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Fake Baby
Fake Baby is a tender and funny exploration of the power of words, our perception of resilience and what it means to be real.Nine Days.One City.Three Oddballs.Stephen’s dead father is threatening to destroy the world. If Stephen commits the ultimate sacrifice and throws himself into the harbour, he will save humanity. The last thing he needs is a Jehovah’s Witness masquerading as a schoolboy and an admission to a mental health facility.*Jaanvi steals a life-like doll called James and cares for him as if he were her dead baby. Her husband demands she return him. But she and James have already bonded, and it’s nobody’s business how she decides to grieve. *Lucas, pharmacist and all-round nice guy, is having one of the worst weeks of his life. His employees forgot his birthday, his mother’s gone manic, and now his favourite customer is in hospital because of a medication error he made. Can he make things right? Or is life all downhill after forty?'A darkly funny satire that's both moving and wise.' - Paula Morris
- GenresFictionFriendship
302 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2020
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628 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
August 27, 2020
I have read some standout NZ fiction over the last few years, mainly as a result of suggestions from my local indie bookshop. Fake Baby, a debut novel by Auckland novelist Amy McDaid, is right up there with my favourites from the last couple of years, namely, The Ice Shelf and this years Ockham winner, Auē .
It's always lovely to come back to NZ literature after reading many novels set elsewhere. It is reassuring to read about the chicken crisis in Titirangi, hear the cry of the ruru from mānuka trees and to snicker over the ladies of Ponsonby ;
Like tadpoles perched on the edge of lily pads, clusters of smooth-looking women in yoga pants sat sipping green smoothies around bamboo tables
The pale blue and fluorescent orange cover heralds : "Nine Days, One City, Three Oddballs" this would seem to indicate a fun, lighthearted romp but this novel has a few gut-punches up its sleeve.
The title, in part, comes from the reborn doll that Jaanvi steals to help her deal with the death of her baby. While it is tempting to label this story as "quirky", it becomes apparent this is a deeply sorrowful tale, leant verisimilitude by the author's profession as a neonatal intensive care nurse.
While Jaanvi's story is compelling, the technically impressive feat here is the voice of Steven. With a talent for poetry, it is a challenge sometimes to follow his thoughts as he is haunted and taunted by his father in vivid hallucinations. The third strand of the novel concerns a socially awkward pharmacist called Lucas and while all three characters are interesting this particular arc was slightly less appealing to me.
This is an impressive, polyphonic debut with smart, challenging writing, it's seemingly humorous premise is a cover for stories with real sorrow and depth. This is certainly a novel I would hope to see featured on the Ockham 2021 longlist.
It's always lovely to come back to NZ literature after reading many novels set elsewhere. It is reassuring to read about the chicken crisis in Titirangi, hear the cry of the ruru from mānuka trees and to snicker over the ladies of Ponsonby ;
Like tadpoles perched on the edge of lily pads, clusters of smooth-looking women in yoga pants sat sipping green smoothies around bamboo tables
The pale blue and fluorescent orange cover heralds : "Nine Days, One City, Three Oddballs" this would seem to indicate a fun, lighthearted romp but this novel has a few gut-punches up its sleeve.
The title, in part, comes from the reborn doll that Jaanvi steals to help her deal with the death of her baby. While it is tempting to label this story as "quirky", it becomes apparent this is a deeply sorrowful tale, leant verisimilitude by the author's profession as a neonatal intensive care nurse.
While Jaanvi's story is compelling, the technically impressive feat here is the voice of Steven. With a talent for poetry, it is a challenge sometimes to follow his thoughts as he is haunted and taunted by his father in vivid hallucinations. The third strand of the novel concerns a socially awkward pharmacist called Lucas and while all three characters are interesting this particular arc was slightly less appealing to me.
This is an impressive, polyphonic debut with smart, challenging writing, it's seemingly humorous premise is a cover for stories with real sorrow and depth. This is certainly a novel I would hope to see featured on the Ockham 2021 longlist.
September 22, 2020
Fake Baby is a smart, funny, affecting debut novel. It takes some skill to be able to write a funny and affecting story about some of the real serious issues in this world. McDaid's treatment of mental illness, infant mortality, maternal health, and complex familial relationships is both thoughtful and honest. Stories like these, which remind us how much these things are a part of real life are so important in these times more than ever. I thought this was excellently done and it reassured me again, the NZ fiction is alive and well.
August 31, 2020
4.5* rounded up.
I really enjoyed this debut novel and was hooked from the start! It is a worthy feat (and talent!) to be able to write a novel that is sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes sarcastically humorous while still managing to convey empathy and compassion to subjects such as mental illness and neonatal loss.
