No.

I have been providing quotations from the books I am reading as the headline for each of my reviews. Same here. One conceit in the novel is that probing questions about choices involving having a child or not are answered in the style i Ching of flipping a coin yes/no. So this is a quotation. It’s also my review.

No thank you.

I should have known going in, but as the narrator suggests “I thought the book was a trick, but it tricked me” or some other nonsense.

I will start by saying a few things I am dubious about here: I don’t believe the questions were asked by a coin flip. I also don’t care. I also don’t think a book should be written based on coin flips. I also think there’s a few very offensive assumptions and ideas both directly stated and implied in this book.

Women are pressured into motherhood and judged for both choices in near infinite ways. And so, I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad reason to not have kids. In fact, I think it’s such a monumental decision in a lot of ways that defaulting to no kids is a lot better to defaulting to kids. But also, I think a book going through the privileged ruminations of someone deciding, coming to an almost childish decision at the end and celebrating one’s decision is annoying. Especially given that there’s so many people in the world forced, coerced, or cornered into motherhood. So it’s not about the choice or even the ruminations themselves, it’s the book. The book is the issue. And to present this as Jacob wrestling his angel….and to be an avowed atheist…stay in your lane! There’s a lot, a lot of actually I am the one who doesn’t have privilege here! going on in this book completely ironically. Sex is discussed in sophomoric ways, and I deeply regret being here reading this book and now writing about it.

Coin flip: Should I read this book?

(Photo: https://lithub.com/sheila-heti-on-the-woman-who-changed-her-life/)