DesaraeV

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic by Martha Beck

Book Review Expecting Adam Harvard and Down Syndrome A True Story of Birth and Everyday Magic by Martha Beck

BOOK REVIEW: Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic

Author: Martha Beck Narrator: Joyce Bean

"True Life Fairy Tale"

Overall
Performance
Story

Recommend picking up your own copy. Great book.

I laughed. I cried. I felt inspired and motivated. She says what others think but are too politically correct (PC) in the Midwest often to repeat. She holds nothing back and leaves you thinking. So many parts of the story leave you with tingles up your spine or arm. It's rare that any book gives me such a wide range of emotion. I listened to the whole thing in a day, couldn't stop. Almost hard to believe its real but I've had similar things happen, minus maybe seeing long distances or seeing 'angels'.

Expecting Adam At first I wasn't so sure about the narrator, but trust me she immediately will grow on you, give her a chapter or two so that you can settle into the story. I went into this book with little to no good expectations. None. I thought I might mildly like it at best. I loved it. I rarely cry to books or movies. This is the kind of book that makes you want to live life fuller.

Similar books in my opinion would be: EAT Pray Love, The Alchemist (or any book by Paulo Coelho), and The Last Lecture. Those are some of my favorite books by the way, so if you haven't read them I urge you to do so.

 
Purchase

This book reads like a novel; like a story. It's so vivid and so full of character that at some points you wonder if more of the story is false than just character names. You will hate some of the characters and love others. You will, and you will wonder their side of the story.

My thoughts mid-book (up to reading chapter 7- I stopped to write this mid-listen):

A true story that reads like a fairy tale. She's not very PC and very blunt. The narrator has a deeper voice, sounds older than most narrators on audible, it's so blunt; at first I didn't like her but the narrator suits the story.

The story is all about a woman; a wife; a mother who gets pregnant. Where does the magic come in? It does sound absurd but truthful. I've known similar miracles to happen, even to me but on a much smaller scale. If I hadn't experienced miracles or odd coincidences at some point in my own life this story would be hard to believe (post-reading: after reading the book I'd say impossible to believe).

She calls the forces of the world or God... well she makes it sound like angels or whatever are puppeteers and we are puppets. In her own story that reads so true.

I'm only to chapter 7, she's still pregnant and struggling at Harvard but so much is coming together for her. Fated. Destined. I believe it because I know these things can happy but she is so matter of fact. It is a nice reminder that our lives don't have to be mundane. We have destinies and God is looking out for us at every turn if we let him.

Inspired. Motivated.

I can relate to her in almost every way except that I have never gotten married or had children yet; including some of the very brash non-politically correct (pc) perspectives. I imagine I would go through a similar flow of turmoil and working through the issues in similar ways as she has this far into the book. I'm a little ashamed to admit that but I've wondered more than once what it would be like to have my future unborn children be born with *any* disability; it's scary to imagine and to worry about family being hurt.

The story is intriguing and I'm very interested as to where the story will go next.

After finishing the book:

About the Book

"He says you'll never be hurt as much by being open as you have been by remaining closed."

The messenger is a school janitor with a master's in art history who claims to be channeling "from both sides of the veil." "He" is Adam, a three-year-old who has never spoken an intelligible word. And the message is intended for Martha Beck, Adam's mother, who doesn't know whether to make a mad dash for the door to escape a raving lunatic (after all, how many conversations like this one can you have before you stop getting dinner party invitations and start pushing a mop yourself?) or accept another in a series of life lessons from an impeccable but mysterious source.

From the moment Martha and her husband, John, accidentally conceived their second child, all hell broke loose. They were a couple obsessed with success. After years of matching IQs and test scores with less driven peers, they had two Harvard degrees apiece and were gunning for more. They'd plotted out a future in the most vaunted ivory tower of academe. But the dream had begun to disintegrate. Then, when their unborn son, Adam, was diagnosed with Down syndrome, doctors, advisers, and friends in the Harvard community warned them that if they decided to keep the baby, they would lose all hope of achieving their carefully crafted goals. Fortunately, that's exactly what happened.

Expecting Adam is a poignant, challenging, and achingly funny chronicle of the extraordinary nine months of Martha's pregnancy. By the time Adam was born, Martha and John were propelled into a world in which they were forced to redefine everything of value to them, put all their faith in miracles, and trust that they could fly without a net. And it worked.

Martha's riveting, beautifully written memoir captures the abject terror and exhilarating freedom of facing impending parentdom, being forced to question one's deepest beliefs, and rewriting life's rules. It is an unforgettable celebration of the everyday magic that connects human souls to each other.

I loved the book. A++++ I only gave the performance 4 stars because there was something a little off putting at first about the narrator's style, but she picks up after a bit and you fall in love with the book.

Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic

UNABRIDGED

by Martha Beck

Narrated by Joyce Bean

Reviewed: 11/27/13

Goodreads Shelfari Audible

My Photo

Senior UI/UX web designer at a large-scale IT contractor for defense, intelligence, and civilian government solutions. Adventurist and certified Yoga / Barre Instructor. Love aviation, books, and travel.Prefer long light hearted series in mystery, comedy, fantasy, and romance.

Share This Post

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email This Pin This Share on Google Plus Share on Tumblr

No comments:

Post a Comment

Backlinks will be hidden. Crude comments may be removed.