home but my husband could see that something wasn't right with me. I am thankful every day for his advice and help during such a tough time in my life. This book shows that love can withstand the harshest conditions. That love is the first to notice when things aren't right. This book could help others notice signs or symptoms like not showering, emotional turmoil, etc. I couldn't recommend this book enough. I feel like the author really understands this topic If she herself hasn't suffered through it. Definitely a must read for anyone with women in their lives. The complicated truth of friendships changing after giving birth and new ones developing. When you become a mother you "molt" into something new.

[Wendelle]

By turns depressing and splittingly funny, this novel aims to capture without gloss the pits of despair that can hit mothers with postpartum depression. The protagonist, Estie, is an early-thirties woman who is 37 weeks pregnant when her husband loses his job as a tenured literature professor. Through drip-feeds from other people, and confessions she finally coaxes from her husband, she finds out that he was fired, not laid off with a tidy severance, and this sudden career implosion occurred because it was discovered that he lied about possessing a finished PhD. Estie is thus caught in the midst of roiling emotions and intense pressures during a vulnerable time-- financial instabilities and worries, ambivalence about motherhood, maternal inadequacies, sleep deprivation from a wailing newborn, constant orbit around a newborn that needs to breastfeed, burnout from chores such as cleaning and laundry, regrets about past choices and more successful futures that could have been, friends and old lovers left in the rear view, interminable anxieties-- all adding up to a near nervous breakdown. A road trip towards an escapist fantasy literally crashes as burns. It doesn't help that EStie has the personality of a people-user-- one who uses others as objects. This is not necessarily from narcissism but from an entrenched, skewed social ranking system that glazes her perspective of others to either be below her and thus contemptible and embarrassing, or above her and thus desirable and enviable.
The novel doesn't end with a happy-ever-after or soothing morale, but a clear-eyed view of the work of motherhood-- it involves showing up day in and day out, for the people, and the baby, who loves and needs you.

Trigger warning: intentional euthanasia of 10-year-old pet cat, because he's presenting an inconvenience, and a symbol of a dead friendship

[Kasvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a blunt, unvarnished look at motherhood that doesn’t try to soothe or sugarcoat. From the beginning, it’s clear that Estie’s journey into pregnancy and parenthood is going to be difficult, emotionally, physically, and relationally. The writing is quick and sometimes sharp, heavy in moments, but never indulgent. It tells the often glossed over and often unsavoury parts of motherhood out loud: the identity loss, the exhaustion, the resentment, the disconnect from your partner, your friends, even your own body.

For all its raw honesty, though, I didn’t always feel connected. The characters felt deliberately unlikable in that “real people are messy” kind of way, which I can respect, but it made it harder for me to feel fully invested. Estie’s misery is vividly drawn, but sometimes it drags. Some parts of her story felt repetitive while other, potentially deeper moments were glossed over too quickly. I appreciated the intention, to show how parenthood can be isolating, even dehumanizing at times, and how difficult it is to find your way back to yourself. But something about the execution left me a little cold. I didn’t dislike it, I just didn’t love it either.

That said, the book’s refusal to be sentimental is probably its strongest suit. It resists turning Estie’s pain into a teaching moment. Instead, it presents the mess, lets it breathe, and trusts the reader to sit with it. If you’re looking for something comforting, this probably isn’t it. But if you’re looking for something unflinching, even confrontational, this story might land harder.

Thank you Melville House Publishing for the eARC!

the death of the cat tho!!! WHYYYY

[Adaeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ I have a love hate relationship with this novel! The searing look at motherhood, and the, sometimes terrifying, nature of postpartum depression is incredibly important. The novel does an exceptional job of sneaking up on you because the problems Estie faces are very real, and very frustrating, so when she goes of the rails you understand how she got there, but are still perplexed about why she is making the choices she is making. There is a HUGE tragedy that happens in this novel (iykyk) that was incredibly heartbreaking, and made me almost quit the novel. I really had to sit with it, and make the decision on whether or not to continue because the act fundamentally shifted how I viewed a lot of the characters in this book. After reflecting, I came to the conclusion that I was expecting Estie's PPD to fit into a box that I didn't even realize I had created, and when she overstepped those bounds, I was ready to write her off completely. And in a lot of ways, that is the betrayal of moms and new motherhood that this novel pushes against.

Where the novel loses me however is by the fact that all versions of Estie have been quite unbearable. Every version of her we meet through the novel is self centered, insecure, and sometimes manipulative. And so, there isn't a huge contrast between her pre ans post baby. Additionally, her relationship with Alice is PERPLEXING. I went into this novel thinking I would LOVE it, but about halfway through it lost some of its shine for me. However, I did still enjoy it. Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishinh for the ARC

