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Inheritance #2
Can You Feel This?
In the chaos of a maternity ward, memories of tragedy and grief come flooding back for an anxious mother-to-be as she struggles to balance her child’s needs with her own healing.
Rushed into an emergency cesarean section, a woman finds herself in the same hospital where her suicidal mother died. She’s buried the trauma of her mother’s last hours—and also the dread that she might be just as vulnerable to breaking. As the new mother relives one crisis in the midst of another, prize-winning author Julie Orringer turns the joyous event of birth into a harrowing, poignant short story.
Julie Orringer’s Can You Feel This? is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 19, 2019
3018 people are currently reading
1572 people want to read
About the author
Julie Orringer
17 books1,033 followersJulie Orringer is an American author born in Miami, Florida. Her first book, How to Breathe Underwater, was published in September 2003 by Knopf Publishing Group. She is a graduate of Cornell University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her stories have appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeney's, Ploughshares, Zoetrope: All-Story, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, The Best New American Voices, and The Best American Non-Required Reading. She received the Paris Review's Discovery Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, The Yale Review Editors' Prize, Ploughshares' Cohen Award, the Northern California Book Award, and the Anne and Robert Cowan Award from the Jewish Community Endowment Fund. She was the recipient of a 2004-5 NEA grant for her current project, a novel set in Budapest and Paris before and during the Second World War.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 602 reviews
November 17, 2019
Another terrific short story from the Amazon Original Short Stories Inheritance Collection. This is the third one that I have read and it’s the third one that is deserving of five stars. Narrated in the second person, an interesting point of view that adds to the power of the story. A mother to be is rushed to the hospital, an emergency situation, but not to the hospital she is supposed to deliver at. Instead, the nearest hospital, one that brings to mind awful childhood memories of losing her mother in a way that brings the trauma front and center in her mind. This brings doubt and fear and feelings of loss at what to do as new mother. She’s further stressed at the secret she’s been keeping from her husband. Wonderfully written and I can say - yes I felt it ! Too short to say more, except the same as I said about the other two. If you are a NetGalley member, go request these fantastic stories. If you’re not, then you’ll have to wait until 12/19 and get it for your kindle for a mere $1.99.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Amazon Original Stories through NetGalley.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Amazon Original Stories through NetGalley.
May 30, 2020
Trepidation
Can You Feel This? is a tense emotional story of a woman during childbirth and the psychological turmoil with what happened her own mother, haunts her, and ignites the fear that she won’t be the dependable mother her child needs.
Emily is a young pregnant woman diagnosed with placenta previa and at thirty-six weeks she starts bleeding. In the emergency dash to the hospital, they decide to go to the nearest one and not the hospital they’d booked - the same hospital Emily’s mother’s body was brought to after she committed suicide. The trauma of the emergency birth, the haunting of her mother’s death and the fear that she does not have the mental fortitude to handle being a new mother are all vividly portrayed with natural ease. The drama is taut and Emily’s mind is twisted with thoughts that ...
Our first child was born prematurely by C-Section, and we were young, inexperienced and caught up in the drama and shock of a new baby, instructions flying from every angle, advice abound often conflicting, and fear that our lack of knowledge would inhibit us doing the absolute best for our daughter. What a responsibility. What joy. What worries. This story brought those raw memories back and I appreciate that gift. I would highly recommend reading this short story.
Can You Feel This? is a tense emotional story of a woman during childbirth and the psychological turmoil with what happened her own mother, haunts her, and ignites the fear that she won’t be the dependable mother her child needs.
Emily is a young pregnant woman diagnosed with placenta previa and at thirty-six weeks she starts bleeding. In the emergency dash to the hospital, they decide to go to the nearest one and not the hospital they’d booked - the same hospital Emily’s mother’s body was brought to after she committed suicide. The trauma of the emergency birth, the haunting of her mother’s death and the fear that she does not have the mental fortitude to handle being a new mother are all vividly portrayed with natural ease. The drama is taut and Emily’s mind is twisted with thoughts that ...
“… there was something wrong with you? Not that you were crazy, maybe. You knew you weren’t your mother. But what might happen once the baby was born? New mothers lost it all the time. Ordinary ones, who didn’t carry what you carried.”After the baby is born the first steps of being a new mother are tentative and the writing holds this drama wonderfully. Julie Orringer writes in second person a masterful short story with an apprehensive atmosphere that will resonate with many mothers, and fathers. A new family, with a new future and a new set of challenges.
