Elisa AlbertReseñas

This is such an honest book about one woman's experience with birth and post-partum depression. Ari has had a C-section and feels as if she did not really give birth to her son Walker. She is feeling alone, as she really doesn't have anyone who seems to understand her feelings about that, formula feeding, not getting any sleep and caring for her child.
The book is a little hard to read, as we are reading it like ambling thoughts that come into your brain and there is a lot of that. But isn't that how we all are? Just sometimes hard to follow.

Grabbed me and engrossed me right from the start. Complex, and very human characters. Loved it.

I love this book for it's truth and beauty.

After Birth is a bit of a strange book. It's about Ari a year after she has given birth, but it also reflects on her pregnancy and her past friendships with women. She's not a likable character at all, she has a history of having issues with women, she hates them, and now she is suffering from postpartum depression and projecting her mothering views onto people. Ari is very isolated and is just looking for something to hold onto. There's lots of humor in the writing and honest feelings that I think most people can relate to some of them in some way. I loved how sometimes things didn't make sense and her logic was circular at times because that's what its like to have a mental illness, it doesn't have to make sense, its a rush unexplainable mess at times.

This was painful and raw and very good.

I wish people weren't always calling a book "stunning" in the jacket blurbs. Because this book stunned me. I feel like I've been hit on the head with a metaphorical bat. There is a lot here of course about the special way one comes undone after a first child is born--perfect. Even more precious to me was Albert's meticulous attention to the way women can ignore, mistreat, use, celebrate, support, and love one another, sometimes all at once.

After Birth by Elisa Albert

A new mother is trying to find a balance, the new child and family.
Story of a woman who's not found her zen after giving birth. Lives in a college town and works at the co op where they sell fresh vegetables.
She feels out of sorts and friends the neighbors who turn her back onto marijuana which makes her feel more calm and settled.
Relationships she has with other females and talk about Jewish religion.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

This book was different, and I enjoyed that about it. The stream of consciousness narration was interesting, and it didn't take me long to get used to it and fall into the unique narration.

I think some of the themes presented were also really interesting. The author did a really great job of highlighting so many different aspects of motherhood: post-partum depression, the after effects of not having the type of birth you envisioned, the loneliness of motherhood, the importance of having other women/a mother figure in your life, how a baby affects a marriage and friendships.

One thing that was especially interesting to me, as a married woman without a child, was how the narrator viewed motherhood as such a lonely, isolating thing. Like, she had a baby, and suddenly found herself very alone. That was interesting to me personally, as I'm in a somewhat opposite position -- no baby while close friends and family are all having babies, which is somewhat isolating in its own way.

While some of the narrator's views were a bit heavy handed and over the top, I'm guessing that was somewhat intentional...and it really highlighted the way mothers can be so judgmental towards other mothers and the decisions they make. Despite not ever having endured pregnancy or childbirth, this was a really interesting read for me.

Biting, witty, heart-wrenching, raw, honest, edgy. I loved this book. I'm not even a mother, but I could understand all of the feelings expressed by the narrator. I could feel how jarring it was for her (and probably for lots of women) to transition from an inherently-selfish existence to one that requires complete selflessness. Some describe this book as being about post-partum depression. I would hesitate to slap that label on it. I think it's just a book about new motherhood. It's about aspects of new motherhood that often aren't expressed because women are embarrassed or ashamed or convinced they are completely alone in their thoughts and feelings. It's so nuanced and rich, it reads like non-fiction. Here are two passages to test whether or not you can handle this book:

"Sometimes I’m with the baby and I think: you’re my heart and my soul, and I would die for you. Other times I think: tiny moron, leave me the f$#k alone so I can slit my wrists in the bath and die in peace.”

“The baby toddles over, hides behind my legs. He’s an awesome baby, a swell little guy. Still a baby, though, of which even the best are oppressive fascist bastard dictator narcissists.”