I really enjoyed this debut novel and was hooked from the start! It is a worthy feat (and talent!) to be able to write a novel that is sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes sarcastically humorous while still managing to convey empathy and compassion to subjects such as mental illness and neonatal loss.
July 2, 2020
Fake Baby is a superb, darkly humorous debut novel by Titirangi writer (and neonatal nurse) Amy McDaid. Three characters—none of them neurotypical—gently intersect over nine days in Auckland. 65-year-old Stephen is fighting the demon ghost of his father, certain that offering himself as a harbour sacrifice will put the ghost to rest once and for all. Lucas, the somewhere-on-the-spectrum pharmacist (with an embarrassingly sexual bipolar mother), makes a mistake that sends him over the edge. And then there’s Jaanvi, who steals a lifelike doll as a stand-in for her newborn who died.
McDaid handles her characters skillfully, without being patronising. She manages race particularly well (i.e. it is only ever inferred). Her writing is deft and lovely to read, with a rhythm that gets you inside each character’s head. But the thing I love best about her writing, and the story, is the level of detail and specific actions that bring the characters alive. Jaanvi, for example, plants spiders in her husband’s food as a subtle form of sabotage. Her friend Ayla is always quoting Authentici-Tea quotes to show her spirituality (and to up her Instagram following!). Stephen’s heels are “as thick as pork crackling”.
But don’t let the surface humour fool you—the story’s undertow is heart-wrenching. The core of Fake Baby is about great personal loss and the madness (hereditary or event-precipitated) that threatens to seep out of all of us.
Five stars.
McDaid handles her characters skillfully, without being patronising. She manages race particularly well (i.e. it is only ever inferred). Her writing is deft and lovely to read, with a rhythm that gets you inside each character’s head. But the thing I love best about her writing, and the story, is the level of detail and specific actions that bring the characters alive. Jaanvi, for example, plants spiders in her husband’s food as a subtle form of sabotage. Her friend Ayla is always quoting Authentici-Tea quotes to show her spirituality (and to up her Instagram following!). Stephen’s heels are “as thick as pork crackling”.
But don’t let the surface humour fool you—the story’s undertow is heart-wrenching. The core of Fake Baby is about great personal loss and the madness (hereditary or event-precipitated) that threatens to seep out of all of us.
Five stars.
December 8, 2020
Told from a bunch of different characters point of view, this cleverly constructed novel will mess with your mind and test you as you try to figure out how the stories will connect. This novel is quirk of the highest order. I loved the alternating chapters, I'm always keen on that, I ended up with favourite characters who then turned and twisted so that I shifted my affection to another. This is slice of life stuff, an inside view of the mind of those suffering from several mental illnesses. I found it fascinating, I found the actions of the characters, even though they were totally bizarre at times, to be totally understandable. Who knows what might go on in our own minds should we be afflicted with illness?
This author has captured New Zealand right now, how we talk, how we see things but through the very particular eyes of several diverse characters who all have something they are dealing with in their lives. It is a blimmin great book. I have just upped the stars to 5, that's because I'm still thinking about it, I'm still invested in these characters and that, for me, is the kicker.
This author has captured New Zealand right now, how we talk, how we see things but through the very particular eyes of several diverse characters who all have something they are dealing with in their lives. It is a blimmin great book. I have just upped the stars to 5, that's because I'm still thinking about it, I'm still invested in these characters and that, for me, is the kicker.
December 11, 2020
What an unusual and fascinating book. It is a story that subtly alters through its course, changing from humorous and amusing at the start to sad and poignant at the end. The span of the novels gradually reveals that true nature of the truth behind what is happening, and as we begin to see that, we become more and more emotionally involved with the fate of the characters.
The action takes place over the course of nine days – the sections follow the days beginning on a Sunday and ending on the Monday just over a week later. There are two Sundays and two Mondays. Then there are three lives – three characters around which storylines revolve. The back cover calls the “Oddballs” but that is a description which is more and more challenged as the novel develops and you finally understand what has brought each one to the places they have arrived at.
Stephen McDakeldy is an older gentleman, who, to be blunt, has lost his mind. He has been inside a mental health facility for some time after the murder of his father (of which I think he is accused). Of all the characters in the book, Stephen is the best written because his looming madness seeps out of the page around him. He is a lover pf poetry and his play on poetry and the use of words, the confusion, mixture and madness of words is both playful, real and ultimately sad. As we move through time with Stephen, we begin to understand how his life has come to this, how he was abused by his father, how there was a monster lurking in his childhood, and so what at first seems light-hearted is actually rooted in tragedy. In the final pages we see Stephen under huge stress, trying to put into place a plan to leave the institution in which he has been interred and end his life. During the course of a late-night walk through central Auckland he encounters a number of children and teens which I take to be his younger selves, engaging them in conversations as he takes what he hopes will be his final journey.
