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After Birth: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description

A fierce novel about the postpartum experience filled with “dark humor and brutal honesty” (People).
 
A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it “birth” and she still can’t locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights, and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft.
 
When Mina, a one-time cult indie musician—older, self-contained, alone, and nine months pregnant—moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend. And despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting other females, they soon become comrades-in-arms . . .
 
With piercing insight about the isolation and unrealistic expectations suffered by new mothers in our society, After Birth is about pregnancy and childbirth that is “vicious, hilarious, and above all real” (The New York Times Book Review).
 
“[A] scaldingly and exhilaratingly honest account of new motherhood, emotional exile, and the complex romance of female friendship.” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!

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More Details
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
02/17/2015
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780544273306
ASIN:
B00KEWAOZ0
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Elisa Albert. (2015). After Birth: A Novel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Elisa Albert. 2015. After Birth: A Novel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Elisa Albert, After Birth: A Novel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Elisa Albert. After Birth: A Novel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection22
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
f309fbc3-214e-e8ef-9e1f-1e05b46cf828
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 18:43:05
Date Updated:
Aug 02, 2023 12:59:49
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 21, 2024 10:25:19
Last Metadata Change:
Mar 03, 2024 10:15:34
Last Availability Check:
Apr 21, 2024 10:25:22
Last Availability Change:
May 21, 2023 10:25:56
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Apr 26, 2024 02:10:38

OverDrive Product Record

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      • bioText: Elisa Albert, author of The Book of Dahlia and a collection of short stories, has written for NPR, Tin House, Commentary, Salon, and the Rumpus. She grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in upstate New York with her family.
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After Birth
fullDescription

A fierce novel about the postpartum experience filled with “dark humor and brutal honesty” (People).
 
A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it “birth” and she still can’t locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights, and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft.
 
When Mina, a one-time cult indie musician—older, self-contained, alone, and nine months pregnant—moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend. And despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting other females, they soon become comrades-in-arms . . .
 
With piercing insight about the isolation and unrealistic expectations suffered by new mothers in our society, After Birth is about pregnancy and childbirth that is “vicious, hilarious, and above all real” (The New York Times Book Review).
 
“[A] scaldingly and exhilaratingly honest account of new motherhood, emotional exile, and the complex romance of female friendship.” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!

reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: Merritt Tierce, TheNew York Times Book Review
      • content:

        Winner of the 2016 Paterson Fiction Prize
        One of NPR's "Best Books of 2015"

        One of Bustle's "2015's 25 Best Books, Fiction Edition"
        An Electric Literature "Best Novel of 2015"
        One of HelloGiggles's "23 Books from 2015 You Absolutely Must Read"
        One of Brooklyn Magazine's "12 Best Books of 2015 that Didn't Get Enough Attention"
        A People Pick March 2015
        One of O, The Oprah Magazine's "10 Titles...

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      • source: People
      • content:

        "Albert's scathing send-up of modern motherhood boils with dark humor and brutal honesty."

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        September 15, 2014
        Albert (The Book of Dahlia) applies a blistering tone to modern motherhood in this cri de coeur of a novel. Six-months-pregnant Ari couldn’t wait to leave Brooklyn for the faded glory of Utrecht, N.Y., and its affordable four-bedroom Italianate with her supportive professor husband, Paul, 15 years her senior. Now, Ari has one-year-old Walker, a C-section scar, and an unfinished dissertation in women’s studies. Faculty life isn’t the “deranged orgiastic laser show” she dreamed it would be. About the women in her C-section support group she says, “A chore, trying to talk to these women.” So Ari pins her hopes for friendship and connection on Mina Morris, former bass player for the Misogynists, a late-’80s all-girl band. Mina is now a poet who is subletting from Ari’s friends while they’re on sabbatical. Into this thinly plotted story, Albert interweaves insightful portraits of Ari’s extended family, childhood friends, and frenemies. Our sarcastic and self-aware heroine never spares us her anger, her epic takedowns (“It had an addictive flavor, hating her”), and her attempts to parse her own internalized misogyny. In lesser hands, Ari might be unlikable, but Albert imbues her with searing honesty and dark humor, and the result is a fascinating protagonist for this rich novel.

popularity
220
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subjects
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shortDescription

A fierce novel about the postpartum experience filled with “dark humor and brutal honesty” (People).
 
A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it “birth” and she still can’t locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights, and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft.
 
When Mina, a one-time cult indie musician—older, self-contained, alone, and nine months pregnant—moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend. And despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting other females, they soon become comrades-in-arms . . .
 
With piercing insight about the isolation and unrealistic expectations suffered by new mothers in our society, After Birth is...

sortTitle
After Birth A Novel
crossRefId
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subtitle
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publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
bisacCodes
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      • description: Fiction / Contemporary Women
      • code: FIC060000
      • description: FICTION / Humorous / Dark Humor