A fierce novel about the postpartum experience filled with ';dark humor and brutal honesty' (People). A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it ';birth' and she still can't locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights, and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft. When Mina, a one-time cult indie musicianolder, self-contained, alone, and nine months pregnantmoves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend. And despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting other females, they soon become comrades-in-arms… With piercing insight about the isolation and unrealistic expectations suffered by new mothers in our society, After Birth is about pregnancy and childbirth that is ';vicious, hilarious, and above all real' (TheNew York Times Book Review). ';[A] scaldingly and exhilaratingly honest account of new motherhood, emotional exile, and the complex romance of female friendship.' Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!
