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    Baby Proof: A Novel
    Baby Proof: A Novel
    Baby Proof: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Baby Proof: A Novel

    Written by Emily Giffin

    Narrated by Cynthia Nixon

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Baby Proof

    Emily Griffin

    From the author of the smash hits Something Borrowed and Something Blue comes an audio novel that explores the question: is there ever a deal-breaker when it comes to true love?

    First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes . . . a baby carriage? Isn't that what all women want?

    Not so for Claudia Parr. And just as she gives up on finding a man who feels the same way, she meets warm, wonderful Ben. Things seem too good to be true when they fall in love and agree to buck tradition with a satisfying, child-free marriage. Then the unexpected occurs: one of them has a change of heart. One of them wants children after all.

    This is the witty, heartfelt story about what happens to the perfect couple when they suddenly want different things. It's about feeling that your life is set and then realizing that nothing is as you thought it was--and that there is no possible compromise. It's about deciding what is most important in life, and taking chances to get it. But most of all, it's about the things we will do--and won't do--for love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJun 13, 2006
    ISBN9781593979119
    Baby Proof: A Novel
    Author

    Emily Giffin

    Emily Giffin is the author of Something Borrowed, her smash-hit debut novel that was made into a major motion picture. She is also the author of Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You’re With, and Heart of the Matter. Giffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full time. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children.

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    Reviews for Baby Proof

    3.5/5

    805 ratings34 reviews

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    • 1/5
      This story had me hook line and sinker. I related SO MUCH to Claudia, an openly childfree woman with a career and goals. I applauded her backbone in the first 200-odd pages of the book. People can change their mind on having a child and it happens, and she deals with it and divorces her husband. Kudos to you, you can't half half a kid and compromise.


      Until she was written into this drippy pigeonhole of a character who falters at the end because she wants her man and mAyBe iT wAs jUsT cHiLdHoOd TrAuMa AnD fEaR. I want my three hours back.
    • 4/5
      Another wonderful book from Ms. Giffin. I loved the characters and the storyline.
    • 3/5
      Actually quite bored with this one. I mean, it's interesting enough but seems so predictable. Typical "woman holds steadfast to her convictions until the thing she wants the most gets away" type of book. I'm not a quitter so I will finish it but I don't hold out high hopes.

      And...I was right!! Spoiler alert. She sort of caves in the end. The book takes us through variations of women's issues with motherhood; from the subject of the book who doesn't want kids, to her sister who stays in a lousy relationship because she has kids, to the other sister who is in an absolutely amazing and loving marriage but can't have kids. This alone would have been enough, had the main character stuck to her convictions. It is an interesting read if you are looking for a light, easy, predictable summer book.
    • 3/5
      I am starting to really appreciate and like how Emily creates characters. She takes this attributes that people normally aren't so crazy about and puts them on a face that we can almost relate to. Hopefully, that makes sense. In Baby Proof Emily introduces us to Claudia, a woman who has never wanted to be a mother and whose marriage ends because of that conviction. Normally a woman like this would be someone I would see as an alien with three heads. How could you not want to be a mother? Especially when you in particular have so many valuable things to contribute to a child's life? By the end though I really felt like I could relate to her and slightly understand where she was coming from.

      Now for the actual writing. Some moments of the story felt really rushed and kind of unbelievable. Her marriage really ends just that suddenly? Come on!

      This isn't my favorite of Giffin's novels, but I still do like it. I'm excited for her future work, but wonder what will happen when she runs out of such taboo topics.
    • 3/5
      heartwarming, great story! Kind of leaves you hanging. Listened on audio Cynthia Nixon - GREAT
    • 2/5
      I think perhaps this book should have been about 100 pages shorter. By the end, I was tired of the whole story. Claudia doesn't want any children, but suddenly husband Ben does. What to do? Her sister also wants a baby but can't have one, and one other sister has some but is in a troubled marriage. I was more interested in the sisters' stories than Claudia's, to be honest. Claudia just comes across as selfish. I do have a problem with the ending too. I cannot say much without spoiling the ending but, oh, what the heck. You've been warned. Having a baby to keep your husband is the wrong reason to have a baby!!!
    • 4/5
      This book reads more like a memoir than a novel. The beginning was a little slow, as the first chapter is told in the past tense and is a pretty major data dump of back story that surprised me. I didn't know you could get away with that! LOL

      But Griffin's writing style is so fluid and easy to read, not cluttered with pretense. Her character portraits subtly draw you in with little observations and memories that are easy to relate to. I found myself smiling or laughing in several spots where I had had a similar thought myself about life in general.

