Customer Reviews

The Baby Trail: A Novel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was a little unsure about this book after reading the reviews but after reading the book it is obvious to me that some of the reviewers have not dealt with infertility and therefore could not relate to the book.

If you have dealt with infertility or know someone who has this book is great. It was so nice to read a story that I could completely relate to. Emma does seem to have a dramatic response to her inability to get pregnant while all those around her seem to get pregnant at the drop of a hat but if you have been through it you can completely relate to her frustrations. My sister borrowed it from me to read also because I kept telling her how true so many of Emma's feelings were. She wanted to understand more what it was like to stand on the infertility side of things.

The ending is slightly disappointing but all in all the book is really good. I just saw recently that there is a follow-up book coming out in June 2006 where the story continues. I can not wait to get it and read more about Emma's journey to motherhood.

This may be Sinead's first book but I think she did a fantastic job writing about something that effects so many women yet isn't written about much.

I had been going through months and months of IVF treatments and I just happened to purchase this book the day that I had my embryo transfer done (bedrest for 3 days!). There couldn't be a more perfect book for someone who has had difficulty conceiving and has gone through the ups and downs of infertility. You feel the frustration, anxiety, anger, depression... all the emotions that women go through. Women who have not experienced this might not get as much of a kick out of the book that I did, but it was the perfect book that I needed at that time! The ending... I hated it. I was really bummed when I read the last chapter. There had been so much excitement leading up to that point... then nothing.

I loved this book! I got it very fast and couldn't put it down after I opened it up.
My husband and myself have been going through all the same things as Emma, the main character, goes through in this book. I felt like I was reading a story about myself.
I liked the book because it really hits home and points out some of the crazy things that us women hoped up on fertility drugs will do. I particuraly liked the part about having to change shirts because of the hot flashes from Clomid (this is so true!)
Although the book has a very sad ending, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is sensitive to this issue, I very much enjoyed it, and I feel better knowing that a woman has the guts to write about a very real issue.

Infertility is no laughing matter. Men and women unable to have children are often put through the emotional and physical wringer in trying to build a family. So to say that Sinead Moriarty's first novel THE BABY TRAIL --- about one woman's difficulty getting pregnant --- is humorous, while true, does not do justice to the depth of the story and the sensitivity Moriarty feels for the serious subject matter.

THE BABY TRAIL is funny, often laugh-out-loud funny. But that is because its main character, Emma Hamilton, is funny, not because Moriarty tries to suggest that infertility is.

At thirty-three, happily married and content in her career, Emma has decided it is high time to start a family. Her husband, James, agrees. She thinks it will be simple; stop using birth control, have sex, and after a couple of months she will find herself pregnant. But after a few months go by, Emma starts to get worried. She changes her diet, exercises more, and tracks her ovulation. Still no pregnancy. After a year, Emma and James visit fertility specialists, and from that point on Emma spends a year undergoing painful and depressing procedures, taking hormones and becoming positively obsessed with conception.

Her family and friends begin to worry about her, and her relationship with James becomes strained; Emma knows she is losing emotional control but feels she needs to keep trying to have a baby. Finally, after a couple of years and one too many invasive doctor visits, she needs to decide what her priorities are and how much she is willing to endure to have a child.

What is funny about this story? Despite the serious and heartbreaking topic, Moriarty's prose is often hilarious and always witty. Dubliner Emma is smarty and sassy with a sharp tongue, and her brogue and Irish slang are charming (yet readable). Often it is Emma's --- that is Moriarty's --- honesty about sex, relationships and ego that make the book funny, but mostly it is Emma's wry and bold narration that will get a laugh from readers.

Still, this is a serious book. Moriarty does not trivialize the issue of infertility and never gives Emma an easy way out; she and James must make tough decisions. We follow Emma through two years of humiliation, sadness, anger and frustration as well as hopefulness. THE BABY TRAIL is realistic and poignant in this way.