Here is an example of a conversation that Stephen has with Dr Steve, at the mental health facility:
“’Shall we talk about something else?’
Talk.
Tall.
Hall.
Hell.
Change the final letter and you’ll get help. Who’s helping who? No one’s helping anyone. It’s all uphill. Pushing pens up a fountain. Hens up a mountain. No one’s counting. And they ask for the truth, but the truth is too much for them. The truth closes them down, the truth sends them scurrying for their holes.”
The dialogue is so clever and has just the right hint of madness. But not too much to think that Stephen makes no sense.
When Stephen is let out on day leave by the nurse, I loved this description:
“The nurse placed her ID card against the red light, and the door swung open into the main reception area. Freedom smelled like eucalyptus carpet cleaner. Freedom smelled like stagnating flowers in a vase. Freedom smelled like the last linger of body odour from a sweat-addled battler.”
Jaanvi Gilfillan is a mother who has lost her young baby. Her life has been on hold for six months. As you would expect her whole life is in turmoil and nothing is making sense to her. Her partner Mark is also behaving oddly, and for much of the book I suspected that he was up to something behind her back. Like her, his is also struggling to cope with the loss of their son, but his not able to voice that. What Jaanvi does is to steal a very realistic doll from a lady in a lingerie shop. It looks like a real boy, it has real hair and lashes, and Jaanvi turns it into her new son, names it James and carries it around and goes about her life as if it were her living son. It is only late in the piece that it transpires that she has stolen the doll, and her use of it as a substitute leads to a number of awkward situations where others ridicule her publicly but obviously don’t know that she has lost a real baby. Some people, including her own family, tell her she is nuts, while others are understanding and buy her a pram. This is the Fake Baby of the title.
It is not all one directional sabotage by Mark on Jaanvi. She places a dead spider in his dinner. “Mark spent the rest of the evening wiping down the kitchen cupboards and looking for spiders in every corner. He checked inside the pots, the plastic containers and the fridge, Behind the blinds and underneath the bed…
She had done it again. She couldn’t help herself. Miniature acts of sabotage on her beloved husband.
She should feel guilty and ashamed.
She really should.”
When we finally learn the truth about what happened to Jaanvi’s baby, and how he died, when the life support machine is shut down, there is a short heart-breaking paragraph:
“His cheeks whitened and his lips slowly turned blue. Not the blue of the sky or the blue of a flower. A grey-blue. The blue of a whio swimming away from her down a river.”
(Another name for the whio is the blue duck, a rare native bird that features on our $10 note.)
Lucas Flood is a pharmacist, running his own little business with three staff members for whom is both responsible and overly protective. They have staff meetings. Lucas is forty and single and has an older mother who is not sticking to her medications and seems intent on growing old disgracefully. She buys things she doesn’t need and attracts odd boyfriends whom Lucas doesn’t like. She has adopted a hedgehog with mange. Between running his pharmacy and trying to run his personal life, Lucas is not doing well. He has split up from his girlfriend, and been on a date with a woman who claims to be a stripper. When he mistakenly gives an elderly patient aspirin and she dies a few days later, his world is tossed into complete turmoil – well beyond its normal level. There is the most humour in the scenes with Lucas, both his attempts to run his small business like it is a large one, and also the description of the book he is given by the lady who dies. A great parody of meaningless writing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if these characters hang around in my head for months. They are so well drawn and real, like friends I have known for years.
The action takes place over the course of nine days – the sections follow the days beginning on a Sunday and ending on the Monday just over a week later. There are two Sundays and two Mondays. Then there are three lives – three characters around which storylines revolve. The back cover calls the “Oddballs” but that is a description which is more and more challenged as the novel develops and you finally understand what has brought each one to the places they have arrived at.
Stephen McDakeldy is an older gentleman, who, to be blunt, has lost his mind. He has been inside a mental health facility for some time after the murder of his father (of which I think he is accused). Of all the characters in the book, Stephen is the best written because his looming madness seeps out of the page around him. He is a lover pf poetry and his play on poetry and the use of words, the confusion, mixture and madness of words is both playful, real and ultimately sad. As we move through time with Stephen, we begin to understand how his life has come to this, how he was abused by his father, how there was a monster lurking in his childhood, and so what at first seems light-hearted is actually rooted in tragedy. In the final pages we see Stephen under huge stress, trying to put into place a plan to leave the institution in which he has been interred and end his life. During the course of a late-night walk through central Auckland he encounters a number of children and teens which I take to be his younger selves, engaging them in conversations as he takes what he hopes will be his final journey.
