Still Born: Guadalupe Nettel

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There is no word, however, for a parent who loses their child. Unlike previous centuries in which child mortality was very high, it’s not normal for this to occur in our time. It is something so feared, so unacceptable, that we have chosen not to name it’. Ciò non toglie che ai maschietti dotati di intelligenza questo libro potrebbe lasciare qualcosa di altrettanto importante. Infection: This includes infection in the fetus or placenta, or a serious infection in the pregnant person. Infections are much more likely to be the cause of death in stillbirths before week 24 than in those after. It has been estimated that 10% to 20% of all stillbirths in developed countries, such as the United States, can be attributed to infections.

Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. An unflinching, compassionate meditation on mothers, daughters and sisters – both blood-related and chosen – Still Bornstirred me and consoled me, renewing my faith in the power of women’s communities. Guadalupe Nettel has managed the impossible task of writing a work of both exacting honesty and immense tenderness, on one of the most delicate topics.’ Jennie Farley is a poet and teacher whose work has featured in magazines and anthologies. Her collections My Grandmother Skating (2016) and Hex (2018) are published by Indigo Dreams. She regularly performs at festivals, and runs workshops for Cheltenham’s Wilson Museum & Art Gallery and Everyman Theatre. Roger Bloor’s poems have many influences and origins, some relating to his experiences as a doctor providing psychological support to women following stillbirth and miscarriage. He has an MA in Poetry Writing and won the Poetry London Clore Prize 2019.Rosalind Harvey skilfully translates the original Spanish into precise and plain, but deeply moving, prose. Without resorting to sentimentality, the novel charts its characters’ halting efforts to understand and comfort one another. It is a piercing reflection on the ways acts of care bind people together.’ But Alina's pregnancy takes a dramatic adverse turn, when after a later scan she is informed that her daughter's brain is not developing and the baby will likely die immediately after birth: Nettel is one of the leading lights in contemporary Latin American literature…. I envy how naturally she makes use of language; her resistance to ornamentation and artifice; and the almost stoic fortitude with which she dispenses her profound and penetrating knowledge of human nature.’ Laura and Alina’s friendship evolves dramatically throughout the novel. At one point, Laura questions their friendship when their shared point of view changes, when Alina changes her mind and decides she would like children. Why does this change initially drive a wedge between them? Why is this commonality of such importance to Laura? For readers of Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti, Still Born is a profound novel about motherhood, creativity, and the power of friendship and community to make caretaking easier from “one of the leading lights in contemporary Latin American literature” (Valeria Luiselli, author of Lost Children Archive).

She was going to be a successful grade 1 teacher and Habu a famous medical doctor, like the white man in the village mission hospital. The image of a big European house full of houseboys and maids Rose before her. Li smiled to herself. The bushy stream, the thorny Hillside and the dusty Market would soon be forgotten, in the past." p.55 Nettel is known for her psychologically complex characters. Discuss the protagonist’s emotional journey and the ways in which she navigates her internal struggles in the novel. The voice of Laura, the narrator, is one with which I instantly bonded - the writing is clear and unflashy but also intimate and quietly enthralling. A wonderfully fluent translation too by Rosalind Harvey - just a shame that there was less of a sense of Mexico City than I expected: this book could have been transported to London, say, without having to change a thing. Guadalupe Nettel’s fourth novel Still Born, a storythat examines the lived experiences of womenand the decision of whether or not to have children, has been acquired by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

This is a book which explores maternity and motherhood along a whole spectrum, from the woman who doesn't want motherhood but who still finds herself drawn to the child of a troubled neighbour, to the woman who changes her mind and gets pregnant only to be faced with far more than she ever imagined. It's one of the most nuanced treatments I've read of what has become an increasingly contentious topic and Nettel avoids simplistic positions for a variety of grey areas - and it's this nuance and the avoidance of uncomplicated attitudes and stances that made this such involving reading. It’s not the kids that annoy me altogether. I might even find it entertaining, watching them play in the park or tearing each other apart over some toy in the sandpit. They are living examples of how we could be as humans if the rules of etiquette and civility did not exist. For years, I tried to convince my girlfriends that procreating was a hopeless mistake. I told them that children, no matter how sweet and loving they were in their best moments, would always represent a limit on their freedom, an economic burden, not to mention the physical and emotional cost they bring about: nine months of pregnancy, another six or more of breast-feeding, frequent sleepless nights during infancy, and then constant anxiety throughout their teenage years. ‘What’s more, society is designed so that it’s us, and not men, who take on the responsibility of caring for children, and this so often means forfeiting your career, your solo pursuits, your erotic side, and sometimes your relationship with your partner, too,’ I would tell them, vehemently. ‘Is it really worth it?’” In the beginning, my intention was to write the story of my friend and her little daughter, which I’ve found incredibly inspiring, both terrible and beautiful at the same time. Every day, children are born with neurological conditions that set them apart from others. Their families often take these situations as misfortunes that will end forever the life they had and turn it into hell. I wanted to show, through the story of this friend of mine, that it is possible to transform this painful experience into a meaningful one. Nettel interweaves the two character’s experiences effortlessly: deftly contrasting the sheer heartbreak of Alina and the impossibility of losing a child, with the amiability of Laura’s newfound relationship with neighbour and boy.