“A family at home. You, Ky, the baby. Everything else still unknown. Somehow you have to do it. Somehow you have to survive.”
Our first child was born prematurely by C-Section, and we were young, inexperienced and caught up in the drama and shock of a new baby, instructions flying from every angle, advice abound often conflicting, and fear that our lack of knowledge would inhibit us doing the absolute best for our daughter. What a responsibility. What joy. What worries. This story brought those raw memories back and I appreciate that gift. I would highly recommend reading this short story.
January 29, 2020
What an emotional and engaging short story that gets you thinking and caring , Can You Feel this? is part of the Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. This is my second story in the collection and I have to admit I do struggle with short stories but this one really worked for me, I could really connect with the characters and the story and found myself totally engaged. sometimes I find on finishing a short story I am left wanting but not in this case.
What a lovely way to sample an author’s work and as I have only read The Invisible Bridge
by Julie Orringer so this for me was a chance to try something else by this writer and it certainly surprised me how much I enjoyed this short story.
This is so well written, vivid and real and it took me back a few years as I read the emotions and fears of a new mother and the worries that overwhelms a new mother on those first few weeks of motherhood even though this has an added dimension of worry, it still felt very realistic. Can you feel this is certainly a short story that really worked for me and I look forward to reading more of this short story collection.
What a lovely way to sample an author’s work and as I have only read The Invisible Bridge
by Julie Orringer so this for me was a chance to try something else by this writer and it certainly surprised me how much I enjoyed this short story. This is so well written, vivid and real and it took me back a few years as I read the emotions and fears of a new mother and the worries that overwhelms a new mother on those first few weeks of motherhood even though this has an added dimension of worry, it still felt very realistic. Can you feel this is certainly a short story that really worked for me and I look forward to reading more of this short story collection.
November 9, 2019
Julie Orringer's Can You Feel This? is another in the Amazon Inheritance short stories collection that have turned out to be so spectacularly good. This story features a pregnant woman being rushed to a New York hospital by her partner, Ky, when she starts to bleed. Frantic and worried, Ky makes his way to the nearest hospital. Unfortunately. this is a hospital that holds grief and traumatic memories for the woman, a childhood and a past she has never talked about or revealed to anyone, not even Ky. Her mother's body was retrieved from the river and bought to this hospital. She had severe mental health issues, left her marriage, taken her daughter, and committed suicide by jumping into the river. This inheritance had left the daughter with a desire to never have a child, but once accidentally pregnant, discovered she wanted her baby.
Whilst undergoing a C-section, her memories of her mother return, blending with her present fears and insecurities about giving birth, and becoming a mother. Will she really be able to cope? However, she manages to give birth to her beautiful premature baby son, a son she instantly recognises, with the unmistakable scent of Alyssum, bonding with him instantly. However, her experience is exacerbated by being unable to feed him and having to endure an unhelpful lactation consultant. A moving and profound short story about the terror of genetics, the possibility of history repeating itself, bearing the burden of the past silently until a mother understands she must share her secrets. She must come to terms with her history to stand a chance of a future as a family and as a new mother. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.
Whilst undergoing a C-section, her memories of her mother return, blending with her present fears and insecurities about giving birth, and becoming a mother. Will she really be able to cope? However, she manages to give birth to her beautiful premature baby son, a son she instantly recognises, with the unmistakable scent of Alyssum, bonding with him instantly. However, her experience is exacerbated by being unable to feed him and having to endure an unhelpful lactation consultant. A moving and profound short story about the terror of genetics, the possibility of history repeating itself, bearing the burden of the past silently until a mother understands she must share her secrets. She must come to terms with her history to stand a chance of a future as a family and as a new mother. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.
November 23, 2019
Written in second person, Can You Feel This? is a short story that is part of the Inheritance series. It describes the experience of a woman who suffers from placenta previa and gives birth to her baby at a hospital where twenty-eight years ago, her mother's body was brought, after she'd committed suicide. Having promised herself to never bring a child into this world—fearing that she would become like her suicidal mother after giving birth—the woman tries to find the joy in motherhood while reliving the horrors of her own childhood.