Here is an example of a conversation that Stephen has with Dr Steve, at the mental health facility:
“’Shall we talk about something else?’
Talk.
Tall.
Hall.
Hell.
Change the final letter and you’ll get help. Who’s helping who? No one’s helping anyone. It’s all uphill. Pushing pens up a fountain. Hens up a mountain. No one’s counting. And they ask for the truth, but the truth is too much for them. The truth closes them down, the truth sends them scurrying for their holes.”
The dialogue is so clever and has just the right hint of madness. But not too much to think that Stephen makes no sense.
When Stephen is let out on day leave by the nurse, I loved this description:
“The nurse placed her ID card against the red light, and the door swung open into the main reception area. Freedom smelled like eucalyptus carpet cleaner. Freedom smelled like stagnating flowers in a vase. Freedom smelled like the last linger of body odour from a sweat-addled battler.”
Jaanvi Gilfillan is a mother who has lost her young baby. Her life has been on hold for six months. As you would expect her whole life is in turmoil and nothing is making sense to her. Her partner Mark is also behaving oddly, and for much of the book I suspected that he was up to something behind her back. Like her, his is also struggling to cope with the loss of their son, but his not able to voice that. What Jaanvi does is to steal a very realistic doll from a lady in a lingerie shop. It looks like a real boy, it has real hair and lashes, and Jaanvi turns it into her new son, names it James and carries it around and goes about her life as if it were her living son. It is only late in the piece that it transpires that she has stolen the doll, and her use of it as a substitute leads to a number of awkward situations where others ridicule her publicly but obviously don’t know that she has lost a real baby. Some people, including her own family, tell her she is nuts, while others are understanding and buy her a pram. This is the Fake Baby of the title.
It is not all one directional sabotage by Mark on Jaanvi. She places a dead spider in his dinner. “Mark spent the rest of the evening wiping down the kitchen cupboards and looking for spiders in every corner. He checked inside the pots, the plastic containers and the fridge, Behind the blinds and underneath the bed…
She had done it again. She couldn’t help herself. Miniature acts of sabotage on her beloved husband.
She should feel guilty and ashamed.
She really should.”
When we finally learn the truth about what happened to Jaanvi’s baby, and how he died, when the life support machine is shut down, there is a short heart-breaking paragraph:
“His cheeks whitened and his lips slowly turned blue. Not the blue of the sky or the blue of a flower. A grey-blue. The blue of a whio swimming away from her down a river.”
(Another name for the whio is the blue duck, a rare native bird that features on our $10 note.)
Lucas Flood is a pharmacist, running his own little business with three staff members for whom is both responsible and overly protective. They have staff meetings. Lucas is forty and single and has an older mother who is not sticking to her medications and seems intent on growing old disgracefully. She buys things she doesn’t need and attracts odd boyfriends whom Lucas doesn’t like. She has adopted a hedgehog with mange. Between running his pharmacy and trying to run his personal life, Lucas is not doing well. He has split up from his girlfriend, and been on a date with a woman who claims to be a stripper. When he mistakenly gives an elderly patient aspirin and she dies a few days later, his world is tossed into complete turmoil – well beyond its normal level. There is the most humour in the scenes with Lucas, both his attempts to run his small business like it is a large one, and also the description of the book he is given by the lady who dies. A great parody of meaningless writing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if these characters hang around in my head for months. They are so well drawn and real, like friends I have known for years.
August 3, 2020
A wee gem of a book! I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this one- it’s compulsively readable, and sucked me in almost immediately. This does tackle some pretty heavy topics, but I felt it was done with great care and compassion. The writing itself is wonderful, and I’m always going to be a sucker for books set in New Zealand. I have a feeling this book is going to stick with me for quite awhile!
As a I said, and as stated in the synopsis, this does deal with some sensitive topics, so if you need them I would consider looking into trigger warnings for this one. Otherwise, I highly recommend!
A huge thanks to Penguin Books NZ for the review copy!
As a I said, and as stated in the synopsis, this does deal with some sensitive topics, so if you need them I would consider looking into trigger warnings for this one. Otherwise, I highly recommend!
A huge thanks to Penguin Books NZ for the review copy!
August 28, 2020
Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve just finished Fake Baby. I kind of wish it didn’t end. This will sound dark but I’m a sucker for characters with trauma.
I loved meeting all the characters but my favourite is hands down Stephen. I wonder how the writer has attained such an intuitive understanding of mental distress. The realness of Stephen was surprising. The world he experiences was so clearly his own and yet she managed to describe it cleverly through the most delightful prose.
