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Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression
by
In this compelling memoir, Brooke Shields talks candidly about her experience with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, and provides millions of women with an inspiring example of recovery. When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis, into the world, something unexpected followed--a crippling depression. Now, for the first time ever,
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Hardcover, 226 pages
Published
April 26th 2006
by Hachette Books
(first published May 3rd 2005)
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Start your review of Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression

This book was a great comfort to me when I had post natal depression. It beautifully explains all the emotions and turmoils of being a new mum and helped me to feel not so alone.
Obviously, her life is completely different. I remember crying when she said she hired a night nurse. I was exhausted and couldn’t afford one. I would really love to read a book about a working class mum struggling with post natal depression and how she coped as all the books I’ve read, the women hire nannies!!!
Obviously, her life is completely different. I remember crying when she said she hired a night nurse. I was exhausted and couldn’t afford one. I would really love to read a book about a working class mum struggling with post natal depression and how she coped as all the books I’ve read, the women hire nannies!!!

I read this because I really struggled after my baby was born, and I had heard that Brooke Shields had, also. There were times while reading this that I thought, "It's as if Brooke Shields read my mind when I was a new mom!" She had her baby before me, but still. It was weird how so many of the feelings and thoughts she described were exactly like ones I had. I couldn't relate to the rest of her life, such as when she talked about being on Broadway, having homes in NYC and LA, or hiring a baby n
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When I first heard that Brooke Shields had suffered from postpartum depression, my heart went out to her. Just the hormones, alone, from having a baby can leave you on an emotional rollercoaster. That being said, I went into this book with a lot of sympathy. My attitude quickly changed. *Down Came the Rain* reads like a manual for how to have a baby. Aside from the fertility issues (if my own husband sneezes in the same room as me I get pregnant), I might have been reading excerpts from my OWN c
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i am so happy this book was written. not just for PPD women, but for people dealing with depression in general. it's so true; it's so real to the way it feels, and the way it breaks families and relationships apart.
it is a selfish thing, and it is so difficult to understand when you aren't in it. i love the way brooke's perspective changes, how you can see the despair begin and then the climb out, and how meds aren't the end all.
i really felt a kinship with her struggle to decide to go on meds ...more
it is a selfish thing, and it is so difficult to understand when you aren't in it. i love the way brooke's perspective changes, how you can see the despair begin and then the climb out, and how meds aren't the end all.
i really felt a kinship with her struggle to decide to go on meds ...more

So I choose to read this book because of my curiosity with postpartum depression and I was told it was an honest account. True it is honest, but the writing was less than fair... (I never knew that she had a degree in French literature from Princeton, maybe she'd have done better if she had written it in French?) Don't get me wrong, I applaud her for writing so candidly about postpartum depression and the thoughts/feelings that go along with it. She is brave for doing so and has probably helped
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I was interested in this book because my mother developed severe postpartum depression after having her last baby - my little brother. I wanted to learn more about it and remembered when this book came out a few years ago.
Brooke Shields lets you into her private world to discuss what it was like to develop severe postpartum depression very soon after having her first child. It was very informative and cast light onto that dark dusty corner that most people prefer not to look at, because of lack ...more
Brooke Shields lets you into her private world to discuss what it was like to develop severe postpartum depression very soon after having her first child. It was very informative and cast light onto that dark dusty corner that most people prefer not to look at, because of lack ...more

Very moving. A great book to read if you think you are going through, KNOW you are going through, or have already been through Postpartum Depression. Reading it after being diagnosed with it myself made me feel like I was not the only one to go through those emotions. There are not a whole lot of books written about Postpartum Depression- let alone one that is NOT a textbook type. It is hard to deal with, let alone telling someone (or the whole world) that you have/had it, there is a terrible st
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I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style. I thought she went into way too much detail about her fertility treatments and childbirth. I kept thinking 'poor little rich girl'. But then if she didnt it wouldn't have been a very long book as it is only 225 the way it is and a quick read. If it had been longer I dont think I would have stuck with it. That said, for someone who is going through postpartum depression it would probably be a help just to know others have been through the same thing. It a
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I'm torn. While the message is incredibly important, having myself gone through PPD, the writing style left much to be desired.
Unfortunately, "Down Came the Rain," appeared to have been Shield's private journal that was immediately put to print without a single bit of editing. The story had no flow, jumping confusedly from one thought to the next. It is quite the work to get through but considering how few people are willing to talk about PPD, to admit of its existence and for so many, like mys ...more
Unfortunately, "Down Came the Rain," appeared to have been Shield's private journal that was immediately put to print without a single bit of editing. The story had no flow, jumping confusedly from one thought to the next. It is quite the work to get through but considering how few people are willing to talk about PPD, to admit of its existence and for so many, like mys ...more

