Babyville (Hardcover)

This version of Babyville features the stories of three women all facing baby issues of one sort or another and whose lives intertwine in the most unexpected of ways. Julia's story is first. When the story opens Julia is a successful businesswoman who, at first glance, appears to be in a satisfying relationship with her long-time beau Mark. But trouble simmers below the surface. Julia and Mark's once passion-filled relationship has fallen into a rut. Julia feels stifled, bored even, by her quiet life with Mark. She's an outgoing city girl and Mark is a homebody. She's comprised much to make a life with Mark and has decided that having a baby will fix everything wrong in their relationship. She couldn't be more mistaken but that's beside the point because the two soon realize conceiving isn't quite as easy as they expected. Julia obsesses over becoming pregnant, ruining her business reputation and straining her already troubled relationship to the breaking point. Julia's pain, frustration and misguided anger are realistic and dramatically written and Mark's tolerant attitude is almost pitiful. It's easy to feel the pain of this couple and when the inevitable happens it's was quite a relief!

Next up is Maeve's story. Maeve is another successful career gal but one who is desperate to avoid babies at all costs. She has no interest in kids and intends to keep it that way. When an out of the ordinary encounter with a handsome colleague leads to a one night stand that leaves her pregnant she immediately makes an appointment to have an abortion. Everything changes when she tells the impregnator of her condition and realizes that she is not alone in this after all. Maeve grows incredibly as a character and her relationship is the most satisfying of this trio. Unfortunately, because so much is going on (what with the three separate stories and all) her story quickly ends and the focus shifts to Samantha (Sam).

Sam is happily married to her long-time love Chris and is expecting a baby when the book begins. When her story rolls around she is a new mom intent on becoming the Best Mom Ever. She spends her days cooking organic meals for baby George and neglecting her long-suffering (but always loving) husband. Eventually she feels unappreciated and fat and contemplates having a lusty affair with a new friends' husband with near disastrous (and very embarrassing) results. Initially, I really liked Sam and felt horrible for her as her depression continued to spiral out of control. But as her story progressed she came off as somewhat of a self-centered nitwit and I lost a huge chunk of respect for her character though she does redeem herself in the end (thankfully!)

As a working woman and a mother I could find a bit of myself in each of these women and I suspect many us can as well. But, though their plights are realistic it is often difficult to like these women completely (at least in this version). They come across as self-centered and shallow too often for my liking. The men actually come off much more loving and tolerant than the gals, I'm afraid.

Another problem was the fact that this audio moves fast. Just as we're getting to know the characters the storyline switches focus to an entirely different set of people with different "baby" issues. Is it the abridged format or just the way the book was written? I guess I'll never know because I don't feel inclined to read the unabridged version after this experience.