I feel as though I’ve just been on a long hīkoi around Tāmaki Makaurau (which was lovely given the current rāhui). I imagined myself walking with Lucas through Green Bay Beach, enjoying all our native trees. The characters reminded me of Tāmaki residents I see in my every day - the Stephens of Lincoln Road and Jaanvis from my kids schools. They are ordinary people facing some of the darkest parts of the human experience. I ached for them and extend such warm mihis to my fellow residents of Tāmaki who are struggling right now.
The cover describes them as “three oddballs” but I beg to differ. Losing a baby, breaking up, wanting to die, drugs, violence - this book touches on all of these ordinary traumas and more. I would recommend this to everyone as a tool to build empathy, understanding, and insight into parts of our human condition that we will all be touched by in our lives. Just look down your own street - or if you’re brave enough - within.
I loved meeting all the characters but my favourite is hands down Stephen. I wonder how the writer has attained such an intuitive understanding of mental distress. The realness of Stephen was surprising. The world he experiences was so clearly his own and yet she managed to describe it cleverly through the most delightful prose.
I feel as though I’ve just been on a long hīkoi around Tāmaki Makaurau (which was lovely given the current rāhui). I imagined myself walking with Lucas through Green Bay Beach, enjoying all our native trees. The characters reminded me of Tāmaki residents I see in my every day - the Stephens of Lincoln Road and Jaanvis from my kids schools. They are ordinary people facing some of the darkest parts of the human experience. I ached for them and extend such warm mihis to my fellow residents of Tāmaki who are struggling right now.
The cover describes them as “three oddballs” but I beg to differ. Losing a baby, breaking up, wanting to die, drugs, violence - this book touches on all of these ordinary traumas and more. I would recommend this to everyone as a tool to build empathy, understanding, and insight into parts of our human condition that we will all be touched by in our lives. Just look down your own street - or if you’re brave enough - within.
June 1, 2020
These vividly drawn characters are all fighting their own internal battles. A sharp satire on modern life, which had me alternately laughing out loud and empathising with their plight. Wonderful dialogue and tightly controlled prose. I read this over a weekend - it was hard to put down!
February 4, 2021
I absolutely loved this book. What a gifted storyteller Amy MacDaid is, my guess is that she has a very bright future ahead
August 27, 2020
This book is bleak, the characters are frustrating, the prose is jumpy and disjointed, and somehow these unflattering statements are major compliments.
I see now what “A darkly funny satire” means, and I found this book utterly unique. Set in Auckland, this book follows three unrelated characters as they go about their lives over a nine day period. My first impression of these characters was what caricatures of ordinary Kiwis they are - I was reminded of the “People of New Zealand” comic by artist Sam Moore, where archetypes of New Zealanders are portrayed in a humorous way - but due to relatability rather than in a mocking sense. The characters in this book, (main & supporting), feel like these archetypes where they were so recognisable, yet abstract. I couldn’t identify with any of them, yet I could relate to them all and knew exactly who they were. It created a complex relationship between the characters and myself as a reader.
When I call this book bleak, I mean that McDaid has thrown readers into the bleak, miserable, boring, desperate, struggles of her characters. And that’s a good thing, because while again feeling like a bit of a caricature, it’s so raw, and so human. Taking a snapshot of a week of someone we make small talk with in a coffee shop or let in front of us in the traffic isn’t ever likely going to show glitz and glamour and excitement. We’re all flawed individuals with our own baggage just doing our best in the circumstances thrown at us that week. That’s what we’re given here. Imperfect lives of familiar enough characters, and “darkly funny satire that’s both moving and wise” is the perfect description.
This is a complex book, and simultaneously easy and difficult to read. I mentioned jumpy prose - I did have to re-read elements of this book, but once I grasped that the style in the jumpy parts reflected busy minds and thought processes, it all made sense a lot more. The emotional turmoil of characters was seriously emphasised by this, making me connect with them in a way I didn’t expect.
I’ve been reading this for a buddy read, and we’re supposed to be 2/3 through - but we’ve all rushed ahead. This is a very different yet engaging book, and I highly recommend reading it as a bookclub or in a buddy read.
A very well done book, Amy. I’m so interested to hear others reactions, and these are my honest first thoughts as I’m processing and so will likely develop as I chat to others too. There’s a lot of layers to work through here, and I love a book that leaves me thinking.
I see now what “A darkly funny satire” means, and I found this book utterly unique. Set in Auckland, this book follows three unrelated characters as they go about their lives over a nine day period. My first impression of these characters was what caricatures of ordinary Kiwis they are - I was reminded of the “People of New Zealand” comic by artist Sam Moore, where archetypes of New Zealanders are portrayed in a humorous way - but due to relatability rather than in a mocking sense. The characters in this book, (main & supporting), feel like these archetypes where they were so recognisable, yet abstract. I couldn’t identify with any of them, yet I could relate to them all and knew exactly who they were. It created a complex relationship between the characters and myself as a reader.
