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THE NEW MOTHER
Nora Murphy
St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 30th, 2023
304 Pages
Goodreads | Amazon
Mom. It was the greatest honor. It was homogenizing. It was all-consuming, devouring, crushing.
The book is told from two points of view, new mother Natalie and her neighbour Paul who is a failed writer and stay-at-home dad. I really wanted to like this book because it deals with an important topic, postpartum depression. But it was very repetitive in the beginning and nothing really happened until I was half finished. The book is told in four parts and doesn’t pick up until part three. I don’t mind a slow burn but this was just monotonous.
There is a continuous loop of Natalie suffering from sleep deprivation and her son non-stop crying. Being a mother myself I know that’s what happens with newborns but to read it over and over again in a book is tedious and boring. I can relate to the issue because my youngest didn’t sleep through the night until he was almost three years old.
Even though I had something in common with Natalie, I did not connect with her at all, or any of the other characters. I think this is mislabeled as a thriller and the part that would fit into that genre was a bit too far-fetched for my liking and the ending was very abrupt and anti-climatic.
I did like the author’s notes at the end of the book and recommend they be read. It’s very touching and personal.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
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