REPRODUCTION

Stacey Glemboski's forthright yet intimate performance gives this quiet novel the immediacy of a memoir. The narrator, a novelist, wrestles with her feelings about pregnancy, birth, motherhood, and womanhood as she attempts to write a novel about Mary Shelley. Frustrated with her progress on it, she decides instead to write about an old friend's surreal experience of pregnancy. Glemboski's measured narration is wistful and soft, though she becomes animated and agitated during particularly emotional scenes, highlighting the protagonist's inner turmoil. This genre-blending book is full of challenging questions about bodily autonomy, art, choice, and the ways that history shapes lives. Glemboski is the perfect guide through a moving, eerie, contemplative listen. L.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2023]