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99th out of 154 books
—
226 voters
Go to Sleep
by
Helen Walsh
As she drinks in the view in front of her, Rachel Massey stands on the cusp of the biggest journey of her life. For Rachel is about to become a mother. Mere hours from now, her first baby will be here and she can't wait to meet it. Terrified and excited, there is nothing she wants more, yet she senses things will never be the same again. This is the story of Rachel's voyag...more
Paperback, 309 pages
Published
July 7th 2011
by Canongate Books
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When a one night stand with an ex leaves Rachel pregnant, she decides to go ahead and have the baby by herself. She is a strong, independent woman, she will be a great mother. But as the sleepless hours tick by, she starts to resent baby Joe. Why won’t he just go to sleep?
Go To Sleep is an incredibly honest look at the stress a baby can put a woman under. Determined to cope by herself, Rachel shuts everyone else out but soon she finds how difficult things are when she has to do every little thin...more
Go To Sleep is an incredibly honest look at the stress a baby can put a woman under. Determined to cope by herself, Rachel shuts everyone else out but soon she finds how difficult things are when she has to do every little thin...more
*score is actually 3.5 stars.
I honestly don't know how to feel about this story. Without giving anything away, the ending really made me uncomfortable but also at the same time I found myself desperate to read it and I really sympathised with Rachel. Surely that's a good sign?
Rachel is pregnant from a one night stand with her first love and she's determined to raise the baby by herself. But once the baby is born, she finds herself struggling to cope and she also struggles to bond with her child...more
I honestly don't know how to feel about this story. Without giving anything away, the ending really made me uncomfortable but also at the same time I found myself desperate to read it and I really sympathised with Rachel. Surely that's a good sign?
Rachel is pregnant from a one night stand with her first love and she's determined to raise the baby by herself. But once the baby is born, she finds herself struggling to cope and she also struggles to bond with her child...more
It been a long time since I came home with my first newborn feeling dazed and sleep deprived and unsure of what lay ahead. Even still I remember those days as vividly as if it were yesterday, allowing me to completely identify with the main character of this novel Rachel, who comes home from hospital with her new baby only to discover that motherhood was a far cry from what she had imagined. Sleep deprivation is a given when you have a baby and it something new mums just have to get used to but...more
Enjoyed this book about a single mother who struggles to bond and cope with her baby as she suffers severe sleep deprivation and probable post-natal depression. Rachel's much anticipated 'perfect' baby never seems to sleep and struggles to breast feed - leading to feelings of guilt for 'failing' at motherhood. I think many mothers can relate to Rachel's predicament when reality fails to live up to the dream.
There is a great sense of impending disaster looming through the book and we learn more a...more
There is a great sense of impending disaster looming through the book and we learn more a...more
The idea for this book is quite simple but very interesting. The book is based around a woman, Rachel, who has just given birth for the first time and is likely suffering from post-natal depression, exaggerated by her lack of ability to sleep. It's a captivating and easy to read book though it did feel a little monotonous at times, going around in circles, but this does reflect what the protagonist is struggling with and going through. The hallucinations were written well and effectively. To me,...more
Don't read this if you're pregnant. Don't read it if you worry about how you'd cope with a baby. Do read it if your partner or sister or someone you care about has a new baby. Do read it if you're coming out of the sleepless phase of mothering and need reassurance that you're not alone in how difficult sleep deprivation can be. I thought this was a great book, hard hitting and intense, written in such a way as to convey the distortion of thought and sense of pressure that sleeplessness and paren...more
This fictional account of a woman's experience of post-natal depression was an interesting read, although perhaps not as heart-wrenching as I expected it to be. Set in Liverpool (and covering areas I know well from my time at university there) this was the story of a single mother coming to terms with becoming a mother, over a period of 3 months or so. At times it was hard reading, especially as I'm due to have my first baby in a month, but the story was still worth reading.
This book is three and a half stars from me. The story centres around Rachel, a woman who is pregnant and desperately looking forward to becoming a mother. However, when she gives birth, the experience is nothing like she fantasised about. This book deals with very difficult issues and some parts of the story I found quite disturbing. This was a brave choice of subject for the author and I recommend it highly.
I cried almost constantly while reading this book. Even now, six months later, my heart aches for Rachel's little baby left alone and screaming. Definitely not a book to read just after you have your own baby (like I did!).
powerful story of rachel and her new born son joe and the effects of post natal depression and how helen walsh's word bring home the prblems of rachel and how she copes through all oher worries well worth reading
I would've given this book three and a half stars if that was an option. It was a well written book but very disturbing in parts.
I really enjoyed this. It's a quick read, very frank and "real", and also well-written.
Really moving. Tells an important story.
at some pages a little repetitive...
While the subject (babies, postpartum depression) didn't immediately speak to me I was, once again, drawn to Helen Walsh's dense and dramatic language and, once again, I wasn't disappointed.
Anyone who wants to know what postnatal depression feels like should read this book. Walsh's graphic description of a descent into 'madness' is first rate.
As a first-time parent of an eight-week old baby, I could really identify with what Rachel was going through. I was worried it would have a heartbreaking ending like Walsh's previous novel, Once Upon a Time in England!
If sleep is the most precious thing in your life, don't have children.
If sleep is the most precious thing in your life, don't have children.
A compelling but uncomfortable read.
An unusal book that was hard to put down and very hard to rate. Will only make sense if you have had a baby that didn't sleep.
May 09, 2013
Samantha
marked it as to-read
May 08, 2013
Jess
marked it as to-read
Apr 25, 2013
Sheila Jones
added it
Mar 30, 2013
Jen
marked it as to-read
Mar 27, 2013
Sorin
marked it as to-read
Mar 27, 2013
Adriana
marked it as to-read
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HELEN WALSH was born in Warrington in 1977 and moved to Barcelona at the age of sixteen. Working as a fixer in the red light district, she saved enough money to put herself through language school. Burnt out and broke, she returned to England a year later and now works with socially excluded teenagers in North Liverpool. Brass is her first novel.
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Nov 08, 2011 11:35am