      I cared about these characters more and more as the story progressed and wanted to nothing more than just sit and read. Still, I was disappointed by the ending. After spending hundreds of pages aching and agonizing with Claudia, I felt the ending should have had more of a get-everything-out-on-the-table heart-to-heart where she could open up and not dance around her feelings. I get the fragility of the situation (not trying to give away any spoilers), but I yearned for the honesty and openness all throughout the book and was disappointed not to truly find it in the end.

      Even though it was off the beaten path from my normal reading selections, I enjoyed Griffin's writing very much and will definitely pick up another of hers when I'm in the mood for a rich, character-driven, emotional story.
    • 4/5
      Ben and Claudia quickly knew they were soulmates - they could talk for hours, enjoyed each other's jokes and company, and, oh yes, neither one ever wanted children. A match made in heaven until one mind is changed about that baby thing... Really a very nice study of love, of sacrifice, and of family. I'd recommend it to anyone, even if they typically do not care for chick lit.
    • 4/5
      I normally don't like ambiguous endings, but in this case, it made the book perfect. I loved it. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I only give 5 stars to books I'd read again, and once was enough for this one.
    • 1/5
      I have rarely been so offended... The main character simply has no desire to be a mother, but is consistently pressed to argue her case. Even worse, by the end of the book, she is ready to have a baby - not because she wants to be a mother, but because she wants to get the guy. Simply appalling.
    • 3/5
      It is really difficult to review this book without spoiling it. This was my first experience with Emily Giffin, and I was hooked from page one. As I say in my other reviews of her work, she is nothing if not a supremely smart, intuitive writer. In each of her books, there is a sentence that sticks with you, a crystallized moment of clarity, that makes reading the whole novel more of an experience than one would expect. In Baby Proof, it's this: "On a subconscious level, I subscribe to the notion that if you worry about something, it is somehow less likely to happen. Well, I am here to say that it doesn't work like that. The very thing you fear the most can still happen anyway. And when it does, you feel that much more cheated for having feared it in the first place." That is a gem!
    • 4/5
      So this was not a bad book, but definitely not her best work. This story didn't catch my attention as quickly and thoroughly as the others she has written, but if you really like her books you'll probably find it worth reading anyway.
    • 4/5
      Although Baby Proof is not nearly as good as Something Borrowed or Something Blue, it still is an enjoyable, easy read with an ending that delivers the conventional but fully satisfying goods.The heroine is a woman named Claudia Parr who finds her true love in the very beginning of the book, bonding with her future husband Ben based on their mutual conviction to never have children. The marriage falls apart and ends in divorce when after a few years he changes his mind but she doesn't, an unraveling process that is rather abrupt and unconvincing.Claudia explores other options, thinks of Ben, and spends time with her sisters -- each of whose families provide a counterpoint to Claudia's own life (one sister has three children and a cheating husband, the other has been trying to conceive for years).Eventually she realizes she is still in love with her now-ex husband Ben and is willing to do anything -- even have a baby -- to get back together with him. But is it too late? You'll have to read it to find out.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book!
    • 2/5
      I enjoyed Emily Giffin's first two books and thought this one would be pretty interesting too, but I had a really hard time enjoying this book. I finished it in about a day and couldn't relate or sympathize with the main character who ends up divorcing her husband because he changes his mind on his stance on having babies.
    • 4/5
      Emily Giffin's books are a guilty pleasure, at least for me. Baby Proof falls in line with her other books I've read (Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Love the One You're With); they are all highly entertaining and hard to put down. Perfect for a ladies book club or fun beach read, Baby Proof is the ultimate "chick lit".
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. It's not high literary fiction that will change someone's life, but it's an engrossing story. I connected with the main character, Claudia, and I found her realistic and likable. My only issue is with the ending - not necessarily Claudia's choices, although I came away from the book annoyed - but the soap opera feel to the end. I've read two books by this author so far (Baby Proof and Something Borrowed), and I have to say that both have had an over-the-top, soap opera ending. Baby Proof's ending is a little more muted, but it's still a jarring way to end an otherwise solid book.
    • 4/5