Along with Emma and James, readers meet a host of characters that are all important in Emma's life. Her two close friends represent two alternate lifestyles --- the single, workaholic and the stressed stay-at-home mom. Her parents and siblings, while unable to empathize, are supportive of Emma and every bit as quirky as she is. James's friend Donal, a professional rugby player, is raising his orphaned niece on his own. And James's brother and sister-in-law are having twins, and rubbing salt in Emma's emotional wounds.

It would be a shame to pass over this novel because it seems at first glance like so much light "Chick Lit" reading. For fans of the genre there is the spunky heroine (and Irish to boot), the handsome love interest, the fiery friends, and lots to smile at. However, this novel transcends many similar stories by dealing with a difficult issue with grace and intelligence. So readers looking for something a bit meatier will not be disappointed. While the abrupt ending may leave readers a bit put off, Moriarty seems to be trying to leave the end of Emma's struggles to the imagination. Still, the end, while a respectable effort, is the main weakness of the novel.

Moriarty's debut is promising. It is well-written with a good blend of humor and drama.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

It was a pleasure to read a story that is so true that people NOT going thru it will review it as she is crazy. Yes, she may seem that way - but you would be too.

I found it a wonderful and honest surprise that like life, she does NOT end up with a perfect pink line on a stick - something we all long for.

If this is something you are currently dealing with it felt safe reading it, I hoped along with her and laughed when it felt good. She isn't perfect and it is ok.

This is a great book!!! I laughed so hard!! I can totally relate to this book since my husband and I are on fertility treatments. I highly recommend it.

Being on the baby trail myself, this book was a hoot to read! I really loved the approach of this book, a humorous look at the seriously pathetic subject of infertility.
I could personally identify with almost all the stuff Emma was going through. While I haven't yet interrupted my husband's meeting to tear his clothes off, I have gone loco when he informed me he had to go out of town during my `fertile days' (and I was once an extremely rational woman)!
I laughed and cried with Emma as she dealt with social issues, went through the multiple `mildly uncomfortable' medical procedures, undertook pilgrimages and saw her friends get pregnant incessantly!
I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 only because of the books' tremendous appeal for a very selective audience. If you have been through this, you know exactly what Emma's life is like. For me personally it was very helpful to step back and look at this situation from another perspective, and the humor gave a much-needed release to plenty of pent up frustrations!
For others, this book may seem unnecessary, weird and whiny.
But for all the women populating the millions of infertility bulletin boards out there, this is a must read. You will totally identify with the trials and tribulations of the process and get some much-needed laughs.

his is the first fiction book I've ever read that has accurately portrayed what it is like to cope with fertility problems. The descriptions of the tests, drugs, procedures and emotions are dead-on. Because it is fiction, the main character has some behavior that is a bit nutsy. For example, the woman who will go to her husband's office and rip his shirt off when he refuses to have sex with her when she is ovulating is probably few and far between. However, once you've taking your temp every morning for a year, peed on sticks for half of every month, and taken drugs that make you crazy, you can certainly see how someone might entertain such behavior. And I very much appreciated reading a book that did not tie everything up in a neat pink or blue bow at the end.

The books starts out well. There is a lot hilarity in the heroine, Emma, and her direct approach to conceiving with her husband, James. The comparisons to the new mothers are particular funny, especially the loss of personality and humor. But it starts to fall apart towards the end when it fails to resound with the reality of infertility. The specialist comes across as a quack and Emma begins to be viewed as a tad psycho. It was hard for me to swallow that one year of attempting to conceive equated to infertility without any medical explanation, therefore the treatments seemed absurd. Suspending reality however, the secondary characters carried the book. Lucy, Donal, Babs, and Sean provide the comic relief and their own stories are fun to follow. I'd never couch this book as a waste of time, but at the same time, I'd never reread this book. The ending was disappointing with no real resolution to the story line.

Having just started out down the TTC path and finding a whole new world out there (not to mention a raft of abbreviations to deal with), I found this book very refreshing. All this temperature taking, learning about CM etc is resonably normal it seems! Having just learned that a close friend is expecting No.2 child (not planned but joyous), I could appreciate Emma's response to her sister-in-laws news of twins and the constant comments by well meaning friends and family. Emma is somewhat over the top but that's what makes a sensitive issue like this more light-hearted.