See what I mean? Elisa Albert doesn't hold any punches, and I'm appreciative of that. The only reason I don't give this 5 stars is that the second half of the book kind of meandered a bit for my liking. Overall, though, a great, great read.

Elisa Albert is an observant and cuttingly witty writer who can see into the black hearts of young suburban Jewish women. She sees them at Passover, sharing a new non-Jewish boyfriend and a killingly itchy yeast infection. She finds them at Auschwitz, on a teen tour called We The Living. She finds them at an abortion clinic. She finds them in herself.

"Erica lives in the city working wholeheartedly at the kind of fashion rag you read if your highest aspiration is Best Dressed at cosmetology school." WOW. WOW.
WOW. If you have not given birth, read this. If you have given birth, read this. If you are a human of this place and time, read this. If you are a man, by all means, plunge in. Even though there's a lot about breastfeeding. Even though there are some very rough and raunchy parts and naughty bits. Ari and her husband Paul left NYC to buy an old Victorian in one of those upstate towns that hasn't become Brooklyn # 2 yet. Ari has a terrible birth experience (of which one of her friends says, "Now that would be a great name for a band") and an even worse post partum depression. An only child, she has no family except for the vague spectre of her horrible dead mother, who withholds approval even from beyond the grave. Paul does his very best - he's a great husband and dad - but what Ari needs is the empathy and understanding of other women. Mina, a former Riot Grrrl who is older and very pregnant, sublets a house in town, and they savage, salvage, and save each other.

The writing is blisteringly sad, funny, and inappropriate. Here's an example: "He's an awesome baby, a swell little guy. Still a baby, though, of which even the best are oppressive fascist bastard dictator narcissists." So, if you appreciate the fine qualities of that line, read this book. I'm buying it, which is my tribute, and I'm heading for Elisa Albert's back catalogue as fast as my fingers will carry me.

After Birth is a provocative story of new motherhood.

The narrative is almost a stream of consciousness with Ari's unfiltered thoughts raging across each page. Ari is brutally honest about her experience, but abrasively so. She is angry, bitter and self pitying, however it's fair to say that she is also lost, lonely and deeply conflicted.

" Sometimes I’m with the baby and I think: you’re my heart and my soul, and I would die for you. Other times I think: tiny moron, leave me the f**k alone..."

It seems likely Ari is experiencing some level of post natal depression, exacerbated by a birth she viewed as traumatic and her difficult relationship with her deceased mother. Motherhood is undoubtedly a huge period of change and adjustment.

"There's before and there's after. To live in your body before is one thing. To live in your body after is another. Some deal by attempting to micromanage; some go crazy; some zone right the hell on out. Or all of the above. A blessed few resist any of these..."

There were parts of the novel I connected with, I have four children (three of whom were born in three years) so I can relate somewhat to Ari's experience. New motherhood can be a frustrating, exhausting, frightening and isolating period.

"Endless need. I did not understand how there could be no break. No rest. There was just no end to it. It went on and one and on. There was no end. And I couldn't relinquish him....because he was mine. There was an agony that bordered on physical when he wasn't in my arms."

However I had a hard time dredging up a lot of sustained sympathy for Ari who wallows in negativity. She is so angry, and self-righteous and entitled. I found her rants about c-sections and bottle-feeding particularly off putting.

"The baby's first birthday. Surgery day, I point out, because I have trouble calling it birth. Anniversary of the great failure."

For all of the rage in After Birth, Albert raises some important issues about the experience of modern motherhood. It can be such an isolating experience for many women, especially for those who lack the close support of family and friends and it is often difficult for new mother's to admit, and ask, for help.

"Two hundred years ago-hell, one hundred years ago- you'd have a child surrounded by other women: your mother, her mother, sisters, cousins, sisters -in-law, mother-in-law.... They'd help you, keep you company, show you how. Then you'd do the same. Not just people to share in the work of raising children, but people to share in the loving of children."