Feb 21, 2016
Kim
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Kim by:
Mom
Shelves:
non-fiction
My mom picked this up in the $1 bin and recommended it to me a while back, knowing my weakness for celebrity memoirs. I ended up listening to the audiobook. I never noticed how much Brooke Shields and Terry Farrell (the actress who plays Jadzia Dax in DS9) sound alike until now. It was hard not to imagine Jadzia, wearing a teal and black jumpsuit, explaining her journey into motherhood in Quark's bar...
I really appreciated Brooke's transparency. I could relate with many of her experiences which ...more
I really appreciated Brooke's transparency. I could relate with many of her experiences which ...more

MY husband bought this book for me a few days after I was diagnosed with major post partum depression. Only after seeing an interview with Brooke Shields on a morning tv show did I finally get help. I didn't understand what was wrong with me -- when I heard her speak about what she had been through I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief that someone else had had the same thoughts and feelings. Though it is not the most well written book it is very realistic and for the most part relatable.
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From my blog: https://bookgirl1987thoughts.wordpres...
Last December I finished one of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve ever read. Usually the words “celebrity memoir” turn me off immediately, but I feel fortunate to have made time for this one. It is always a small miracle when a famous actor writes a book about themselves and manages to decenter their life and career in Hollywood from the narrative. I loved that Hollywood was on the periphery of the story, and that the book focused on something ...more
Last December I finished one of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve ever read. Usually the words “celebrity memoir” turn me off immediately, but I feel fortunate to have made time for this one. It is always a small miracle when a famous actor writes a book about themselves and manages to decenter their life and career in Hollywood from the narrative. I loved that Hollywood was on the periphery of the story, and that the book focused on something ...more

This book resonated so profoundly with me on so many levels. While I didn’t face the infertility struggles, I recall the terrifying experience of delivering my first son. I related to her feelings of fear for her own life while complications arose that were out of her control, for the mental and physical exhaustion that followed, for the difficult recovery that I was unprepared for.
There were few areas of her journey that I couldn’t relate to, in some way. I remember feeling so overwhelmed by m ...more
There were few areas of her journey that I couldn’t relate to, in some way. I remember feeling so overwhelmed by m ...more

I really enjoyed this book. It's hard to read if you've never experienced or known someone who has experienced postpartum depression, but I assure you it's a real thing. Brooke Shield exposes herself in a raw, realistic manner. This topic is extremely tough to talk about and share with others. I give her so many props for being brave and writing this story to help other suffers, letting them know they aren't alone.
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Jun 26, 2008
elizabeth_agd
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Anyone suffering from postpartum depression
Recommended to elizabeth_agd by:
Jenn Neeb
I appreciated Brooke's honesty in how she described her experiences. Some of her points felt a little over-stated and went on but the writing was interesting. Several key components of her experiences really resonated with me. The experiences were bang on with what I was feeling before and during my diagnosis and it was almost a relief to hear that I wasn't an abnormality.
First, when she had a hard time defining herself after her daugher was born because "up until now, I realized, I had equated ...more
First, when she had a hard time defining herself after her daugher was born because "up until now, I realized, I had equated ...more

Brooke Shields is a horrible writer. Maybe the blame lies on her ghost writer, if she had one, but the prose in this is almost unreadable. It is dorky and lame and clunky and very tell-not-show. For such an emotionally charged topic (post partum depression) this book was not emotional at all. I expected to be heartbroken on her behalf and it all felt very flat. It’s interesting that her husband wondered aloud, early in her pregnancy, if she might eventually suffer from PPD. This is an telling ti
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This book was one of the worst I've read in quite a while. I read it because I was interested in learning more about postpartum depression, not necessarily because it was Brooke Shields, who I've never been particularly interested in. The writing in this book was horrid. I seriously think I could write a better book right now. The unfortunate thing about this book is that I really do think she has an important story to share, but the tone of the writing was so irritatingly whiny and dramatic, sh
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I almost gave "Down Came the Rain" only three stars because, even after reading about her heartfelt struggle with PPD (postpartum depression), I still had trouble looking forward to hearing about anything she has ever had to go through. BUT... I ended up at four stars. The reason being? Despite her book having a whiny edge to it (as in "poor me, living such a hard life with multiple houses and a career that gives me the financial freedom to do pretty much whatever if good for me at this moment")
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For me, becoming a mother also means that I feel happier than I could imagine and more sad than I thought possible. None of this indicates that I am crazy or in any way abnormal. Basically I am just more alive and present in my own life than I ever remember being.
In her autobiography Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, Brooke Shields describes the difficulties she and her husband had conceiving a child, the many failed in-vitro fertilization attempts, a horribly painful ...more
In her autobiography Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, Brooke Shields describes the difficulties she and her husband had conceiving a child, the many failed in-vitro fertilization attempts, a horribly painful ...more