Julie Orringer has written this story beautifully and has ended it with the possibility of a new start for the woman, leaving the past behind. It's a short but powerful story and I'd definitely recommend it.
[I'd like to thank NetGalley, Amazon Original Stories and Julie Orringer for this ARC.]
The Inheritance Series:
The Lion's Den
Everything My Mother Taught Me
Zenith Man
The Weddings
Julie Orringer has written this story beautifully and has ended it with the possibility of a new start for the woman, leaving the past behind. It's a short but powerful story and I'd definitely recommend it.
[I'd like to thank NetGalley, Amazon Original Stories and Julie Orringer for this ARC.]
The Inheritance Series:
The Lion's Den
Everything My Mother Taught Me
Zenith Man
The Weddings
November 11, 2019
"If a baby is dead, is it said to have been born?"
The main character suffers from placenta previa during her pregnancy. Both her and her husband, Ky, are worried about the survival of the baby. While prepping for her C-section to avoid complications, she remembers her painful childhood and the complications with her own mother. How will she mother her child when she wasn't mothered herself? Is she prepared? She worries about the challenges she will face after the baby is born and is concerned about mental illness. Will she be like her mother? The secrets she has kept about her own mother and the death of her mother haunt her during and after birth.
"And now the baby lives out in the world, his cord cut: a newborn with a mother whose mother came undone."
Part of the Inheritance series from Amazon Original Stories, this short story projects an eerie image of a past mother-daughter relationship. Will the cycle between mother and child now be broken?
(Note--This story is told in second person POV. The narrator addresses the reader as "you".) Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.
The main character suffers from placenta previa during her pregnancy. Both her and her husband, Ky, are worried about the survival of the baby. While prepping for her C-section to avoid complications, she remembers her painful childhood and the complications with her own mother. How will she mother her child when she wasn't mothered herself? Is she prepared? She worries about the challenges she will face after the baby is born and is concerned about mental illness. Will she be like her mother? The secrets she has kept about her own mother and the death of her mother haunt her during and after birth.
"And now the baby lives out in the world, his cord cut: a newborn with a mother whose mother came undone."
Part of the Inheritance series from Amazon Original Stories, this short story projects an eerie image of a past mother-daughter relationship. Will the cycle between mother and child now be broken?
(Note--This story is told in second person POV. The narrator addresses the reader as "you".) Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.
December 21, 2019
Another short story from the Inheritance collection. I have never read this author so these short stories are a great way to explore new authors.
This new mother has a lot on her mind when she goes into labor prematurely. This is their first child and they thought they had everything planned out, the perfect hospital, how they wanted to deliver, etc. I have some personal insight into this because my daughter had also planned to deliver “her way” with a midwife,at a birthing center. However her baby’s heart rate began to get too high and he was premature so she had to go to the hospital and have a C-section performed by a doctor she didn’t know. All turned out fine.
So I know that reality often gets in the way of the best laid plans. When this new mother, suffering from placenta previa, starts to bleed heavily, her partner, Ky, is forced to race her to the nearest hospital. This hospital, however, holds dark feelings and thoughts for the new mother. It is where her mentally unbalanced mother was rushed after she committed suicide. This is the one hospital where she did not want to deliver.
So many thoughts and feelings are written into this short story. The writing is smooth and easy to read and the story rushes by. Any mother will understand the feelings of worry that go through every woman’s head when she is in labor, will the baby be all right? Will I be able to be a good mother? These questions are compounded for this mother because she did not have a mother who took good care of her, she feels she lacks a role model and fears she won’t know what to do. She worries that she may inherit her mother’s illness or pass it on to her baby.
We’re taken along on this quick but harrowing ride through the delivery of the baby.
I enjoyed this story and the author’s writing style and will definitely be looking for her next book.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this short story.
This new mother has a lot on her mind when she goes into labor prematurely. This is their first child and they thought they had everything planned out, the perfect hospital, how they wanted to deliver, etc. I have some personal insight into this because my daughter had also planned to deliver “her way” with a midwife,at a birthing center. However her baby’s heart rate began to get too high and he was premature so she had to go to the hospital and have a C-section performed by a doctor she didn’t know. All turned out fine.
So I know that reality often gets in the way of the best laid plans. When this new mother, suffering from placenta previa, starts to bleed heavily, her partner, Ky, is forced to race her to the nearest hospital. This hospital, however, holds dark feelings and thoughts for the new mother. It is where her mentally unbalanced mother was rushed after she committed suicide. This is the one hospital where she did not want to deliver.
