Intimate and honest look at a mother’s struggle with post-partum depression and anxiety. In this respect it is quite good, it doesn’t shy away from the worst aspects and the worst thoughts that can cross a new mother’s mind. The mixed emotions and loss of identity the result from parenthood are the main focus, and they are not treated as shameful but as something which should be worked through patiently.

My issue is with the level of exposition. The reader is not given much to figure out for themselves, with every little detail laid out as clearly as possible at every opportunity. For example, the narrator often simply tells us her feelings—literally ‘I am disappointed’—sometimes this is fine, sometimes it feels redundant. 

The narrative is split between the post-partum period, the ~year before ‘Button’ is born, and ‘letters’ to Button from that year. These segments are broken up at times by search histories, which are used as another form of exposition to tell the reader that the character is experiencing post-partum depression/anxiety, and to repeat other details discussed immediately prior. Personally I feel the pace would have been better with a higher page count and a more integrated exposition, or cutting it out entirely.

In all, its strength is in its thematic focus. The author succeeds in showing us the narrator’s emotional journey through post-partum in both honest depictions and subtle changes in the writing style—I only wish the changes had not occurred at the very end, and that this journey had been less padded with attempts to ensure the reader knew *exactly* what the author meant at any given moment.

***Note on the content warnings:

Most of what I have added is based on the intrusive thoughts the narrator has regarding harming her baby, ways her baby may be harmed, the future, and one instance of paranoia her husband might assault the child. The ‘Graphic’ ones are labelled as such due to their frequency more than actual detail. ‘Minor’ are brought up only once. And the Abandonment relates to the narrators desire to run away.

 really loved this book. it was unflinching and gruesome, yet the final chapter was so hopeful. I read a review for this that said you shouldn't read this if you want to be a mother, and I think that's the mindset that so negatively impacts mothers who are struggling postpartum. there are elements of speculative fiction in this book, but at its roots it's a depiction of postpartum OCD. To claim that this will ruin your idea of motherhood simply rejects the experiences of actual mothers. great book.

I’ve never read such a hyper-realistic story that felt so much like horror.