The Growing Season

Our Review

The Growing Season sounded like it had the potential to be an interesting read but the reality was a bit of a disappointment.

A company named FullLife provides people with the opportunity to have a baby outside of traditional methods. The embryo is placed inside a pouch which exists outside of the body. These pouches mean that more options are available than just the traditional family – homosexual, one parent, single males even.

The pouch also provides an opportunity to rid society of the traditional division of labour and gender inequalities. Men and women can share carrying the pouch meaning that men and women are both able to work and take care of the baby during pregnancy.

The idea of the pouches was equality for all and a birth that was free of the risks of stillbirth and other complications.

At least that is the idea.

Then Eva and Piotr separately stumble across a secret, one that FullLife are trying to keep hidden. The secret behind why they are suddenly beginning to promote natural birth.

The Growing Season was a bit disjointed at times and felt it didn’t flow as well as some multi-narrative novels do. Also, personally I didn’t feel any sense of urgency at all to get through the book. The characters weren’t that interesting to me.

Unusually for me I was more interested in the shared past between Eva and Piotr than other elements of the plot.

The first description of the pouches gave me a bit of a jolt, particularly the idea of designer pouches.

“A couple walked past, the man’s hand cupped affectionately – though not protectively – around the curve of their unborn child. Five months, Eva thought, perhaps six. Enough that the pouch looked full but comfortable. Very comfortable, she knew. They had chosen a winter cover of fluffy red fleece. Christmassy. Festive. The last few years had been all about the accessories.”

Eva has never agreed with FullLife and spends her time campaigning for natural birth feeling that the pain of childbirth should be celebrated because it shows women’s strength. She knows something is wrong when FullLife suddenly start promoting natural births so she begins to investigate by going to one of her mother’s old contacts there.

Piotr stumbles on his own aspect of the secret whilst reporting on the soon-to-give-birth granddaughter of the first woman to give birth using a pouch.

One thing I liked about The Growing Season was the way the author tried to show a balance of arguments for both natural and Fulllife births.

One important issue she raised in The Growing Season was the way people have a tendency to blame women if they have a miscarriage or still birth. This is outlined in the quote below:

“There were all these rules, you-know pregnant women had to eat certain things, sleep a certain way, avoid pain relief, and if something went wrong…”

The main point of my review though is that although it was readable I was expecting there to be a little bit more oomph to it. 

Our Final Rating...

Wed, 13th September 2017