So many thoughts and feelings are written into this short story. The writing is smooth and easy to read and the story rushes by. Any mother will understand the feelings of worry that go through every woman’s head when she is in labor, will the baby be all right? Will I be able to be a good mother? These questions are compounded for this mother because she did not have a mother who took good care of her, she feels she lacks a role model and fears she won’t know what to do. She worries that she may inherit her mother’s illness or pass it on to her baby.
We’re taken along on this quick but harrowing ride through the delivery of the baby.
I enjoyed this story and the author’s writing style and will definitely be looking for her next book.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this short story.
November 23, 2019
This is one of five short stories published as the Amazon Original Stories Inheritance Collection. It is the third one I have read and I will now definitely have to go back for the other two!
I have not read anything by this author before but now I will. She writes beautifully and this story is so very evocative of the events of child birth. It is not possible to say much more without spoiling the story.
Very enjoyable and very well worth reading. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I have not read anything by this author before but now I will. She writes beautifully and this story is so very evocative of the events of child birth. It is not possible to say much more without spoiling the story.
Very enjoyable and very well worth reading. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
January 4, 2020
Yikes! What a first read of 2020!
Julie Orringer writes with such intensity in this short read combining the story of a risky C-section birthing with memories of a tumultuous up-bringing and what her mother did......
Whew! My fourth read in the Inheritance Collection.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the complimentary ebook in exchange for review.
December 13, 2019
Can You Feel This? is the third one I have read in the Amazon Original Short Stories Inheritance Collection. This story is narrated in the second person and at first, it felt a bit odd. I then started to get into the flow and found it an interesting and harrowing way to tell the story. I felt like I became part of the story as I was put in the shoes of the characters here. This one didn't leave me thinking as much but Yes!!! I could feel it and the anxieties the character was feeling.
I received a copy from the publisher on NG
I received a copy from the publisher on NG
October 29, 2019
YES... YES...YES!!!! .... I felt this!
Julie Orringer is an awesome author....
Very talented!!!!
She packs a punch into this short story!!!
Julie Orringer is an awesome author....
Very talented!!!!
She packs a punch into this short story!!!
January 25, 2020
5★
“Placenta previa is serious. A hundred years ago you’d surely die. The baby too. We don’t want you going into labor. Take no chances. Cancel all flights. No travel after week twenty-seven. No subway travel. No trains at all.”
. . . because if you suddenly bleed while you’re in the tunnel under the East River, you’ll both die. This begins like the a straightforward, albeit frightening, story of an average young couple (if there is any such thing) approaching the scheduled C-section of their first baby. The preparation, the nerves, and the how do you decide when it’s time to do what.
“What are we supposed to do now? you say.
We’re getting in the car, Ky says. We’re going.
I don’t have anything packed.
You’ve got the baby, Ky says.”
In this short work, we get a good luck at the young mother-to-be, “Mommy”, as hospital staff always insist on calling her, in spite of the fact that Emily and Ky have tried not to get excited over a birth that may not be successful. And Ky has no idea who “Daddy” is when they refer to him.
I felt for them both in their new, awkward reality – life and death at the mercy of the medical profession
It is written in the second-person about Emily, and there are no quotation marks anywhere. It's unusual, but I thought it worked well. We are in her head, sort of, and it's obvious there is more than the baby troubling her.
“It’s the tenth of June. Maples in full leaf. Cones of white blossoms on the chestnuts along the park. You drive over the Manhattan Bridge, over the sun-shot sharkskin of the East River, just north of that other bridge, the one you can’t look at because of what happened there.”
I was swept along with the story, worried about the couple, the baby, and ”what happened there.” I won’t include a spoiler – I’ll just add I loved seeing a sanctimonious ‘expert’ beaten at her own game.
Real and well-written and my favourite of the five-story series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is one of five (so far?) stories from the collection called ‘Inheritance’ from Amazon Original Stories.
“Placenta previa is serious. A hundred years ago you’d surely die. The baby too. We don’t want you going into labor. Take no chances. Cancel all flights. No travel after week twenty-seven. No subway travel. No trains at all.”
