Book Review and Giveaway: What I Thought I Knew by Alice Eve Cohen

*** THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED ***

Synopsis: In this chronicle of a late-in-life pregnancy, Cohen recalls an unlikely chain of events that, at age 44, transformed her life: "Three weeks ago I found out I was pregnant. Two weeks ago, I contemplated and rejected a late-term abortion. One week ago I was put on bed rest. I accepted my role as a miniature hospital, protecting a fragile life by lying on my left side and drinking Gatorade."

Already the mother of an adopted daughter, Cohen's first experience with pregnancy is a minefield of physical and financial dangers: "A woman with no prenatal care for twenty-six weeks is a lousy insurance risk... To an obstetrician, she represents an expensive malpractice liability." Cohen questions herself-health, commitment and emotional readiness-and others while sorting through a growing mountain of advice, ultimately wondering whether one can ever be fully prepared to bring a baby into the world. Compelling, humanizing, and deeply honest, Cohen's narrative will get readers rooting for her growing family.

About the Author:

Alice Eve Cohen is a solo theatre artist, playwright, and memoirist. Her memoir, What I Thought I Knew (Viking, 2009) won the Elle's Lettres 2009 Grand Prix for Nonfiction. She has written for Nickelodeon, PBS, and CBS. Her plays have been presented at theatres throughout the country, and she has toured her solo theatre works internationally. Her writing about arts in education has been published in nine languages. The recipient of fellowships and grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, she holds a BA from Princeton University and an MFA from The New School. She teaches at The New School in New York City. You can follow her at her website as well!

Review: Infertility is such a raw subject, it strikes more women than we think, and luckily in today's world  women are opening up and telling others about their experience. The sharing is helping other learn, sympathize and most importantly empathize. I had not intended to read this book in ONE sitting, but I did! It is less than 200 pages, but there is so much humor and honesty in it, that you are drawn in from the beginning and Cohen doesn't let you go!

After Alice was told she was infertile in her 30s, she became pregnant at 44 and didn't know it until over halfway through her high-risk pregnancy, due to mistakes made during an ongoing barrage of testing, including by her gyn. When you read the synopsis, you might not sympathize with her, but after sharing the pain of testing and the shock of not knowing if the baby would be ok, you understand her dilemma and feel for her and her family.

This is a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone who has struggled with, or is going thru infertility!

The Giveaway

One Winner will win their own copy of  What I Thought I Knew !!

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Contest will end on October 25th, at midnight. Winner will be picked by Random Number (random.org) on October 26th, and emailed. As soon as winner's info is received, I will email their info to booksparks, and they will send the book to the winner!

Disclosure / Disclaimer:  I received this book for review purposes, free of charge, from Booksparks PR. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.