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Shortlisted for the 2015 Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction In Memory of Robbie Robertson Girl meets girl. Girl marries girl. They want to have babies...but they need a little help. Double Pregnant is author Natalie Meisner's light-hearted, poignant and informative true story about starting a family with her wife Viviën. Because Viviën is a woman of colour who was adopted into a white family, the couple wants their children to have a connection to their donor and decide against taking the anonymous, sperm clinic route. But they realize they are going to need some help. Taking matters into their own hands leads the couple to a series of often-hilarious "dates" with potential donors, all of whom have wildly different opinions on how the donation process should go, and how Natalie and Viviën should proceed as a new family.… (more)
User reviews
Meisner is a writer, and it shows in her careful prose. But unfortunately, that's not enough to keep the story of the two women's fertility endeavor interesting. The memoir revolves entirely around the process of getting pregnant, which failed to inspire the emotional investment that would have kept me engaged in the women's story, even as someone mildly interested in assisted reproduction. Had Meisner built a stronger emotional context for her story, better developing her characters, the result may have been a more compelling read. As it was, Double Pregnant was interesting in small doses, but hard to read in long stretches.
The book would have worked well as a blog: each chapter contained a mini-narrative, offering a touch of humor and brief commentary on what it means to be a lesbian couple trying to simultaneously get pregnant. As a blog, these various self-contained stories would be perfect to be read alone or as part of a series. As a book, however, Double Pregnant is unlikely to compel readers who don't have first-hand experience with the process Meisner and wife are going through.
Note: I received an advance readers' copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program.