. . . because if you suddenly bleed while you’re in the tunnel under the East River, you’ll both die. This begins like the a straightforward, albeit frightening, story of an average young couple (if there is any such thing) approaching the scheduled C-section of their first baby. The preparation, the nerves, and the how do you decide when it’s time to do what.
“What are we supposed to do now? you say.
We’re getting in the car, Ky says. We’re going.
I don’t have anything packed.
You’ve got the baby, Ky says.”
In this short work, we get a good luck at the young mother-to-be, “Mommy”, as hospital staff always insist on calling her, in spite of the fact that Emily and Ky have tried not to get excited over a birth that may not be successful. And Ky has no idea who “Daddy” is when they refer to him.
I felt for them both in their new, awkward reality – life and death at the mercy of the medical profession
It is written in the second-person about Emily, and there are no quotation marks anywhere. It's unusual, but I thought it worked well. We are in her head, sort of, and it's obvious there is more than the baby troubling her.
“It’s the tenth of June. Maples in full leaf. Cones of white blossoms on the chestnuts along the park. You drive over the Manhattan Bridge, over the sun-shot sharkskin of the East River, just north of that other bridge, the one you can’t look at because of what happened there.”
I was swept along with the story, worried about the couple, the baby, and ”what happened there.” I won’t include a spoiler – I’ll just add I loved seeing a sanctimonious ‘expert’ beaten at her own game.
Real and well-written and my favourite of the five-story series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is one of five (so far?) stories from the collection called ‘Inheritance’ from Amazon Original Stories.
January 20, 2020
Pow, right in the kisser!
This is my kind of story. Told in second person, this short tale (32 pages) has a sense of urgency and poetry to it. Every bit of dialogue is so realistic, and it’s tinged with high-octane emotion. The talking itself is simple (and sort of choppy in a way that excites me), but its intensity matches the intensity of the experience we’re witnessing. There’s a certain rhythm that drew me in. All of this to say I loved this story to bits. It’s clever, intense, and well-told. Even the title is perfection.
Here, we have a woman who is about to give birth too early. I don’t want to give anything away so I’m being vague here on purpose. There’s rushing and danger, and I was right there as all hell broke loose. It hit me that I just love stories when someone is describing a powerful experience. It’s motion by motion, thought by thought—first of all fear, and then confusion, worry, and doubt, while the world around her swirls. There’s also a tragic back-story that is skillfully woven in.
If you’ve ever been pregnant and especially if you’ve had a complication, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat while you identify with the scene and emotion. I had some pregnancy complications and this story sent me right down a scary memory lane. I doubt the story would be as powerful for people who haven’t been pregnant, although I do think it’s extremely well-written and tense. I hope lots of people give this one a try.
This is one of five short stories in Amazon’s Inheritance series. Of the three I’ve read, this is the only 5 star, and it’s more like 6 stars if truth be told. Highly recommend. You can download it for just $1.99 (and no, I don’t own stock in Amazon, lol--though I wish I did!).
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
This is my kind of story. Told in second person, this short tale (32 pages) has a sense of urgency and poetry to it. Every bit of dialogue is so realistic, and it’s tinged with high-octane emotion. The talking itself is simple (and sort of choppy in a way that excites me), but its intensity matches the intensity of the experience we’re witnessing. There’s a certain rhythm that drew me in. All of this to say I loved this story to bits. It’s clever, intense, and well-told. Even the title is perfection.
Here, we have a woman who is about to give birth too early. I don’t want to give anything away so I’m being vague here on purpose. There’s rushing and danger, and I was right there as all hell broke loose. It hit me that I just love stories when someone is describing a powerful experience. It’s motion by motion, thought by thought—first of all fear, and then confusion, worry, and doubt, while the world around her swirls. There’s also a tragic back-story that is skillfully woven in.
If you’ve ever been pregnant and especially if you’ve had a complication, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat while you identify with the scene and emotion. I had some pregnancy complications and this story sent me right down a scary memory lane. I doubt the story would be as powerful for people who haven’t been pregnant, although I do think it’s extremely well-written and tense. I hope lots of people give this one a try.
This is one of five short stories in Amazon’s Inheritance series. Of the three I’ve read, this is the only 5 star, and it’s more like 6 stars if truth be told. Highly recommend. You can download it for just $1.99 (and no, I don’t own stock in Amazon, lol--though I wish I did!).