When I call this book bleak, I mean that McDaid has thrown readers into the bleak, miserable, boring, desperate, struggles of her characters. And that’s a good thing, because while again feeling like a bit of a caricature, it’s so raw, and so human. Taking a snapshot of a week of someone we make small talk with in a coffee shop or let in front of us in the traffic isn’t ever likely going to show glitz and glamour and excitement. We’re all flawed individuals with our own baggage just doing our best in the circumstances thrown at us that week. That’s what we’re given here. Imperfect lives of familiar enough characters, and “darkly funny satire that’s both moving and wise” is the perfect description.
This is a complex book, and simultaneously easy and difficult to read. I mentioned jumpy prose - I did have to re-read elements of this book, but once I grasped that the style in the jumpy parts reflected busy minds and thought processes, it all made sense a lot more. The emotional turmoil of characters was seriously emphasised by this, making me connect with them in a way I didn’t expect.
I’ve been reading this for a buddy read, and we’re supposed to be 2/3 through - but we’ve all rushed ahead. This is a very different yet engaging book, and I highly recommend reading it as a bookclub or in a buddy read.
A very well done book, Amy. I’m so interested to hear others reactions, and these are my honest first thoughts as I’m processing and so will likely develop as I chat to others too. There’s a lot of layers to work through here, and I love a book that leaves me thinking.
November 30, 2020
RATING: 3.5 STARS (7/10)
January 11, 2022
I was looking forward to reading some NZ fiction over the holidays, and plucked this book from Mt TBR. Unfortunately for me, it fell a little short.
The many characters points of views at times got confusing, and it took me half way through the book to really be able to identify them individually.
It's a compulsive read, which was a good thing as I think if I had of read this over any longer period of time, it would have been more difficult to keep a tab on who was who.
The many characters points of views at times got confusing, and it took me half way through the book to really be able to identify them individually.
It's a compulsive read, which was a good thing as I think if I had of read this over any longer period of time, it would have been more difficult to keep a tab on who was who.
July 21, 2020
I was initially put off this book by the cover and the title.. In my opinion it does it no favours at all. I get why it’s called ‘Fake Baby’ though .However, I found beneath the cover a beautiful story of three characters with varying mental health issues. Their stories are told sensitively but with laugh out loud moments . Well worth getting past the chic lit cover !
June 7, 2020
This is an intelligently written novel that had me hooked from the first chapter. Each passage so cleverly written with subtle details creating vivid imagery that allow you to feel you know each character personally. It covers dark themes but does so in a way that as a reader you develop real empathy and understanding for the characters and their struggles. I felt like every passage had something clever to say and there were so many times I wanted to pull my highlighter out. The use of satire only enhances the messages and it has left me really thinking about how judgmental our society can be - especially in relation to mental health. At a time when the world is reflecting on the concept of 'privilege' this novel couldn't be more on point.
Read
August 12, 2020loved this, loved seeing auckland like this, through characters to whom Shit V Much Happens! and characters whose brains are not 'logical' or 'reasonable' in the way close third-person narrative voices often require them to be. I became very attached and I was very moved.
also I read the bulk of this book sitting on the concrete outside the newark penn station and it felt right to be accosted by/avoiding one million strangers over the course of my reading.
also I read the bulk of this book sitting on the concrete outside the newark penn station and it felt right to be accosted by/avoiding one million strangers over the course of my reading.
February 22, 2021
McDaid is a great new quirky voice on the NZ market, already acknowledged with an entry in the longlist of the 2021 Ockham Awards. There are some big subjects in here, including stillbirth, homelessness and bipolar disorder. In the wrong hands they could easily have become the stuff of mocking, but instead McDaid has found a great balance of quirky fun and empathy.
The book structure interweaves the stories of several characters indirectly connected to each other over a period of a few days. The passages focusing on homeless man Stephen are by far the most creative, and jarring. He's muddled, living both in the past and in a world functioning in a way that only he can see.
Then there's Jaanvi, who seems to be in a dysfunctional relationship and lacking direction. An opportunistic theft gives her a temporary retrieve (at least in her mind), but exacerbates all the issues in life. Her story is perhaps the saddest, as it's so clear she is struggling but she doesn't quite realise it.
Lucas is the character we love and hate, and in many ways goes through the biggest arc of self-discovery. Internet dating, ex-partners, professional errors, parental mental health issues...Lucas bumbles his way through all of them. He reminded me a lot of a classic Anne Tyler male protagonist.
