Reproduction: Louisa Hall

This was a really difficult one to read as it dealt with such sensitive issues and I would definitely suggest that you check out all the TW's before reading.I was asked who I would recommend this book to and I honestly couldn't come up with anyone - but that isn't to say that it's not an amazing book that's been beautifully written.I also can't say that I loved this or even enjoyed it in part because there were definitely some shocking and uncomfortable moments.If you haven't read the blurb - our author documents her thoughts, feelings and emotions throughout her reproductive years whilst also trying to write her novel which follows Mary Shelley's life around the conception of Frankenstein.We spend a fair amount of the novel comparing and contrasting these events and it proves to be absolutely fascinating and thought-provoking.I found the discussions and explorations around early pregnancy to be so otherworldly - however, looking from the outside and many years after the experience, it was strangely familiar!I think if I'd been asked to document events and thoughts around this time, I'd have struggled to express it at all, let alone quite so well as it's been done here.Although I've had 3 children (and no knowledgeable miscarriages) I found all of these parts really emotional.I think the way these have been written aren't so sensitively dealt with, but this is what makes them stand out because they have been written from the heart and full of the physical horror and mental anguish experienced at the time.I was really intrigued by Anna and her work. I have always thought myself totally against messing around with the natural order of things - but this really got me thinking about technologies and medicical advances that are around today that we all rely on (and don't see as interference?)I loved the comparisons and similarities to both Shelley's own life, Frankenstein and science fiction. I actually think that these worked brilliantly and it's really made me want to read Frankenstein.Overall, I'm really glad that I worked my way through this book. It's so completely unique and totally not like anything I've read before (or ever will, maybe?) but I really enjoyed the way it made me engage with the things being explored, even when these made me uncomfortable and guilty, fascinated and repulsed.