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
February 1, 2020
This is the second of the five Inheritance Collection short stories I have read. It’s about a woman giving birth to her first baby and her fears that she will not be a fit mother. Despite her misgivings, she ultimately attempts to gather her fortitude to make sure her child will have a much better mother than she did. It’s a strong story and well worth the less than an hour it takes to read it. I did demerit it for the second person POV, which I found awkward. Otherwise, it is a moving tale that I highly recommend.
Thank you to Amazon Original Stories, Net Galley, and Ms. Orringer for a copy of this story. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
Thank you to Amazon Original Stories, Net Galley, and Ms. Orringer for a copy of this story. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
December 26, 2019
Another good one in the Inheritance Collection. Emily is pregnant and has placenta previa. Her husband Ky rushes her to the nearest hospital and a Caesarian is performed. Unfortunately, this is the same hospital where Emily’s mother died when she was a little girl. She has hidden this from Ky. She is beset with troubling memories and feelings about her past and is full of fear which she needs to overcome if she and the baby are to survive and they are to be a family. I really enjoyed this one and apart from the good storyline recognised the chaos that something so small can leave in its wake!
November 18, 2019
A young woman, thirty-six weeks along in her pregnancy, is counting the days until her scheduled C-section date. She knows the signs to watch for, and if need be, what to do in case of bleeding. Go to the closest emergency room.
Stressed, anxious, worried by the time they arrive at the closest ER when she experiences bleeding; another layer of distress is added to her mounting concerns. It is the hospital where they took her as a child the day her mother died, a day that still haunts her.
A nicely balanced short story that had me feeling it all, the fears, the sorrows, the physical and emotional exhaustion. The overwhelming nature of it all - the questions, comparisons of our experiences, concerns over our ability to provide the right environment, to care for this helpless being, along with all of our hopes and dreams for their future.
Pub Date: 19 Dec 2019
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley
Stressed, anxious, worried by the time they arrive at the closest ER when she experiences bleeding; another layer of distress is added to her mounting concerns. It is the hospital where they took her as a child the day her mother died, a day that still haunts her.
A nicely balanced short story that had me feeling it all, the fears, the sorrows, the physical and emotional exhaustion. The overwhelming nature of it all - the questions, comparisons of our experiences, concerns over our ability to provide the right environment, to care for this helpless being, along with all of our hopes and dreams for their future.
Pub Date: 19 Dec 2019
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley
November 30, 2019
Another great short story from the Amazon Inheritence Collection. A women expecting her first child suddenly finds herself having an emergency caesarian four weeks before her baby is due. Bleeding heavily she is taken, not to the hospital where she had booked her delivery, but to the hospital, where as a young child, her mentally disturbed mother died from a traumatic suicide. As she recovers from surgery and tries to care for her baby she reflects on her relationship with her mother and whether she herself will be able to be a good mother to her child. A thought-provoking story that will resonate with many.
With thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for a digital copy to read
With thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for a digital copy to read
November 29, 2019
I have just finished reading an “Amazon Original Stories” by Julie Orringer.
“ Can You Feel This” is a quick little read. A woman is rushed into hospital for an emergency caesarean. She is in the same hospital where her mother was taken when she committed suicide just a few years earlier.
An interesting and well written few words of fiction.
Thank you to the author, publisher for my early copy to read, for my honest review
#CanYouFeelThis #NetGalley
“ Can You Feel This” is a quick little read. A woman is rushed into hospital for an emergency caesarean. She is in the same hospital where her mother was taken when she committed suicide just a few years earlier.
An interesting and well written few words of fiction.
Thank you to the author, publisher for my early copy to read, for my honest review
#CanYouFeelThis #NetGalley
July 26, 2020
How do you know how to "mom" when you've just had a traumatic birth experience, and your own mother is no longer there to guide you? That seems to be a central running theme through this next short story entry in the Amazon Originals Inheritance collection. It's a very sympathetic read for anyone who's ever given birth or suffered the loss of an important relationship in their life. It reminds us once again that life doesn't give us a step-by-step manual of how to do it, and must of us are just muddling through the best we can. In it we find grace to keep trying and hopefully eventually succeeding. A well-written, thoughtful story. I liked it.
