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Ricochet baby
'When Roberta falls pregnant her whole family is filled with joy.' But the birth itself is not as anyone chooses and the circles that radiate from this crisis affect everyone involved and change Roberta's life, in particular, for ever.
Moving and perceptive, full of intelligent and compassionate insights into the complexities of human relationships, this is a fine novel by one of New Zealand's best writers.
Moving and perceptive, full of intelligent and compassionate insights into the complexities of human relationships, this is a fine novel by one of New Zealand's best writers.
241 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Fiona Kidman
47 books67 followersFiona Kidman is a leading contemporary novelist, short story writer and poet. Much of her fiction is focused on how outsiders navigate their way in narrowly conformist society. She has published a large and exciting range of fiction and poetry, and has worked as a librarian, producer and critic. Kidman has won numerous awards, and she has been the recipient of fellowships, grants and other significant honours, as well as being a consistent advocate for New Zealand writers and literature. She is the President of Honour for the New Zealand Book Council, and has been awarded an OBE and a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 15, 2022
This is a novel which clearly does not get much love, which is somewhat unfortunate. It's essentially about a couple where the wife develops crippling postnatal depression which results in her loss of custody of her baby during the ensuing marital breakdown. It's a particularly difficult subject to embark upon, and a very courageous author who has made a fine effort, I believe, to attempt to describe a very traumatic and traumatising experience with, not only intelligence, but empathy.
I felt that she described the disintegration of the mother's mental state with credibility whilst yet maintaining the reality of a situation that was spiralling out of control. Meanwhile, the dominant partner in the relationship aggravated her mental ill-health whilst gaslighting her at every available opportunity.
Perhaps the medical details of her labour and psychiatric care were a little unusual, or incorrect but this is a book published 25 years ago and both obstetric and psychiatric care has changed, I trust, for the better.
An interesting choice of topic from a good writer.
4 shimmering 🎇
I felt that she described the disintegration of the mother's mental state with credibility whilst yet maintaining the reality of a situation that was spiralling out of control. Meanwhile, the dominant partner in the relationship aggravated her mental ill-health whilst gaslighting her at every available opportunity.
Perhaps the medical details of her labour and psychiatric care were a little unusual, or incorrect but this is a book published 25 years ago and both obstetric and psychiatric care has changed, I trust, for the better.
An interesting choice of topic from a good writer.
4 shimmering 🎇
April 28, 2011
I have just discovered this very talented wonderful writer. I recently read The Captive Wife. Both books are vastly different but equally engaging.
Ricochet Baby has bored its way into my head and burrowed a little place there! This is a story about the intrigue of families - the unspoken and the spoken. All the hope and emotion a pregnancy can bring.....
Roberta is the youngest daughter of a farming family from the lower half of the North Island in New Zealand. She is having the first Grandchild on both the maternal and paternal sides. As the story unfolds so too does the truth about family and the lack of useful communication. It is slightly dark but not in an off putting way
The descriptive language is rich and evocative. There is a strong sense of how landscape and surroundings shape one.
I will definitely be reading more of Fiona Kidman.
Ricochet Baby has bored its way into my head and burrowed a little place there! This is a story about the intrigue of families - the unspoken and the spoken. All the hope and emotion a pregnancy can bring.....
Roberta is the youngest daughter of a farming family from the lower half of the North Island in New Zealand. She is having the first Grandchild on both the maternal and paternal sides. As the story unfolds so too does the truth about family and the lack of useful communication. It is slightly dark but not in an off putting way
The descriptive language is rich and evocative. There is a strong sense of how landscape and surroundings shape one.
I will definitely be reading more of Fiona Kidman.
May 17, 2018
Always disconcerting when the author decides to slip in and out of first person and third person narrative. But I persevered and went back and forth till I got it straight. Complex family/friend relationships.
December 9, 2020
A good read for nostalgia for Wellington, and insight into mental health. But, I didn't enjoy any of the characters.
July 6, 2016
Ricochet Baby is one of those books that leaves me wondering, how do people manage to get their lives back on track when they’ve got into such a muddle?
Roberta is a young woman whose first pregnancy means a first grandchild, and everyone is delighted though it looks like there may be some trouble over religious differences and ways of parenting. But when Roberta unexpectedly gives birth early, when a sudden impulse has taken her from her work at the taxation office to a defaulting taxpayer called Josh, the trouble that erupts goes way beyond what the reader is expecting. Josh is not the sort of middle-class person that the family is used to, but his presence at the birth invests him with a de facto family status that no one quite understands. Roberta’s husband Paul makes a suspicious mountain out of a molehill instead of being grateful to the bloke who took care of his wife when she was in labour.
And then Roberta gets post natal depression, and discovers that she doesn’t fit into her prosaic middle-class life properly…
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/07/28/r...
Roberta is a young woman whose first pregnancy means a first grandchild, and everyone is delighted though it looks like there may be some trouble over religious differences and ways of parenting. But when Roberta unexpectedly gives birth early, when a sudden impulse has taken her from her work at the taxation office to a defaulting taxpayer called Josh, the trouble that erupts goes way beyond what the reader is expecting. Josh is not the sort of middle-class person that the family is used to, but his presence at the birth invests him with a de facto family status that no one quite understands. Roberta’s husband Paul makes a suspicious mountain out of a molehill instead of being grateful to the bloke who took care of his wife when she was in labour.
And then Roberta gets post natal depression, and discovers that she doesn’t fit into her prosaic middle-class life properly…
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/07/28/r...
May 18, 2013
Read it in 2009 - must get it off the shelf and reread it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews