The Mommy Club (Paperback)

Her past is painful: in addition to being habitually lonely and alone, she had a failed relationship that resulted in a pregnancy she ended with an abortion she regrets. Ever since, she has wanted to have a baby to replace the one she aborted - but not to keep, because she doesn't view herself as mother material. So her solution to the problem is to become a surrogate mother. She gets pregnant for a yuppie couple who force her to eat horrible, expensively unpalatably healthy food, and who monitor her every unconventional move.

What she learns from pregnancy is that, for a few months, she "belongs". Strangers initiate conversations with her, talk to her about her advancing pregnancy, and accept her without question into the "Mommy Club", that special state of being shared only by women with children. While she's basking in all the unfamiliar kinship, she's developing opinions about the couple whose baby she is carrying, and is developing a bond with the infant inside her.

I loved Trudy, who is like a lovable, dysfunctional puppy. Sarah Bird, hits - as always - a flawless comic pitch, making you unsure whether you should laugh or cry. Either way, there isn't a moment in the book where you don't want to engulf poor Trudy in a hug while you laugh until tears stream down your face.

This was the first book by Sarah Bird that I read, and immediately read all the others. When it appeared to me that there had not been any new ones for a while, I wrote to the author and begged her to write another. I am definitely a Sarah Bird fan, and would recommend ANYTHING she's written - but this one first.

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I have never heard of Sarah Bird, but I am really enjoying this novel. I must confess it was hard going at first, but kept plugging away and now, it's a really enjoyable book that I couldn't put down! I would never be a surrograte mom ~~ especially after reading about how Hilary keeps grabbing the moments away from Trudy ~~ pretending to have the same morning sickness, gaining sympathy weight and keeping a strict eye on Trudy ~~ making her eat wholesome food like brussel sprouts and spinach while she eats whatever she wants to eat ~~ all for the baby. It gets better!

It's a fun read ~~ something I'd consider passing onto my pregnant friends to help them forget the aches and pains that accompany every pregnancy for a few hours. It's a quick read as well ~~ and now, I'll be interested in any other Sarah Bird book I can lay hands on!! What a wonderful debut to a new author!

5-28-02

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