Babies

by Anne Enright

Babies: our biggest mystery and our most natural consequence, our hardest test and our enduring love. Anne Enright describes the intensity, bewilderment and extravagant happiness of her experience of having babies, from the exhaustion of early pregnancy to first smiles and becoming acquainted with the long reaches of the night. Everyone, from parents to the mildly curious, can delight in Enright’s funny, eloquent and unsentimental account of having babies.

Selected from the book Making Babies by Anne Enright

VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.

Also in the Vintage Minis series:
Fatherhood by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Motherhood by Helen Simpson
Drinking by John Cheever
Sisters by Louisa May Alcott

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Parenting

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2017

About the author

Anne Enright was born in Dublin, where she now lives and works. She has published three volumes of stories, one book of nonfiction, and five novels. In 2015, she was named the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction. Her novel The Gathering won the Man Booker Prize, and The Forgotten Waltz won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.

Reviews

[Clair Atkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Selected from the book Making Babies by Anne Enright, this memoir covers the pregnancy, birth and first few months of the babies life told with humour and honesty. I haven't read any other books of hers but am keen to now. As a mother it made me reminisce about my own pregnancy's and first few months of looking after a baby - I'm far enough away now that I can look back at those times with fondness but its good to know that everyone has the same problems and worries.

[Suad Shamma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having become a mother not too long ago - 2 years and 6 months to be exact - this was a very "fun" read. Reminiscing on pregnancy, the discomforts, the ups and downs, the paranoia, the self-consciousness, the overconfidence, the fear, the nerves, the excitement, the get this baby out of me right now feeling was...well, nice to read from someone else's perspective.

The number of things that I related to almost 100%. Even down to the hospital experience, with the epidural...first baby I had my epidural at 7cm dilation, second baby, it was too late to give me an epidural, because I was already 10cm dilated when I asked for it. So I experienced both sides of the coin, and seeing her experience, I could absolutely relate.

After the baby's born, how you feel as a new parent. How you feel as an ambitious parent. How you feel as a working parent. Very very fascinating and interesting and absolutely 100% relatable to me, as a mom.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So interesting

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering this is literally about babies, a bunch of excerpts from Enright’s memoir, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it much. I just don’t care about kids, unfortunately. Still, the good thing here is that Enright’s writing is pretty funny and she managed to take a subject that I’m not interested in and to make it kind of fascinating. I still don’t think I’ll be having kids any time soon, but it was interesting to read something that showed me a different way of looking at the world. So yeah!

[Sara Cantoni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Avevo inserito questo volumetto in wishlist qualche tempo fa e questo mi sembrava il periodo migliore per leggerlo.
Ho scoperto solo una volta avuto il libro tra le mani che non si tratta di un'opera breve ma di un estratto da un opera più ampia, intitolata Making Babies.
La Enright racconta con una certa volontà di humour e sarcasmo la sua esperienza con la maternità attraverso tutte le sue fasi: dalla decisione di volere un figlio alla gravidanza, dal parto al compimento dei due anni della figlia. Una panoramica completa di quello che per lei significa la maternità con alcune parti obiettivamente divertenti e altre abbastanza fastidiose, secondo me.

Diciamo che non mi ha conquistata inoltre, considerando che non è che un estratto di un testo più lungo, posso solo dire che non mi ha invogliata a procurarmi la versione estesa!

[Annie Donette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tiny book about tiny babies and the hugeness of having them. A quick, bright read that is both personal and accessible. Written with humour, reflection, poetry and cultural references a-plenty. I particularly enjoyed the Catholic iconography that transported me back to my own childhood and the clever realisations of developmental milestones that I could relate to my baby boy. I also learned the history of breastfeeding which interests me greatly. A tiny book, then, that packs a punch.

[Myrto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Πάλι αιφνιδιάστηκα από τις κενές σελίδες και τις διαφημίσεις για την σειρά ΜίνιΒίντατζ στο τέλος.
Γουέλ, βέρι γκουντ λιτλ μπιούκ!
Αν νομίζετε πως δεν θα κάνετε ποτέ παιδιά (όπως εγώ) ή αν δείτε ξαφνικά ένα προφητικό όνειρο με ένα μικρό κόκκινο μωρό στην αγκαλιά σας που μαθαίνει να μιλά πολύ γρήγορα (όπως εγώ), τότε αυτό το βιβλίο θα σας αρέσει και θα σας αγχώσει.

[Stefani]

On the roller coaster of emotions that is pregnancy, giving birth, development milestones, regression, SLEEP. I nodded a lot, disagreed a little, laughed some and wanted to read more so there’s that 😀

[Ruby Jusoh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet.

[Maria Baston · Rating 4 out of 5]

M-a ajutat acest eseu despre sarcina si primele luni, este scris concis si intr-un stil cald si calm

[Marie Veys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recognized a lot of things Anne Enright described in the book.

[Istiningdyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wrap-Up review