★★★ Stars
★★★ Stars
May 21, 2020
Rating: Good
Genre:
Short Story
A short story about a pregnant woman who is about to deliver her baby in the same hospital that her mentally disturbed mother committed suicide. This is a thought-provoking tale. The frightening thing is that it could happen to any woman or mother. All that anxiety, pain, and grief could be very dangerous especially during a critical time like the pregnancy and delivery periods.
This is a well-written short story. I would have liked it more if it was a little bit longer than it is.
Genre:
Short Story
A short story about a pregnant woman who is about to deliver her baby in the same hospital that her mentally disturbed mother committed suicide. This is a thought-provoking tale. The frightening thing is that it could happen to any woman or mother. All that anxiety, pain, and grief could be very dangerous especially during a critical time like the pregnancy and delivery periods.
This is a well-written short story. I would have liked it more if it was a little bit longer than it is.
December 19, 2020
[4+] Wow! A riveting story about a mother's feelings before, during and after giving birth. Perfectly narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen.
December 2, 2019
Another excellent short story from the Amazon Original Stories.
This will resonate with a lot of women, as it's about becoming a new mother, about the experience of being in a hospital after having a traumatic C-section, having this new person you're supposed to instantly connect with, know how to feed them and just keep them alive, while you're recovering from abdominal surgery and missing your own mother and father, both deceased.
I enjoyed Orringer second-person narration, there was a rawness to it and it gave the story both an authentic feel while also feeling like an out-of-body experience. This brought back memories.
I've received this story via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.
This will resonate with a lot of women, as it's about becoming a new mother, about the experience of being in a hospital after having a traumatic C-section, having this new person you're supposed to instantly connect with, know how to feed them and just keep them alive, while you're recovering from abdominal surgery and missing your own mother and father, both deceased.
I enjoyed Orringer second-person narration, there was a rawness to it and it gave the story both an authentic feel while also feeling like an out-of-body experience. This brought back memories.
I've received this story via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.
June 23, 2020
In this novella, Julie Orringer takes us into a delivery room where a new mother gives birth in the very hospital where her suicidal mother died. Immediately I was drawn into this story of trauma and loss and the hope of renewal as the main character welcomes her child into the world.
What they didn't say: When your baby was born, when your husband put him into your arms, you would recognize him immediately. His womb-delivered haircut, a Caesar with silken sideburns, The curl of his full lips. The neat caret of his nose. His smell of wildflowers. You know the flower's name: alyssum. Four-petaled, a star in miniature. Found in clusters. Scent of honey. That's how your baby smells, but better. Ambrosiac. Fictional. You hold his head a centimeter from your nose. You want to lick him as if you were a cat.
Goodreads review published 23/06/20
What they didn't say: When your baby was born, when your husband put him into your arms, you would recognize him immediately. His womb-delivered haircut, a Caesar with silken sideburns, The curl of his full lips. The neat caret of his nose. His smell of wildflowers. You know the flower's name: alyssum. Four-petaled, a star in miniature. Found in clusters. Scent of honey. That's how your baby smells, but better. Ambrosiac. Fictional. You hold his head a centimeter from your nose. You want to lick him as if you were a cat.
Goodreads review published 23/06/20
January 13, 2025
1. I hate books in 2nd person POV
2. This book made me not want to have a child.
3. The part with her mom was the only decently written part.
2. This book made me not want to have a child.
3. The part with her mom was the only decently written part.
January 27, 2020
This is the second in the Inheritance Collection of short stories from Amazon Original Stories.
The story is told from a second person perspective about a young woman who is thirty-six weeks pregnant and going in to early labour. She is anxious, afraid, unexperienced... all things to be expected for a first-time mother. I felt distressed and nervous for and with her, as if I was experiencing it in real time. I had twins at 36 weeks, and the anxiety I felt the first couple of days trying to get them to latch on and nurse was stressful! [Fortunately the preemie nursing staff was amazing and had me double-nursing in no time!!]
The parallel narrative regarding her mother's death was just a Debbie Downer, and really not necessary. That's what took it down to a 3.5 star read for me.
I thought the writing was good, just wasn't as taken by the subject matter.
Look forward to the rest of the series!