Albert also speaks about friendship, and the way women relate to each other in both positive and negative ways. Ari has few female friends, and her closest friends essentially abandon her after her son is born. She latches onto to Mina, the pregnant tenant of friends, who offers her much of the validation she craves.

We set up camp at my house or hers. We listen to music. I like the music she likes...."We say 'yes', 'exactly', 'poor thing' and 'I know', 'I know that's the whole problem' and 'really, well of course!'"

I think the rage in this novel has the potential to both ameliorate and alienate women, I rolled my eyes in derision of what it had to say as often as I nodded my head in agreement. I didn't enjoy After Birth, nor even really like it, but it is a thought provoking and powerful read.

A tough, brave book about a young woman who finds herself dying before she has quite managed to find a way to live.½

I thought it was better at the beginning than what it proved to be halfway through. Even though I didn't love the story I do like the writer.

Be forewarned! This book contains irreverant responses to things typically Jewish. Don't read it if you are easily offended. What this book does extremely well, however, is take someone's pain and superimpose it on a Jewish situation, thereby making very poignant statements in the way each situation is played out. Superficially funny, but deeply sad, these stories are unique and thought-provoking reads.

When I first started this collection of stories, I didn't think I'd like them. As I read through them, though, they began to grow on me. I have to say that, by the time I finished this book, I had to admit I found the stories very entertaining. "Etta or Bessie or Dora or Rose" was the most powerful, but my two personal favorites were "When You Say You're A Jew" and "So Long" because they echoed my personal experiences. I will certainly recommend this book to others.

I was attracted to The Book of Dahlia after I finished reading this author’s debut book of short stories. Her unique voice is loud and clear. It becomes even more defined in this novel about a twenty-nine-year old Jewish girl who has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

You say you don’t want to read a depressing book? Well, you’ll have to forget about the main topic and read into this story. It’s been a rather tough life all along for Dahlia so her diagnosis of a terminal illness is not that overpowering in the long run of things. Brought to the United States as a child, Dahlia had been born of an Israeli mother and an American father. Her dad, an ineffective father but caring person, is her main caretaker because her older brother goes off to college to become a rabbi and her mother travels abroad to do charitable work. Dahlia is left pretty much alone. She is a survivor, though. Her psyche has all sorts of defenses against the blows that life deals her.

This is a tough story to read if you dwell on the dysfunctional nature of Dahlia’s family and her illness. It’s a super treat, however, if you listen to Dahlia as she recounts her family’s story. She’s a strong female character and a fighter. I liked the flaws within her character as well. It made her seem real.

There was something about reading Dahlia’s story that drove me to read this book quickly and thoroughly. I’d say it’s Elisa Albert’s style of writing. Sharp and incisive, it just goes barrelling forward. Additionally, I loved the transliterated Hebrew words (not all of them translated) that were sprinkled throughout the story. I felt as if I were an insider, understanding them all. I’d say this book might not be for everyone, but I was enthralled by the quality of the story-telling and eagerly await the next powerful novel by Elisa Albert.½

A bit too morbid and rambling

Dahlia's stark and unrelentingly melancholy voice guides the reader through narrative in passive retrospect--through love and jealousy, disappointment and failure, and finally loss, resignation, and peace. The work throws the nature of inner/outer equilibrium into question when it takes to task the ideologies of a generalized set of self-help literature, the alienating language of medicine, and the psychology of disease. The tone is sometimes friendless and derisive in its etiology of utter solitude, and the protagonist herself is difficult to love--but each are memorable nonetheless.

Book about a underacheiver dying of cancer, Albert does a great job not setimentalizing a woman's unfulfilled life.

I whipped through this book, in part because it was a compelling read but also because I found the subject matter giving me chills, as only a single hypochondriac living alone can imagine.

Well written story of a young woman getting through a sucky/fantastic life the only way she can. She is biting, humorous, angry, pathetic, vengeful, sad, lonely, loved, hated, beautiful, scarred, and scared. Elisa Albert illustrates her complexity wonderfully and with humor.