Customer Reviews

The Zygote Chronicles

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A must read! A delightfully touching, funny book filled with heart, sensititivity, love and unrelenting wit. I laughed and I cried. The Zygote Chronicles begins the moment this mother-to-be conceives her firstborn until her son's birth. It is a quick, can't-put-it-down read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever considered or experienced motherhood. A great gift for someone expecting. Beautifully written.

I enjoyed reading this book during pregnancy. I would laugh out loud many times and my husband started thinking I was going crazy. Easy read. Read in a few hours.

I agree with Phillip Levine's endorsement--Suzanne Finnamore's first book was great, but "Zygote" is even better. I really loved every minute of this! I've never been pregnant--or engaged, for that matter--but I relate to her characters and their experiences on virtually every level anyway. It's a cliche, but this book made me laugh AND cry throughout--I've already read it twice! I have never written an author a fan letter in my life, but I was tempted to over this book. Suzanne, if you read this, please keep writing!

After reading this touching, funny and extremely well written journey of the 9 LONG months of carrying a human being, I found myself smiling, crying and joyful at the triumphant victory of both parents and the baby.

This is one blessed baby to be so loved and treasured. A moving and honest book of unconditional love.

I am an older married woman and just experienced Otherwise Engaged and was so sad when it ended. I feel like Suzanne Finnamore is a friend and now that I have just read Zygote Chronicles, I feel as though I have shared so much of her life.
Zygote Chronicles was utterly delightful, poignant, everything said in the above reviews plus warm and engaging.
This brilliant writer captures my attention in a nanosecond and holds it.
I simply cannot wait for the next adventure in life or ANYTHING Suzanne Finnamore writes!

As some other reviewers have pointed out, it's strange that this book is marketed as a novel, when it's clearly a memoir. I think the fact that it's so obviously a true account of a pregnancy is one of the main things that makes it so appealing, at least to pregnant chicks like me. We don't want to read some made-up fictional version of a pregnancy; we want the real thing, told by someone else who's been there. And in this sense (to borrow a bad pun) the Zygote Chronicles delivers.
Finnamore's account not feels authentic, it's also very funny. She is an excellent writer, and although many of her concerns may strike you as either overwrought (eg. her extreme guilt over wishing for a girl baby) or frivolous (she's bummed about having to sell her convertible), this author's voice is so witty and engaging that you're sure to like her anyway.
I am not sure if I would have enjoyed this book so much if I weren't pregnant, but since I am, I loved it. If you're like me, and sick to death of reading boring, impersonal pregnancy guides (half of them written by male doctors and seemingly designed to make you as paranoid as possible) then you will doubtless treasure this book and want to share it with all your pregnant friends.

I have reread the Zygote Chronicles many times and recommended it to all the new moms in my circle of friends. The book ends with the word "life", referring to her baby boy. I oft en wondered what happened to that baby and was hoping for a sequel. My February issue of CHILD just came to me and I was so delighted to see that Suzanne Finnamore has a regular column in this charming magazine. The saga of her boy continues - he is now five years old, a funny, loving, joyful, treasure to his family. Little Pablo is indeed full of "life". Not quite a sequel to Zygote the column is ,however, a happy progress report on a little boy whose birth was a difficult and dangerous journey toward a life that culminated in a happy ending.

I loved reading Otherwise Engaged. Its wit, intelligence and sometimes dark but precise comic timing made it one of my favorite contemporary novels. I have long awaited a second effort from her, and was pleased to read The Zygote Chronicles.

As a writer, I know all about the autobiographical elements used in fiction -- and I also agree that this could easily be mistaken for a memoir -- but even if there were no embellishments, Finnamore used the prose, wit and unique language she used in her previous effort (which I suspect had autobiographical elements as well). The heroine's observations and different stages of her pregnancy are hilarious, touching and poignant -- something every mother-to-be or wannabe mom should read. I hope to read more books from this author in the future.

I just finished reading the Zygote Chronicles and was just blown away by the quality of the writing, and its intimate immediacy. Never have been nor will be pregnant, been curious about the experience though, and this book brought me closer to all those women I have known who have borne children. So crystal clear I can still hear the widening circles of sound from the rim. Many thanks to Ms. Finnamore for writing such a fine novel!

I enjoyed reading Finnamore's experiences. She is brutally honest about pregnancy's ups and downs and laugh out loud funny.