The story is told from a second person perspective about a young woman who is thirty-six weeks pregnant and going in to early labour. She is anxious, afraid, unexperienced... all things to be expected for a first-time mother. I felt distressed and nervous for and with her, as if I was experiencing it in real time. I had twins at 36 weeks, and the anxiety I felt the first couple of days trying to get them to latch on and nurse was stressful! [Fortunately the preemie nursing staff was amazing and had me double-nursing in no time!!]
The parallel narrative regarding her mother's death was just a Debbie Downer, and really not necessary. That's what took it down to a 3.5 star read for me.
I thought the writing was good, just wasn't as taken by the subject matter.
Look forward to the rest of the series!
September 7, 2023
5/5
Kaip jautiesi, kai iki paskutinės akimirkos nežinai, ar tavo kūdikis išgyvens? Kaip jautiesi, kai kraujuojanti ir alpstanti matai, kad gimdyti tave veža į ligoninę, kurioje paskutinį kartą buvai tuomet, kai nusižudė tavo mama? Pirmą kartą tapusios mama ir ilgametį mamos dydžio skaudulį sieloje turinčios moters trumpa istorija – tokia paveiki, kad skaityti ir skauda, ir sunku. Ir kyla nerimas, ir gerklėje gumulas, ir vienu metu atrodo, kad tai būtų nuostabus, paveikus romanas (vienas tų, kur kokie maksimum 200 puslapių ir išleidžia Baltos lankos), bet tuo pat metu atrodo, kad 200 puslapių tokiai kančiai ir tokiam stresui.
Autorės proza tokia aštri, subtili, tiek daug smulkmeniškai apgalvotų detalių, tiek daug jausmo ir tiek emocijos. Rekomenduoju!
Kaip jautiesi, kai iki paskutinės akimirkos nežinai, ar tavo kūdikis išgyvens? Kaip jautiesi, kai kraujuojanti ir alpstanti matai, kad gimdyti tave veža į ligoninę, kurioje paskutinį kartą buvai tuomet, kai nusižudė tavo mama? Pirmą kartą tapusios mama ir ilgametį mamos dydžio skaudulį sieloje turinčios moters trumpa istorija – tokia paveiki, kad skaityti ir skauda, ir sunku. Ir kyla nerimas, ir gerklėje gumulas, ir vienu metu atrodo, kad tai būtų nuostabus, paveikus romanas (vienas tų, kur kokie maksimum 200 puslapių ir išleidžia Baltos lankos), bet tuo pat metu atrodo, kad 200 puslapių tokiai kančiai ir tokiam stresui.
Autorės proza tokia aštri, subtili, tiek daug smulkmeniškai apgalvotų detalių, tiek daug jausmo ir tiek emocijos. Rekomenduoju!
January 13, 2020
*read for free with Kindle Unlimited*
July 6, 2020
A wonderful short story about childbirth and becoming a mother.
December 29, 2019
Julie Orringer is another author I'd never read prior to discovering The Inheritence collection. If her short story (novella?) Can You Feel This? is any indication of the type of novel she writes I'll definitely be seeking out her other titles.
This is my favourite so far of the three Inheritence Collection stories I've read and I was surprised to find just how connected I felt to the unnamed central character and her husband Ky, especially as this was told in second person narrative. This couple is expecting their first baby but instead of excitedly counting down to the big event they've been warned of the high risk the baby - and perhaps mother - may not survive the birth. The onset of bleeding in her 36th week and a rushed visit to the hospital triggers a series of confronting memories about her own mothers tragic demise and an array of fears about how she herself might cope as a mother. It was an engaging story and though it ended before I was ready there was a note of hope to it.
Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is my favourite so far of the three Inheritence Collection stories I've read and I was surprised to find just how connected I felt to the unnamed central character and her husband Ky, especially as this was told in second person narrative. This couple is expecting their first baby but instead of excitedly counting down to the big event they've been warned of the high risk the baby - and perhaps mother - may not survive the birth. The onset of bleeding in her 36th week and a rushed visit to the hospital triggers a series of confronting memories about her own mothers tragic demise and an array of fears about how she herself might cope as a mother. It was an engaging story and though it ended before I was ready there was a note of hope to it.
Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 6, 2020
Where is your mother? Where is she? Shouldn't there be exemptions? Shouldn't the dead be allowed family leave for emergencies?
I liked the Jewish references, as well as the beautiful descriptions of the mother's feelings towards her newborn. I think this may be the first book I've read that was written in second person narrative and unfortunately I found this very distracting.
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