What lifts this book is the cast of secondary characters connecting the main ones, and the portrayal of quite banal activities: baked beans for dinner, staff meetings, bra shopping, work functions...it's all so dull and yet there are people in pain, dragging themselves through life.
While it's definitely good, I can't see it being the Ockham winner. It lacks just a bit of polish, even with NZ's star editor on the job. But with an Ockham nomination, McDaid couldn't have hoped for better for her debut novel. What an achievement.
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The book structure interweaves the stories of several characters indirectly connected to each other over a period of a few days. The passages focusing on homeless man Stephen are by far the most creative, and jarring. He's muddled, living both in the past and in a world functioning in a way that only he can see.
Then there's Jaanvi, who seems to be in a dysfunctional relationship and lacking direction. An opportunistic theft gives her a temporary retrieve (at least in her mind), but exacerbates all the issues in life. Her story is perhaps the saddest, as it's so clear she is struggling but she doesn't quite realise it.
Lucas is the character we love and hate, and in many ways goes through the biggest arc of self-discovery. Internet dating, ex-partners, professional errors, parental mental health issues...Lucas bumbles his way through all of them. He reminded me a lot of a classic Anne Tyler male protagonist.
What lifts this book is the cast of secondary characters connecting the main ones, and the portrayal of quite banal activities: baked beans for dinner, staff meetings, bra shopping, work functions...it's all so dull and yet there are people in pain, dragging themselves through life.
While it's definitely good, I can't see it being the Ockham winner. It lacks just a bit of polish, even with NZ's star editor on the job. But with an Ockham nomination, McDaid couldn't have hoped for better for her debut novel. What an achievement.
You can read more book reviews by me here: https://www.instagram.com/avrbookstuff.
Please shop at your local indie bookstore.
December 27, 2020
It took me a few chapters to get into this novel, which reads like an exploration of various forms of mental illness. The narration alternates between Stephen (who is in and out of institutions and is haunted by his dead father), Jaanvi (whose baby son died recently at the age of 9 days) and Lucas (who is a pharmacist feeling responsible for his employees, customers and bipolar mother). I found the chapters by Stephen a bit difficult to follow initially but once I read on a bit this became easier. All of the characters in the novel are flawed in some way (even the minor ones) and there are several connections between the 3 main ones. There is plenty of dark humour and a very familiar feel to the whole novel, with it being set in the Auckland suburbs. I liked the way this was written but the characters themselves felt like the stars of the show. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.
June 25, 2020
Three characters directly affected by mental health issues within their families. This book is a considerate approach to the idea that these issues can touch anyone at any stage of our life. I can't help thinking of that 'Life is a box of chocolates' quote. It's true, you never know what you're going to get. Those life-surprises that turn our worlds upside down can be devastating, and how we manage them is sometimes the strangest thing. I admire the way McDaid has shone a light in the mental health direction without judgement. This book is serious, but also wonderfully accessible and the troubles are written about with such a deft and lightness that the book is in no way one of those that impart a sense of dread. Yes, I was moved. I may have also shed a few tears. This is the testament to how much involvement I had in these three characters. Brava Amy McDaid.
July 16, 2020
This is not the sort of book I would normally read.
I found this book and the author thanks to the NZ Made Product page on FB.
Which started up during the Level 4 lockdown in New Zealand.
I liked this book, I was compelled to keep reading, it's interesting because you just have no idea what will happen next for the characters.
Not the kind of book I'll read often, but I'll share it on to other people to read.
I found this book and the author thanks to the NZ Made Product page on FB.
Which started up during the Level 4 lockdown in New Zealand.
I liked this book, I was compelled to keep reading, it's interesting because you just have no idea what will happen next for the characters.
Not the kind of book I'll read often, but I'll share it on to other people to read.
April 20, 2021
Fake Baby takes place over nine consecutive days in the lives of three largely unconnected characters. Consequently, the novel feels like three disparate snapshots rather than a cohesive work. I didn't feel like any of the characters really evolved or changed, and there wasn't any plot for me to latch onto. I enjoyed Jaanvi's story the most, while I thought Lucas was quite bland and Stephen's section seemed overwritten in an attempt to hammer home how mentally unwell he was.
July 8, 2020
Well done, Amy. A beautiful work of literary fiction that depicts contemporary Auckland through the eyes of three loners burdened by past trauma, Amy’s debut is wry, lyrical and touching. I was privileged to read an early draft, and it’s been a pleasure to read the complete, polished and published version.
