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| Baby Proof | 
 enlarge | Author: Emily Giffin
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $6.78
You Save: $17.17 (72%)
New (10) Used (16) from $5.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  255 reviews
Sales Rank: 299865
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st. EDITION
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
ASIN: B0012BR8GU
Publication Date: June 13, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From the author of the smash hits Something Borrowed and Something Blue comes a 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 250 more reviews...
 Surprisingly thoughtful, intelligent fun. June 14, 2006
124 out of 131 found this review helpful
Throughout her life, Claudia Parr, the heroine of Emily Giffin's excellent new novel, has sworn up and down to potential boyfriends, inquiring friends, concerned family and anyone else that she absolutely DOES NOT want children EVER. She doesn't have a maternal instinct that she's aware of, and she's perfectly content not to find it. Claudia was never interested in playing house as a girl, and, now that she's in her 30s, she's determined not to concern herself solely with the secondhand on her biological clock. She enjoys her job, her Manhattan life and her freedom. And Ben, her husband and soulmate, is more than happy to remain childless alongside her, their lives not governed by school plays, soccer games, SUVs and Happy Meals.
But when Claudia and Ben's closest friends announce that they're expecting, Ben starts to wonder if maybe a baby wouldn't be that bad, maybe a baby will bring more meaning to their lives. Claudia, though, doesn't have a change-of-heart. She emphatically refuses to even consider a rugrat. So, even though they had a pre-nuptial "deal" to remain childless, Ben and Claudia are suddenly at an impasse in their marriage with a problem that's not at all easy to resolve.
With SOMETHING BORROWED and SOMETHING BLUE, Giffin addressed the complicated nature of female friendships, while also providing fun characters, outlandish situations, hot guys, cocktails, Jimmy Choos and a good story.
With BABY PROOF, Giffin brings all the fun but addresses an even more difficult topic. Through Claudia's predicament, Giffin dares to ask tough questions, like "Is a marriage enriched - or is life necessarily more meaningful - if you have kids?" or "Is it OK to not want kids?"
I love Claudia in this book. Giffin writes her as tough, stubborn, intelligent, flawed, funny, sexy, opinionated and interesting. And, because she refuses to let Claudia fold or become a simple convert to "mommyhood," Giffin proves herself, once again, to be a brave, uncompromising writer who manages, at the same time, to keep things light and fun. She gives voice to strong female characters whom you can still cheer on, even when you disagree with their stances, choices and actions. It's a difficult thing to do, and Giffin pulls it off in spades.
If you loved SOMETHING BORROWED and SOMETHING BLUE, take heart. Giffin's new book is just as strong. Claudia stumbles down many of the same paths that the previous books' heroines did. Claudia's friends are just as beautiful and fabulous. Her family is just as complicated. And her problems are just as touching.
If this is the first Giffin novel you've read, BABY PROOF will make you a fan.
Brainy, witty and insanely addictive! November 23, 2006
35 out of 37 found this review helpful
If only I had any idea about the witty charms of this eggy colored novel, I would have read it a long time ago. Baby Proof caught me completely off guard with non stop excitement of Claudia and Ben's relationship, her family and her decision not to have a baby that led to trouble in paradise. The characters were simply darling, fleshed out to perfection and they made my heart ache when setbacks and divorce appeared on the horizon. This is definitely a girl's book, and not even comparable to chick lit, something that sounds empty and airy to me, but a rich goulash of love, romance, betrayal, insanely addictive humor and life's lessons learned right before my eyes.
In a nutshell, the story is about Claudia and Ben, who married and has been enjoying their sweet life together in Manhattan, only to meet up with friends who just had a baby. Prior to getting married they have both agreed that they don't want kids, but as Ben gets involved in their friends exciting pregnancy he starts to change. Claudia is thrown off her cozy life, she finds herself unhappy and sees that her husband is no longer the man she though she knew. The tale starts off with many mishaps, her sister having baby issues, her best friend sleeping with a married man, her coworker trying to get a date with her, various scandals and tribulations flowing in and out, weaving out some true patterns that are a part of the quilt of life. Being in a great relationship I could relate to many parts of the book, but most of the time I was really happy that Claudia's turmoil was not my own. Knock on wood, but that only made the story more interesting as the reader gets to know her and falls in love with her personality and only wants the best for her. When things go from bad to worse and Ben has a new female friend Claudia must either move on or try and win him back. The question is whether she wants to have his baby since he's her soul mate or whether she needs to find her own path and not stray back into his life.
