#1636 - "Baby Proof" Glurgey Book

I don't know if I'd like this book, either. Reminds me too much of some Danilee Steel crap I read many years ago. Yeah, I confess, I used to read her books sometimes. But not anymore.

Anyway, there was this one book where a couple started out being CF. Agreed upon this before geting married, like the couple in this "Baby Proof" book. Then the wife gets knocked up. She tells hubby, and he says that she'll have to *take care of it*...as in get an abortion.

Of course, since this is uber-breeder Danielle Steel talking here, the wife is going, *OH NOES...I CAN'T KILL MY BAYBEE!!!* Hubby says she either gets the abortion or he leaves. She refuses. He hits the road. They get divorced. She soon meets some divorced duhddy, and after a few bumps in the road, they live Happily Ever After.

The way I see it, everyone has the right to choose how they want to live their lives, and yes, even change their minds. But that doesn't mean that the other partner has to cave in...if it's that much of a deal-breaker, divorce is sadly the only way to go. One should NEVER force their life choices upon anyone else, CF or childed.

But what I REALLY hate is how Steel writes CF people as the villains. She did it to the guy in this book, and she's also done it in other books.

From the reviews for "Baby Proof", it sounds like Emily Giffen has written Claudia's character as a sympathetic one, and not some Evil Child-Hating Bitch (as Steel would do). So that might be a good point for the book. My only concern would be the ending...it was said that Claudia *re-thinks* her decisions. Nothing wrong with that, but I'd be mighty pissed to find out that she went back to Breeder Ben and bred with him, after all.

Reviews are saying that the ending is *not what you'd expect*, but I guess it depends from which viewpoint you are looking. If you are a moo, you'd expect Claudia to change her mind and go back to her mayun. If you are CF, you'd expect her to stay firm and find happiness elsewhere. I honestly can't tell from the reviews HOW this ends.

I'll have to take a look at this at the store. Maybe I might want to read it, after all!

I almost want to write a CF book now...hell, I could build the story off my current relationship since my boyfriend, previously a fence-sitter, has decided he definitely wants "at least one" someday, and I have a CF male friend who wants to date me. *coughDRAMAcough*

I'm not a reader, but the books mentioned here seem to have captured my interest. I may check them out for shits and giggles when I get back to the 'Burgh. Reading a book of my own free will would be a phenomenal accomplishment for me. XD

I read a Steele book over a year ago. A former co-worker, who is into such nonsense reading, insisted I borrow the book (forget the name). I figured it would be mindless summer reading.

Long story short is a husband of a well-off woman is framed for raping a stranger where there was consentual sex, a one-time stand. Wife stands by husband even though she knows he fools around from time-to-time to prove his masculinity despite enjoying living off her money. He is convicted. In the heat of an argument during a visit at the jail, Hubby blames Wifey for being a career-bitch and driving him into other women's beds. He also screams how she did not want those babies.

The ending is typical. Husband gets released from prison, he & Wifey get back together, Wife sells her business, and they move away to have that baby. Surprisingly how Steele hates indepenent women since her books have made her millions many times over and she has had something close to 6 marriages!

Cambion, you may want to seriously think of getting rid of Wanna-Breeder Boyfriend and perhaps getting to know the CF'er. You are a young woman. Don't let anyone tell you how to run your life or settle because WBB seems to be "nice enough". I've made enough relationship/marriage mistakes so I know what it is like...now I set my boundaries. If someone does not like it, too bad! I have to do it at home and at work, lately. It is not easy. God, do I know but it is wonderful once it is done.

QUOTE FROM ARTICLE: "She won't even consider that she could be wrong and refuses to even compromise with Ben, a man she claims to love more than anything."

A compromise? There's no middle ground! If one person wants a kid and the other doesn't, what kind of compromise can you possibly make? "Okay, honey, I'll have a baby for you -- but if we don't like it after a year, YOU'RE going to have to be the one to murder it."

Once again, breeders are more than willing to hang their hypocrisy out for all to see.

Let's say the roles were reversed and it was a wannamoo confronted with a CF husband. If the wannamoo were to change her mind and become CF, the breederellas would say she is frivolous, flighty, selfish and all of the other bingoes we have all heard since the beginning of time. But if she converted the CF husband to a breederbrain, she is strong, knows her mind, etc. In this case, because it is the woman who doesn't want kids and will not compromise, the breeders say she is stubborn, weakminded (because who DOESN'T want brats...) and selfish.

The idiot breeders cannot have it both ways. Either you are mature and know your own mind and will not change, or you are a weakminded, frivolous fool all too susceptible to a major life-changing (more like life-ruining) decision on emotional grounds. If the character does not want kids and knows her mind and refuses to cave in, she is a strong character worthy of admiration. She knows her desires, strengths and weaknesses and manages her life with that knowledge. That is hardly an immature, weakmined person.

Breeders are all too willing to show their hypocrisy, but they are too damn stupid to know everyone else sees it.

The book doesn't sound appealing to this guy.

And never compromise on children. Both parties in the relationship either have to want them or not want them.