August 21, 2020
Wow! I wasn’t prepared for how enlightening, moving and intellectually stimulating this novel would turn out to be. Fitting to be writing this on NZ Poetry Day, as this story not only features poetry but is indeed poetic in itself. Amy McDaid is a great writer who is versatile in style and makes great use of semiotic cues, structure and motifs for those like myself who delight in such things. She will have you laughing out loud and will bring a tear to your eye. The characters are the real kicker, though. To have three protagonists/stories within one story is ambitious for a debut novel but McDaid handles it like an expert and you care about each one in a special way. Authenticity, existential crises, the longing for meaning and connection, mental illness, race, miscarraige, redemption, sacrifice, our fascination with dolls/idols/avatars and more. Five stars. Go buy it or order it online and support this wonderfully talented writer!
February 28, 2021
Not my cup of tea. I'd heard so much about this book. Did not find it page turning. Dnf.
Read
June 20, 2021Incredible writing and such an original story with characters that I felt forced to care for, especially Jaanvi’s mother. Such clever use of detail to paint pictures, Jaanvi’s mother in her tracksuit who I liked even more when told she was Raratongan but gave her daughters Indian names, not to mention Jaanvi’s beautiful dad who bought the perfect present and hilarious Audrey groping the neighbour in the garden. I felt part of their lives and their despair. I wondered if their lives would somehow intersect at the end and appreciated that this didn’t happen completely, though was left a little confused at the very end scene, and think maybe that worked too as they were all a little out of sorts (actually, a lot out of sorts). Having the mother and child relationship at the heart of the novel really worked. What a great read. Could have done with reading it a couple of weeks earlier when I needed to post a letter and didn’t know where my closest post box was…and here it was referenced perfectly for me. I love a NZ novel that doesn’t feel completely colloquial but is so refreshing from reading stories set in other parts of the world.
March 14, 2021
Well written and readable, but the struggles, sadnesses and disappointments in these Aucklanders' lives left me a bit flattened. The three main characters intersect slightly without any real connection. Stephen who's mentally ill and thinks his father's an evil spirit about to destroy the world, Jaanvi - trying to recover from a childbirth emergency that left her baby boy dead, and Lucas the pharmacist who struggles after making a mistake with a customer's medication.
I felt the most sympathy with Jaanvi's story, as she tries to deal with her husband Mark and her mother, both angry with grief themselves that she won't give back the lifelike baby doll she's stolen and is nurturing.
The touches of hope at the end gave me a small lift.
I felt the most sympathy with Jaanvi's story, as she tries to deal with her husband Mark and her mother, both angry with grief themselves that she won't give back the lifelike baby doll she's stolen and is nurturing.
The touches of hope at the end gave me a small lift.
October 21, 2020
I have given Amy a generous 4* based on her skills and beautiful writing. It’s probably a 3* based on enjoyment level for me. Characters were so horrible to each other that it made me feel quite incensed, where was the support for the poor mother who lost her baby? Would that be a true representation of that situation? She tackles a plethora of subjects: grief, mental health, homelessness, depression to name a few. I found it very very hard to follow Stephens story, I struggled between what was happening and what was his fantasy, I feel like I must have been missing something at times. Overall, I think the book is a good read.
June 7, 2021
Three story threads that end up - of course - being connected, although loosely. The three main characters all have varying degrees of mental illness and challenges to overcome. They're well drawn and various details are gradually revealed as things start to unravel. Or ravel ( if that's even a word) depending on your perspective.
The settings are authentically Auckland, and there's some wry humour in there that lightens things up. An interesting read that took me on unexpected paths, although I never did feel like I was really seeing things completely through the characters' eyes. A light touch for some potentially heavy issues.
The settings are authentically Auckland, and there's some wry humour in there that lightens things up. An interesting read that took me on unexpected paths, although I never did feel like I was really seeing things completely through the characters' eyes. A light touch for some potentially heavy issues.
October 10, 2023
Great book! Been wanting to read this for a while and loved the fake baby story and felt very realistic and detailed so readers have a glimpse into what it might feel like being in a situation like that. I liked the way the way the book was set out with these characters views not orderly but felt correct and easy to follow throughout the book. I did get sometimes confused with Stephan’s story as I couldn’t grasp what was quite happening with him the whole time but due to his situation I assume it was intentionally being quite confusing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2025
Overall I feel neutral about this novel. I don't quite feel like the story had a purpose and I feel it lacked any 'real' ending. I also felt that the characters lacked true depth. That said it was an enjoyable enough read. I was intrigued by the disrupted narrative of Stephens perspective - that was unique and well done by McDaid (although it did make things difficult to follow at times). I also enjoyed reading a novel that is set in real world Aotearoa. That is something I do not experience often so was an exciting bonus.
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