I have to say that the ending had me in tears, but I cry at happy endings too, so no spoilers here. That came as a big surprise to me, I rarely cry reading books, but this one yanked at my heart and I had to get up to get some tissues three times while reading the last pages! I have even got my own boss sucked into this book, the second she read the first pages as I waved my latest read in front of her, she dashed to get her own copy, and it's a real pleasure discussing it with her, and I am perhaps a bit jealous that I have all ready read and the end of this journey has been reached. Baby Proof is fictional yet very real, I can see many women relate to it and it reads beautifully as the author has natural talent in story telling.
- Kasia S.
Lovely, Layered Story June 21, 2006
34 out of 41 found this review helpful
I've read both of Giffin's previous books and believe this is the best. I think the main character has feelings that many women can relate to - fears of being tied down by a baby, of the loss of freedom, of the loss of self, and of the distance a child can create in a relationship. The book feels wonderfully full because all of the other secondary characters are fleshed out and their problems intricately tie into the problems Claudia, the main character faces. Giffin takes a difficult subject - that of being childless by choice - and gives it a sympathetic face.
A delightful novel that ruminates on marriage, parenthood, family, and friendship September 12, 2006
30 out of 32 found this review helpful
Baby Proof is a novel about the dissolution of a marriage. Thirty-four year old Claudia Parr is a happily married publishing industry professional whose life is turned upside down by her husband's decision to break their pre-marriage promises. Claudia and Ben had clicked, had worked as a couple, because they wanted to live child-free. They were non-conformists who relished their freedom and agreed that their family would always consist of just the two of them. Well, at least for the blissful two years before Ben revealed that his position on children had changed. He wanted them after all.
At this point, as a reader, I jumped to some snap judgments about this pale yellow book with sparkly diamond baby booties on the cover. Was this going to be just another piece of poor-me-single-thirtysomething-in-NY-searching-for-a-male trash? Fortunately, no! Booksellers, don't shelve this one with all the hot pink chick lit titles. Baby Proof is a novel which explores all aspects of marriage, divorce, relationships at work, adultery, and parenting styles. The break-up is not just a plot device to launch yet another tale of single life in NY. The divorce drives the entire novel, as Claudia compares her situation to that of an infertile sister, a happily married sister, a spunky best friend dating a married man, and her own divorced parents. Toss in a breathtaking post-divorce fling with a co-worker, and you've got some great material. Griffin also delivers some subtle but unexpected plot twists.
a FAIR critique of this book July 31, 2006
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
I never review things on Amazon, but I just had to respond to the review below. I completely understand if the reviewer didn't enjoy the novel (I happened to like it quite a bit), but her critique of this book is one of the most ridiculous reviews I have ever seen.
First, the reviewer states that the book assumes that all married men want children. That's patently untrue. I would challenge the reviewer to cite a passage in the book that supports this claim. This is a work of FICTION about one couple and their decision whether or not to have children and certainly never claims that their struggles encompass the thoughts and feelings of an entire gender (married or otherwise). I found the book to be very careful in explaining that both men AND women struggle with the decision of whether or not to have children, especially if they come off on the side of not wanting them (which is, I am sure most of us would agree, still considered somewhat non-traditional).
Second, she states that a VALID (her emphasis) reason for not wanting kids is having a parent die in childhood. While I will grant that that may be true, the whole point of the book is that a woman doesn't need a "reason" to choose a childfree life beyond one simple thing: THAT SHE SIMPLY DOESN'T WANT THEM. To misunderstand that point is to miss the whole point of the book. If a woman doesn't want children, she shouldn't have to be questioned about whether she has "valid reasons" to make such a choice. If she knows she doesn't want them (for whatever reason), then she should not have them (or, to paraphrase from the book, having a child when you're not committed to the idea of having kids is the worst thing you can do). End of story. I think perhaps the reviewer needs to examine her own thoughts on this subject - why does a woman need to explain to you or to anyone else her decision not to have children (or, for that matter, why she might decide to have them)? Does she really need to have had a parent die in order to give validity to this life choice? I mean, think about it. That is an utterly ridiculous statement to make.
So, I guess what this boils down to is that the book (and Claudia and Ben's story) didn't fit into the reviewer's narrow definition of why a woman would not want to become a mother and, as such, deemed "unrealistic." Perhaps she should be the one to do more research on the subject so she can better understand that there are actually a myriad of reasons why women make the choice to be childfree (or any other significant life choice, for that matter), some of which are explored wonderfully in this book. I think she might be surprised at what she finds.
Regardless, I just want to say that I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a thoughtful exploration of the childless-by-choice decision, as well as a fun story about the ups and downs of a seemingly ideal couple. I understand that other people may not agree with my viewpoint, but I think that such criticism should be based on something more substantial than what the reviewer below offers.
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