"How did I end up like this? This was not the way I had planned it." These are but some of the questions the protagonist of Confessions of a Serial Egg Donor asks herself in the deeply emotional prologue that jumpstarts this edgy and unusual memoir. And like the title promises, it's truly a confession of a serial egg donor.
The author, Julia Derek, loses no time getting into the meat of the story, appropriately naming the first chapter And So It Began: Having been in America only three months, this Swedish journalism student realizes that she has never been able to afford studying abroad in the first place. Now, if she can't come up with a way to make more money, she has to return to her home country. She is determined to stay, however. Unable to work legally in the U.S., she decides to become an egg donor. Though her first donation is difficult, it doesn't take long before she becomes a repeat donor.
In sparse, fast-paced prose that never misses a beat, we get to know the thought-process behind Julia's decision to continue over and over. Her honesty manages to be fetching even in its harshest moments. And not only is the mechanics of the donation-procedures described down to a T - with many hilarious occasions chronicling Julia's obsession with the daily shots an egg donor is forced to inject herself with - the cast is also richly drawn, perhaps one more fully so than the rest. I'm talking about Julia's confidante and partner in crime: the warm and approachable Ruth, the broker of her eggs. Eager to comply with Julia's wish to continue selling her eggs, Ruth makes sure to find interested parties throughout the city. Together, the two seem to become unbeatable. Unfortunately, as they approach the ninth donation, problems begin to occur. And thereafter, gradually, everything falls apart.
What makes this into such a good and worthwhile book, however, is that the author so clearly shies away from taking the easy route. The most apparent approach to the subject matter would be to make it into something maudlin, a victim's story that could easily be adapted into a Lifetime-TV Movie-of-the-Week. But that would be such a sell-out and Julia Derek is far too clever and creative an author for such a thing. Instead, she opts to educate the reader about the many aspects of this vast, unexplored world while telling a story that is in your face yet subtle. The narrative is filled with lots of black humor and the pacing appropriate. Each chapter poignantly deals with the many challenges women of today face when donating their eggs. The quirky chapter-headings deserve a mention - Laying Eggs, Rebel in a Wheelchair, Choking Beer Barrel - to name a few. If you read the contents-page alone, you see that it's almost as if these headings tell a story of their own.
Confessions of a Serial Egg Donor is a book every college girl ought to read in order to inform themselves about this rapidly expanding and decidedly dangerous business - and their mothers, too.