      Claudia and Ben get married knowing that neither of them want a child... until Ben decides that he does. When Claudia can't budge on "the child issue," they get a divorce. Although the jacket copy doesn't reveal who changes their mind, this all happens very quickly in the book (much to my surprise), so I don't feel that this is a spoiler.Claudia is suddenly navigating singleton territory and finds herself exploring (again) whether she wants a child, or even wants to married again. Meanwhile, family drama of all sorts ensues while one of Claudia's sisters is desperately trying to get pregnant and another of her sisters is coping with a straying husband... all while Claudia's roommate and best friend is convinced her boyfriend (and married man) is leaving his wife any minute now.I was so convinced, at every twist and turn, that I knew how this book would end, that I too busy feeling pleased with myself to notice that the pages were flying by and the book was actually NOT ending the way I was predicting. Imagine that! I imagine other people guessed the ending and found this chick lit book thoroughly predictable, but I, for one, was caught completely off-guard, which makes this book my favourite (by far) of Giffin's work.
    • 4/5
      I read this book after reading Emily Giffin's "Something Borrowed." I admire the author's courage in being willing to tackle tough subject matters for the so-called "chick lit" genre. Claudia and Ben are happily married and touted as the perfect couple. Claudia is especially thrilled that she found such a wonderful man who clearly shares her "no children" sentiment. Imagine her surprise when Ben changes his mind early in their marriage. Feeling betrayed, she leaves him and then spends the rest of the book trying to deal with losing Ben and questioning if they were ever soul mates, considering neither was willing to compromise for the other on this issue. And, really, can there ever be a compromise between "don't want children ever" and "desperately want a child"? Just for good measure, the author also introduces us to Claudia's sisters, one of whom is staying with a philandering husband for the sake of their children and the other who is dealing with infertility. Then there is Claudia's best friend who considers becoming pregnant to try to force the hand of her married boyfriend.I like Ms. Giffin's writing style, and she does a wonderful job bringing interesting, layered characters to life. Very often I dislike one or more choices her characters make, but that is what makes the story realistic to me. I admire her willingness to have her characters be unlikeable. The story was quick, but engrossing, and I enjoyed the secondary characters at least as much as I enjoyed Claudia. I thought she handled all the storylines with sensitivity.As I was reading, I was so curious how she could possibly end the story. I mean, having Claudia suddenly decide she wants a child would be seen as a cop-out to all those who choose not to have children and having Ben suddenly decide he doesn't want children anymore would be seen as a cop-out to all those who choose to have children. I thought Ms. Giffin was walking quite a tightrope, and I thought her ending was about the best she could do with the topic. [Caution! Spoileresque -- It's still unclear to me what their decision will be, but it now seems to be a decision Ben and Claudia will make together. That's enough for me.] All in all, an enjoyable read.
    • 2/5
      After really enjoying Something Borrowed and Something Blue, I wasn't as excited while reading this book. It was good, but maybe I just lost the excitment or perhaps I was thinking that we'd still be on the adventure of the characters in Something Borrowed and Something Blue. A good book nonetheless. Worth the read.
    • 5/5
      Usually, I tend to shy away from books in the chick lit genre. When I saw "Baby Proof" on the shelf, I was instantly drawn to this book for some reason. After reading the book jacket, I knew this was definitely going to be an interesting read to say the least. Claudia and Ben are the perfect couple...at least to everyone around them anyway. Claudia is a successful book editor and Ben is a successful architect who are both enjoying their married childfree life. Although they both agreed in the dating stage that neither wants to have children, the issue come back up when the find out that their mutual friends are going to have a baby. Claudia sticks to her guns about not wanting children but Ben is now not so sure and decides he may want kids after all. Claudia forces Ben to make a choice in the matter; either be happy and childfree with her or be single and have a child with someone else. Once they realize that neither one is willing to compromise, they get a divorce. During their separation and divorce, Claudia does a lot a soul searching to figure out why she doesn't want kids. She likes kids (loves her niece and nephews) yet she doesn't view herself as the motherly type. I completely share the same opinion as Claudia when it comes to kids. I like kids but can I see myself as mother? Not so much.Fortunately, she has a great support system to help her figure out her feelings on both side of the issue which include her friend Jess as well as her sisters Daphne and Maura. Also during Claudia and Ben's time apart, she begins to question whether or not he really was her soulmate. After all, if he was her soulmate, wouldn't her want the same things she wants in life? Should she be willing to compromise what she wants for the man she loves? Are children the ultimate deal breaker in marriage?These are just some of the questions that are tackled in this book. While I was planning on just skimming through this book, I could not put it down. It was very well written and the characters were extremely thought out. The dialogue was realistic as well as the situations that occurred within the book. I really enjoyed this book and am happy with the way the book ended. Having read this book, I think I might give Chick Lit or at least other books written by Emily Giffin, another try.
    • 3/5
      Didn't quite get where I wanted it to go, but I got over that. Quite good writing for this genre. Not too annoying. Fast-moving storytelling, multiple points of view, character grows up a bit, and there are some endearing and funny scenes. Some very believable characters too. Easy to read, enjoyable.
