Babyville [Import] [Paperback]

Jane Green (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Penguin; First Edition edition (2001)
• ISBN-10: 0141008644
• ISBN-13: 978-0718144838
• ASIN: 071814483X
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,012,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jane Green is a bestselling author of popular novels. She has been featured in People, Newsweek, USA Today, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jane Green does it again!, July 3, 2003

By 

Melonie "Mel" (AR, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babyville: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you have just picked up Babyville because you thought that it would all be about babies and pregnancy then think again. This book is about three women whose lives are turned upside down by a life changing event, which is motherhood of course.

Jane Green has written this book in three sections for each of the main characters. Julia is trying desperately to have a child but is trying to cover up her bad relationship. Maeve has never wanted children until something unexpected happens. Sam has just had a baby and realizes that having children is not all that it is cracked up to be.

This is a really great about motherhood and friendship. If you have never read a Jane Green book before then this would be the perfect book to start with.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exuberant, Funny, Thoughtful, June 1, 2004

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babyville: A Novel (Paperback)

This book has everything: characters we can love, real-life problems to which most everybody (male and female) can relate, and a point of view that is not preachy, and that actually sees both sides of the problem.

And that problem is babies...from the obsessive desire to get pregnant (a very real, unblinking look at what happens to a couple struggling with infertility) to an unwanted pregnancy (an equally real look at decisions that are almost impossible to make), to a much-wanted pregnancy that leads to an unforeseen aftermath.

Each of the three main characters, Julia, Maeve and Sam, are delightful in their own way, each conforming to the current Brit Lit cliche of young, ultra-fashionable, ultra-career minded, ultra-sexy but still wonderful women with various hearts of gold. Their men are not caricatures, but real people whose thoughts and needs are sensitively described in this book--a breath of fresh air! As we watch the three women grapple with different issues in the fertility arena, we come to love them and care deeply for the babies they may or may not have.

I was surprised at just how good this book really was. I was expecting another light, breezy British outing, and although this book certainly delivers on that level, it is also a thoughtful and thought-provoking look at parenthood and what it does, and does not, mean to those of us who have children, or who have every thought of having one.

A keeper!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bunch of whiners and wimps, September 25, 2004

By 

R. M. Baker "Chick Lit Addict" (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Babyville: A Novel (Paperback)

Okay, from the gist of the other reviews of Babyville, I am the black sheep but I HATED this book. It started off great. I liked the Julia storyline. I know a lot of desperate 30 somethings who have mistakenly thought having a baby would fix a relationship. But as far as Maeva and Sam - UGH. Who cares? One woman, Maeve, has a seedy one night stand (literally- standing in an alley) and gets pregnant, and then eventually she and the philandering sperm donor realize they are truly soul mates and it was destiny? Ridiculous. And Sam. While her crush on Dan is amusingly psychotic (especially when she is looking for "signs" that Dan loves her and then ignoring them when it doesn't bode well for their fantastical future together), her husband Chris comes across as spineless instead of sympathetic.

Jane Green is excellent at descriptive characters, realistic dialogue and amusing character flaws. But unfortunately, many of her characters come across as shallow, superficial whiners who don't deserve their ultimate happy happy joy joy endings. Skip this book in favor of her far superior novel, Mr. Maybe. You will thank me.