While I've been luck to have not gone through all the trauma that Brooke Shields describes in Down Came the Rain our experiences do have similarities. I know the emotional and physical pain of suffering a miscarriage (I've had two). I know that detachment one can feel during a successful pregnancy: always expecting bad news to happen. I know the pain of recovery from a C-section. As I was under a general anesthetic at the time of my son's birth, her description of a C-section was very informativ
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Apr 23, 2008
Lori
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
new mothers
Recommended to Lori by:
Chris McGinn
Shelves:
self-help
This helped me realize that my experience after the birth of my daughter was nothing to be ashamed of. I see that some reviewers criticize the book as simply an account of motherhood, rather than depression, but I have to disagree. Sure, being tired, frustrated, exhausted, embarrassed, and deprived of sleep (have I mentioned "tired" yet?) is the universal maternal experience. But depression is much more complex than that.
And yes, I would have loved to be able to hire a baby nurse, as Brooke did ...more
And yes, I would have loved to be able to hire a baby nurse, as Brooke did ...more

A little repetitive, not entirely gripping but I'm thankful for anyone that steps out of the dark and speaks out on mental illness. Postnatal depression is something that, incredibly, is still hushed up and not spoken about, which makes it even harder for women who are suffering from it as they feel that it is a wrong and taboo thing to be experiencing.
Reading Brooke's experience made me realise that what I experienced was quite 'run of the mill', although when I was experiencing it - I felt en ...more
Reading Brooke's experience made me realise that what I experienced was quite 'run of the mill', although when I was experiencing it - I felt en ...more

This has got to be one of the most rawly honest books I have ever read. I applaud Brooke Shields for having the courage to bare her soul in order to tell her story and help others. Having struggled with PPD myself, I had to put the book down a few times because it felt as though she had written things from my thoughts. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever struggled with PPD or who ever plans to have a child. Even if you don't believe you are at risk, it can still hit you. Even if
...more

Brooke Shields tell it all in this very honest book about postpartum depression. She shares everything from her struggle with infertility to a very difficult birth and then the depression until finally, the rain goes away and the sun starts shining and she gets through to the other side and starts enjoying to be a mother.
Even though she repeats herself sometimes, and the writing isn't amazing, the book resonates with me, being a new mom and all. I'm not depressed but some of the feelings are sti ...more
Even though she repeats herself sometimes, and the writing isn't amazing, the book resonates with me, being a new mom and all. I'm not depressed but some of the feelings are sti ...more

As someone who suffered from an almost suicidal post-partum depression, which ultimately cost me my marriage, I have pretty much read everything available on the subject (which hasn't been much until recent years.) This is, in my opinion, one of the clearest, most informative, reassuring and helpful books available. I spent years trying to figure out "what happened" and why. Thanks to this book, I have laid this sad chapter of my life to rest. Shield's personal and comforting book is a great res
...more

This book helped me during a very dark time after my first daughter was born. I didn't recognize the signs of Post partum depression and then once I did I was too embarrassed to tell or ask anyone for help. This book helped me to realize that I wasn't alone in this and it was okay to talk about and reach out for help. PPD has been made to be such a taboo subject and I just don't think enough people talk about it. I highly recommend this book.
...more

While Brooke Shields is not the greatest writer she is honest with her feelings which is really the point of the book. It helped me to understand what I went through after the birth of our son, (on a much smaller scale). More importantly, it helped me to see what our daughter went through after her Rowan was born. I'm so sorry Sarah. I had no idea.
...more

Great book. So raw and emotional. Brooke Shields has done a huge service to PPD and to all moms everywhere with her honesty about a very difficult and frightening time in her life. To share such intimate details of her physical and mental health is brave. She wins high marks in my books for sharing her story to help other moms.
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