    • 2/5
      This is the story of Claudia and Ben, a couple who meet on the most perfect blind date. One of the attractions for Claudia is the fact that Ben does not want children - she has known since childhood that she does not want to have children, and therefore feels that it is meant to be. After a blissful few years of marriage, Ben confesses to wanting children. After discovering that they have no ability to compromise on this matter, Claudia issues an ultimatum of 'having children or having me'. Ben chooses the former.Against the backdrop of this main storyline, we also meet Jess, Claudia's best friend, and Maura and Daphne, her two sisters. In each case Giffin deals sensitively with different aspects of children. The couple that desperately want children but find they're infertile. The couple who are staying together for the sake of their children. And the person who wonders about having a child in order to force a married man to make a commitment to her. I really enjoyed all of the background stories, and felt that these secondary characters were actually drawn more realistically than the two main characters.My main complaint is that we actually see very little of Ben. Because the story is told from a first person perspective, during the split we stay very much with Claudia. We also cannot see Ben's thoughts, which means his extreme turnaround from wanting no children to suddenly wanting a family cannot be deciphered (although I guess we are then very much in Claudia's position!) Did he want children to start with and merely lied? Did it come along gradually? Was it seeing his best friend's become parents that convinced him he was ready? Because Ben was so one-dimensional it was hard to care about the fairytale ending.And it was very much a fairytale ending! Not only do Ben and Claudia realise that they belong together, but Claudia believes that she will do anything to keep Ben - including having a child. This is not a complete turnaround, since she still isn't sure she wants a child, but she is most certainly compromising - something that she stated she could never do.So, altogether more disappointing fare from the person who brought us two such excellent books as Something Borrowed and Something Blue.
    • 1/5
      I wish I had borrowed this book instead of buying it. It started very slowly. The language does not captivate and the story's "everyday" feel is just like everyday - boring. The end was far too short and extremely unsatisfying.
    • 1/5
      I don't usually read books that fall into the "chick-lit" classification - but I picked this one up when I ran into it at a used book store, because I was intrigued by the premise. [SPOILER ALERT in this review]So, Baby Proof is a book about a childfree (CF) woman who marries a man who says he's the same way, but then changes his mind, after their mutual closest friends have babies. The author recounts some earlier experiences around kids for the couple, I think to give the idea that he didn't initially seem to be a fencesitter, but the backstory is too thin to understand if he really had a major about-face or was just lying all along about his intentions. Our main character is understandably upset, and gives him an ultimatum - she's not going to have children just because he wants them and rejects with clear explanation his theory that they could "compromise" by having one kid. They divorce, they both date other people. She has a lot of kid-focused things going on: she considers her infertile sister's request that she donate an egg to them and babysits for her other sister's kids, whom she loves. (She likes kids, but doesn't want them). She misses her husband.Up until almost the very end, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The main character is likable and compassionate - she's not portrayed as cold and selfish. The author goes through the responses to some of the common cultural insistences that we must all want to have babies - spends a good two pages on why having kids because you want someone to take care of you when you get old is not an appropriate rationale. It is the first time I'd ever seen a CF character in a book - especially as the main focus of the book - and I liked that. I liked seeing these ideas put forth as reasonable and sensible, and the crazy child-insistent coming off as the weirdos. I hate to say it, but it felt kind of empowering.There's also every conceivable range here of women with kids. The sister who's infertile and wants them badly - then decides to adopt. The sister who has three of them and has been staying in a crap marriage because of them - but then decides not to take it anymore. The roommate who always dates the bad, unreliable guy - getting pregnant accidentally on purpose, because she wants kids more than she wants a good relationship.But, I can't recommend the book, because of the way it ends.Missing her ex-husband is killing this woman. The new, perfect guy she's found can't keep her happy - or even keep her attention - despite some mind-blowing sex. She can't stop thinking about and missing her husband. And I understand that kind of pain - really, I don't object to characters suffering an extreme amount. It even seemed likely here. But what I can't get behind is that she caves in. She decides to tell him she will do whatever it takes to get back together - even have a child. After some mixups, the book ends with them getting in bed together, after a month. She looks at her pill pack in the bathroom - you can't tell if she takes the pill or decides to skip it. She gets into bed, and he turns over and says he doesn't think he does need to be a dad to be happy - he just needs her.

      Author gets points for at least not giving her main character some kind of wholesale conversion - she doesn't come out wanting kids; it's clear she's considering them as a sacrifice to get back with the man. But even doing so casts aspersions on her earlier convictions and feelings, and the conversation they had at the beginning about how having one kid is no compromise at all. It supports the idea that all women really do want children - if you think you don't, it's just because something is wrong with you (main character has mommy issues - there's a suggestion here that once her mom says "you're not like me" she can turn around and want kids.). The author probably can't conceive of this, as she mentions she has kids herself, but there are people who don't want babies at all - don't want the work, don't want the responsibility, don't want the hardship. There is nothing you can say to these people to make them change their minds. And someone who really didn't want kids for these reasons, who had really thought about it - she's not going to change her mind just because of some heartbreak - because that's not a win-win. That's a lose-lose. In real life, this woman would go on to be a resentful mother, and end up hating the husband she used to love because she did this for him and she didn't really want to. This is not a situation with a happy ending for people who really feel this way. The ending made me really really angry. I threw the book in the recycling.

    • 4/5
      Baby Proof is chick-lit with a twist of depth. There are several themes running through the book, many of which challenge some of the widely-accepted beliefs about love, marriage, and children. The novel unfolds at a good pace and even took some unexpected directions along the storyline. Light and entertaining, it is a pleasure to read, though I wasn't totally please with the ending. It's a happy ending alright but it was kind of abrupt.
    • 4/5
      Baby Proof is one of those books that make you think. There are a few moments that hit entirely too close to home and can hit on sensitive nerves. It was hard for me to get going with this book. I started it, read a few pages, and put it down thinking that I was not going to be a fan of the main character. It turns out I was wrong and while I didn't love the book, I liked it enough to finish reading it and I'll probably share it with a few people.Baby Proof is about Claudia, a woman in her mid-thirties, who has a very loving marriage. Thing start to go bad when her husband decides he wants children and she absolutely does not. They can not come to a compromise and end up getting a divorce. Claudia struggles through losing the only man she's ever really loved while dealing with work, a new romance, and the drama surrounding her sisters and her best friend.One thing I really enjoyed was that all of the minor characters had a sub-plot. Claudia's sister Maura was struggling with her husband's infidelity and decisions regarding her marriage and three young children. Her other sister Daphne is struggling with infertility and her best friend, Jess, is dating a married man. All the loose ends tie up neatly towards the end of the book but one question is left hanging. I'm not going to tell you what it was. You'll have to read and find out.There is also a nice little cameo by Ethan from Something Blue. It's nice to know that he and Darcy are still together!
    • 5/5
      I thought the book was great. I have read Something Borrowed/ Something Blue by the author and enjoyed those as well. Claudia and Ben meet on a blind date, fall in love, and get married. Both agree they do not want children. But Ben has a change of heart and this causes problems for Claudia who doesn't change her mind. Claudia and Ben end up divorcing over this only to find their way back to each other with Claudia thinking long and hard about having a child. Claudia has had a dysfuntional childhood with a mother who told her she was an accident. I believe this played a big impact as tro why Claudia did not want children. I also feel Claudia and Ben should have communicated better and maybe worked things out before divorcing only to end up back together at the end of the story.
    • 4/5
      This was the first Emily Giffin book that I read, and I enjoyed it so much that I just went out and bought another. Giffin's heroine in Baby Proof, Claudia Parr, is smart, funny, and unapologetic for her desire not to have a baby. And unlike so many characters in chick lit, she actually seems to work--instead of just having a "job" that never appears in the novel--and she lives a reasonable lifestyle. The realism that Giffin gives to Claudia makes it easy to identify with this character, which is critical as the reader goes along with Claudia through a bumpy year in her life in which she is forced to reexamine her priorities and life choices. Claudia's struggle to choose will keep you reading to the end, which although a bit predictable, leaves the reader smiling.
    • 5/5
      I am a huge Emily Giffin fan. This book was amazing. I really loved the role reversal of the man changing his mind and wanting children. Although the personal struggle she had to go through at times where very difficult. This is a must read book.