Steph Reads: Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

I was on the look out for another chick-lit read while I was completing my first clinical rotation in the ICU this past fall. I was seeing some pretty powerful stuff on the daily, so I wanted something light and easy to read! I found this novel, Baby Proof, by Emily Giffin (author of the Something Borrowed series). The book cost me all of a quarter at the thrift store so I gave it a shot!

This book follows Claudia, a successful and independent book editor in Manhattan who has met the man of her dreams, Ben.  Their ideals and morals line up in the most picture-perfect ways down to their desires for the future after marriage: neither one of them want children.  Things are perfect for the couple and Claudia scoffs at others who are bound down by their children until one day, Ben decides he wants to be a father.  The question this novel asks is how much are we willing to compromise when it comes to true love and your potential soul mate????
Overall, I enjoyed and hated this book at the same time. It was an easy read and I do enjoy how realistically Giffin illustrates scenes and portrays characters, however it left no lingering thoughts or ponderings in my head other than general annoyance with how the book ended.

**WARNING! SPOILERS FOLLOW!**
Claudia and Ben separate after Ben's decision that he wants kids despite his prior promises.  The majority of the novel is the couple separated and perfectly depicts the following scenes: the magnetic pull felt toward an ex despite better judgments, family awkwardly asking where an SO is (not realizing yet they are no longer in the picture), seeing an ex with another person and questioning their romantic involvement, must I go on??? Giffin is without a doubt a terrific and talented author, because through every one of these scenes my stomach sank and I got actual chest palpitations. My issue with this is why do I want to live through these terrible moments along with the main character Claudia??? The majority of women have felt these feelings before as they are quintessential to nearly every breakup.

I might have recommended this book to someone going through a breakup to kind of get through it with the main character if the ending were Claudia finding some sort of inner peace with herself, BUT (spoilers, I warned you!), Claudia and Ben end up getting back together at the end. We don't know if they are going to have kids or not but we know that one of them is going to seriously compromise for the other in the biggest way.  Nothing is learned by the end of this book. The characters go through hell and back but it doesn't really matter because everything ends up just peachy in the end.

I wouldn't recommend reading this book unless you're a masochist who wants to go through all the stages of a breakup just for the fun of it.  (PS You're sick!)

xx,
SJ