Thursday, September 20, 2007

Another one of those books

A friend recommended I read a novel called "China Doll" by Barbara Jean Hicks because it was about a woman who yearned for children falling in love with a man who didn't want them. So I bought it. 77 cents for the used copy on Amazon.com, almost $4 for shipping. Setting aside the 1960s cover and the general corniness and predictability, plus the in-your-face fundamentalist religion, I've just got to say we've been duped again. By the final page, the woman has adopted a child, the man has fallen in love with both the child and the woman, and they get married and live happily ever after as a "real family." It wasn't all a lost cause because parts of it take place right here where I live, but that doesn't fix things. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of books where the woman who wants a baby gets a baby in the end.
There seem to be two kinds of books out there about childlessness: the "childfree" books that talk about how life is just fine without kids, and "the oh it hurts so much that I can't have babies" books, which usually end happily in birth or adoption.
In real life, sometimes you want a baby, but you don't get one, and you have to live with that fact. Has anyone out there ever read a book that told how it really is? That's what I'm working on. Comments welcome.

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2 comments:

Billie Jo said...

Hello,
My name is Billie Jo and I do not have children (not by choice) my first marriage was a lie for 10 years, while I struggled to have a child because my husband promised he would I never conceived and one day found he was cheating and wanted a divorce. Now I am remarried to a good caring man, but he does not want anymore children, I found out that there isn't anything wrong with me (but who knows, some people just never concieve and they don't know why) but I struggle with not having children everyday, it's ok sometimes and some days are outright brutal, I just don't know what to do or how to handle this. I am so tired of books and movies that struggle to have children and then somehow have them, lets be realistic, it's not all roses and sunshine and everything works out.

Sue Fagalde Lick said...

Billie Joe,
I so agree with you. Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog where I'll talk about a book that doesn't end with the protagonist getting a baby.
Sue