“A powerful exploration of motherhood and feminism… this novel will have readers examining their own ‘what-ifs.’” — Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of Everything After “[An] inventive novel about love, loss, identity, and compromise.”—Woman's Day “Delves deep into love, motherhood, and the complicated dance that is navigating the world as a woman.” — Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
A deeply moving novel about a woman who thought she never wanted to be a mother—and the many ways that life can surprise us
Rose Napolitano is fighting with her husband, Luke, about prenatal vitamins. She promised she’d take them, but didn’t. He promised before they got married that he’d never want children, but now he’s changed his mind. Their marriage has come to rest on this one question: Can Rose find it in herself to become a mother? Rose is a successful professor and academic. She's never wanted to have a child. The fight ends, and with it their marriage.
But then, Rose has a fight with Luke about the vitamins—again. This time the fight goes slightly differently, and so does Rose’s future as she grapples with whether she can indeed give up the one thing she thought she knew about herself. Can she reimagine her life in a completely new way? That reimagining plays out again and again in each of Rose’s nine lives, just as it does for each of us as we grow into adulthood. What are the consequences of our biggest choices? How would life change if we let go of our preconceived ideas of ourselves and became someone completely new? Rose Napolitano’s experience of choosing and then choosing again shows us in an utterly compelling way what it means, literally, to reinvent a life and, sometimes, become a different kind of woman than we ever imagined.
A stunning novel about love, loss, betrayal, divorce, death, a woman’s career and her identity, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is about finding one’s way into a future that wasn't the future one planned, and the ways that fate intercedes when we least expect it.
4.5 stars and rounding up. This is a great book for a book club discussion. The focus of the book is whether or not having a baby, will it save a marriage, end a marriage, or create resentment. Rose does not want kids and this book takes you down 9 different lives depending on the decisions that Rose makes. Very thought provoking on what it means to be a mother, society’s expectations and what happens when one partner changes their mind on something as important as wanting children.
This pulled me in from the beginning and kept me interested all the way to the end. For those that don’t like jumping timelines, this may not be one for you as it did get confusing trying to remember which Rose made which decisions but I just kept reading and it didn’t bother me.