Well, I had to go to the local Staop & Schlop today (ran out of beer and forgot to get hamburger buns yesterday). They have a pretty good-sized book department there, and I looked for this book.

They had it, and I skimmed through the last couple of chapters to see how it ended.

Without fully revealing the ending to those who may want to read the book, I will say that I am just glad that I didn't plunk down the $16.39 (list price $23.95 for a hardcover book) that this book cost. I saw the whole thing as a cop-out.

No, the main female character did not sprog at the end, but I still didn't like how it turned out.

The only other thing I will say right now is that if you are looking for a happy CF ending, this is NOT the book for you!

I am curious as to how it turns out, but nowhere NEAR enough to waste $17 on it. No sprog, but still not a happy ending... very odd...

Back in 2000, I bought Wendy Tokunga's book, No Kidding, about a woman who broke off with her live-in because he wanted marriage and those babies. The lady wanted to be childfree. She meets a really hot and sexy man who feels the same way. She quickly moves into his place. Behind her back the new guy has sex with his former girlfriend and knocks her up. He has all of these excuses why the one-nighter happens. The ex is naturally refusing to abort and will keep that baby to tie her to the man and make his life miserable for refusing to get back together with her. The end of the book has the main character staying with her b*st*rd boyfriend and then holding a bay-bee for a passenger on a plane to show that she did like those kids despite being childfree. I hated the ending of this book despite the author being CF. It was as if the woman had to justify her choices and felt she must keep that jerk-of-a-man.

Give me a break! Yeah, what a catch, that's exactly what I'm looking for: some himbo who'll cheat on me and have a baybee with his slut. Wonderful.

Ah, but don't you know: we CF ladies HAVE to justify our entire lives. And we MUST be grateful for even the tiniest crumb that gets thrown our way. What-ever.

Right on, Medusa! I felt the ending was terrible because the childfree-by-choice lady DID settle when it came to her "himbo". The preggo ex-sexpot/girlfriend was being really nasty when the man did not return to her after the news of the pee stick turning blue. As in "real life", the moo will always be a problem for the man and the non-childed mate. Who wants that type of set-up...especially since the guy got the woman pregnant while in the current relationship?

I would love to see more novels with strong female characters who will choose being alone over settling for a philanderer. I am also tired of how some childfree women must feel they have to go ga-ga over those babies to prove they are not an "evil child-hating female". I know some CF people do like kids but don't want their own. That is all good but I would like, for once, to see more instances where the childfree do not have to justify the life choices.

India, what a disappointment about the "No Kidding" book. I'm glad I didn't spend the money on that one. Why couldn't the main character just have ended up with a CF man? Why do they always have to have the CF characters make ANY form of compromise?

Anyway, the way that other book ("Baby Proof") ended: the wannabreed guy (Ben) decides that he loves the CF woman (Claudia), and that he'd rather be with her than sprog. The part that pisses me off is that Claudia said that she'd been re-thinking her feelings about being CF. Although she did admit that she might still NEVER want to have kids, she clearly left the door open for it.

There. I just saved you all $16.39 (or $23.95 list)

WHY, for once, can't we have a book end with the CF protagonist staying staunchly CF...and not being written to be some sort of criminal over it?

india_darshan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Back in 2000, I bought Wendy Tokunga's book, No
> Kidding, about a woman who broke off with her
> live-in because he wanted marriage and those
> babies. The lady wanted to be childfree. She meets
> a really hot and sexy man who feels the same way.
> She quickly moves into his place. Behind her back
> the new guy has sex with his former girlfriend and
> knocks her up. He has all of these excuses why the
> one-nighter happens. The ex is naturally refusing
> to abort and will keep that baby to tie her to the
> man and make his life miserable for refusing to
> get back together with her. The end of the book
> has the main character staying with her b*st*rd
> boyfriend and then holding a bay-bee for a
> passenger on a plane to show that she did like
> those kids despite being childfree. I hated the
> ending of this book despite the author being CF.
> It was as if the woman had to justify her choices
> and felt she must keep that jerk-of-a-man.


I read that book, but remember it differently. The new hot guy had had sex with his ex BEFORE he started dating the main character. He wasn't cheating on her.

I also remember her holding a baby at the end of the book, but I thought it was her sister's baby, not the baby of a stranger.

I liked the book. We were passing it around our NK chapter.

The baby at the end of the book was on a plane -- the main character's seatmate. From what I remember, Hot Guy did have a one-timer with his ex right after he got together with the main character. I remember him seeming so apologetic about that one-time thing when the main lady was out of the apartment. I could always dig it up to look at it again...but I have no idea where the book is. Even if I am incorrect about when the "sex-that-made-baby" issue happened, it seemed as if the lady was "settling". An ex-girlfriend, who is jealous and angry that the man never went back to her, would always be in the CF woman's face. Many childed men do end up expecting that their childfree mates are to cater to their children and tolerate the nasty ex's behavior. I also would love for a book or movie to show a childfree-by-choice woman being able to find the same in a man or dumping the man-with-a-baby/child to have freedom vs. that forced responsibility. Women are expected to take on a lover's kid.