I was a child actor and starred in recurring roles in Dynasty and Highway to Heaven, and was even in an episode of The Twilight Zone. No mother knows how long her children will live. There is even an expression that says that children are merely loaned to us, and that the length of this loan can last from a few hours to several decades. Previous stillbirth; however, most people who get pregnant after stillbirth will go on to have healthy babies Still Bornis a rare thing: an unsentimental analysis of the ambivalences and moral complexity of motherhood. It is a book which demands to be discussed, at length, with friends, and I longed to do so.’ I read Still Bornin less than a day. It is perfect: deeply feminist, wise, funny and alive. Nettel is generous to each of her characters, and in prose that is crisp and light. I love this book.’

2nd Edition

This novel – taking on the knottiest questions about agency, motherhood, the precariousness of the body – exerts a magnetic force; the choices and fates of its characters feel as real as life. Nettel is one of the leading lights in contemporary Latin American literature.... I envy how naturally she makes use of language; her resistance to ornamentation and artifice; and the almost stoic fortitude with which she dispenses her profound and penetrating knowledge of human nature.’

Smoking, drinking alcohol, or use of illicit and/or medical drugs, which has been associated with double or even triple the risk of stillbirth Tres mujeres protagonistas que viven la maternidad de forma diferente, tres mujeres que tienen personalidad y situaciones personales completamente distintas. Still Bornis an astonishingly elegant, intelligent, affecting novel, which has stayed in my mind from the moment I began it to long after I finished. I felt a huge sense of relief that I had encountered a work of art about ambivalence in mothering which encompassed a true authentic range of emotions and curiosities – vanity, aggression, jealousy and selfishness – with sanguine acceptance, as well as the beautiful and difficult project of giving and sustaining love which marks all our lives, mothers or otherwise.’ Es bastante evidente que el libro gira en torno a la maternidad. Lo interesante es que toma en consideración la postura de tres mujeres de personalidad y situación totalmente diferentes entre sí. Por ejemplo, el de la narradora, una mujer que decide no ser madre y se liga las trompas, o el de su vecina, quien está transitando un momento complicado en cuanto a su relación con su hijo, o el de su mejor amiga, una mujer que luego de varios intentos y tratamientos, logra quedar embarazada. No todo es tan sencillo como parece, pues todo se va a ir complicando y nos vamos dando cuenta de las vertientes que van surgiendo en sus vidas. When interviewed by The Booker Prizes, Nettel detailed how Still Born was based on the story of a friend and her daughter: ‘Every day, children are born with neurological conditions that set them apart from others. Their families often take these situations as misfortunes that will end forever the life they had and turn it into hell. I wanted to show, through the story of this friend of mine, that it is possible to transform this painful experience into a meaningful one.’ Do you think the author succeeded here? Did you find beauty in Alina’s experience when her daughter Inés was born with micro lissencephaly? Did it feel true to life?Adina does want to have children. She was having trouble conceiving. She was willing to start vitro fertilization. Still Born is an astonishingly elegant, intelligent, affecting novel, which has stayed in my mind from the moment I began it to long after I finished. I felt a huge sense of relief that I had encountered a work of art about ambivalence in mothering which encompassed a true authentic range of emotions and curiosities – vanity, aggression, jealousy and selfishness – with sanguine acceptance, as well as the beautiful and difficult project of giving and sustaining love which marks all our lives, mothers or otherwise.’ Nettel is also adept in illustrating those fragments of beauty that arise from appalling situations, such as strength in adversity, the beauty of unexpected love and the tenacity of human emotion. An unflinching, compassionate meditation on mothers, daughters and sisters – both blood-related and chosen – Still Born stirred me and consoled me, renewing my faith in the power of women’s communities. Guadalupe Nettel has managed the impossible task of writing a work of both exacting honesty and immense tenderness, on one of the most delicate topics.’