[S. Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Television for Women wasn't the supernatural tale I was hoping for (not sure where I even got that idea from) but rather a stark portrait of postpartum struggles. Estie is an absolute mess - and I mean a MESS. I have never encountered in all my years of reading a character who made such perplexingly asinine decisions. She's uncertain about her pregnancy, her marriage to a newly unemployed professor, and then motherhood itself. To be fair, her husband Owen got fired because he lied about his degree, so he's a bit of a self-pitying shithead himself. Not exactly the rock you'd want beside you when bringing new life into the world. There's also a fair bit of generational trauma at play - Estie's mother suffered similarly and was extremely depressed many years after her children were born. You can see Estie wrestling with the fear of repeating her mother's patterns, crying in the bathroom while her daughter stands outside wondering if she's okay. Her best friend Alice has gone silent since learning about the baby, which I found confusing since Estie seems to have many fond memories of their friendship. But from what we see in the story, Alice doesn't seem to care much about Estie at all, making me wonder if their connection was largely one-sided or if Estie overinflated its importance. The book's unflinching look at the realities of early motherhood – the endless dirty laundry, sleep deprivation, and identity crisis – felt brutally honest. Estie's relationship with her cat Herbert was more developed than her connection with her baby for much of the story, which made the cat's fate particularly disturbing. I more or less enjoyed this, but found myself frequently exasperated by Estie's relentless self-centeredness. While I can't speak to the accuracy of the postpartum depression portrayal (being happily child-free myself), I found myself repeatedly wondering what on earth this woman was thinking.

[Courtney Townill · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, we have got to stop with Nightbitch comparisons. Yes, this is a raw, gritty look at motherhood, but it is not really similar to Nightbitch otherwise.

As for the book itself, WOW was this book unflinching and at times painfully relatable. This book is ballsy, and went to some truly deep pits that left my stomach clenched for our girl Estie.

At the very end of her pregnancy, Estie is thrown into a tailspin when she learns her husband has been lying to her. Then, when baby arrives, she feels completely bamboozled by the entire experience. Simmering in misery, Estie starts desperately reaching out to her old best friend and second guessing every choice she made that lead her to this moment.

Postpartum is such a tender time, and it is so intensely and perfectly portrayed here. There’s everyone thinking they know everything more and better than you. There’s the way you’re told this is such a special and unique experience while also telling you that people give birth all the time and in worse circumstances. And there is the dreadful mourning of your selfish past life before you became the center of a fragile being’s universe.

This felt more like Liars by Sarah Manguso or the Guest by Emma Cline. We are dropped into Estie’s life at a tumultuous time and we watch her make uncomfortable choices as she tries to work through it.

*I received a free digital review copy from the publisher.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book was almost there but not quite and it also needed another round of editing.

The book was super emotionally charged and as someone who doesn’t know if they really want kids it totally reinforced that unless I’m positive I want them I shouldn’t have them.

Our main girl Estie is horribly insecure and seems to struggle with a lack of personal identity even before having her child. She’s fallen victim to living the life she’s supposed to live instead of figuring out what the life she wants to live is. Most of the characters are somewhat unlikable but it was easy to see why they were the way they were in an almost tragic sense. There’s an incident in the end that I kind of wish went another way and also maybe we could’ve gotten some more info on the deer but I think the book does capture mental illness well and displays a potential side of motherhood that’s often swept under the rug.

Errors that bugged me.
IIRC at one point it’s July and she’s 36 weeks pregnant and then it’s the end of august and she’s 37 weeks pregnant and her due date was end of august but being 37 weeks pregnant isn’t usually when a due date is? Also even if it was January 1st when she conceived and you add 3 weeks from when her last period was there’s still no way to get to 37 weeks (jan 1-aug 31 = 30 weeks, + 3 = 33 weeks max) and that’s all beside the point but the math was bugging me and distracted me from the impact. (along with a few other typos)

[BookDoctorDanni on TikTok · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

This was really good. I don’t think I was the intended audience for it, as this deals with a lot of postpartum depression and motherhood issues. Despite my lack of personal experience or knowledge with this in my own life, I still felt this deeply. Anyone who has ever dealt with depression will be able to relate.

All the characters in this are deeply flawed, and I love that so much. No one is fully in the right or fully in the wrong. Not the FMC, not her husband, or her friends, everyone is both victim and villain in their own way.

I do think I needed more from Estie’s mom, though. Like why did she suck so much??? She was so mean and careless, and she never redeemed herself at all. (Or maybe that was just me?) I never grew to like her or understand her perspective, because she was a b*tch towards Estie the entire time she was dealing with here new-mother crisis except for a small part of the novel at the very end…and even then she was still very rude.

Also, I just want to say #JusticeForHerbert 😭❤️‍🩹🐾 my heart aches for him!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Abbyturnsthepage · Rating 4 out of 5]

First thing’s first: I don’t think this book can be recommended entirely for fans of Nightbitch.

There is no humor in this book. This is a raw, unapologetic discourse on the postpartum period, with emphasis on the female struggle of having to do it all while shunning away the village that is supposed to help a woman do it all.

Did I relate to Estie, our main character? In many ways, yes. I drowned in my first year as a mother, and I absolutely refused any help that was offered. There’s this notion that women are supposed to be strong, we’re supposed to be the caretakers of our home, we are unstoppable. It wasn’t until I was having daydreams about driving my car off a bridge that I gave in to the help, I allowed my son to be cared for by others.

Even though this book is classified as fiction, it’s a book I would recommend to anyone - mother, father, child - just for an understanding of what moms go through and how to spot when things aren’t ok.

Thank you, Netgalley and Melville House for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Television for Women will be published on June 24th of this year.