“Sometimes there is simply no pill or procedure, or anything else. Sometimes it’s just you and whatever or whomever you believe in trying to figure out how to get through the next moment.
I had a hard time coming to terms with the idea that we couldn’t just fix this. Would I really lose the baby? What was I willing to risk?” From Chapter 6, The Pregnant Pause, Knocked Down, by Aileen Weintraub.
Using words like heartfelt, hilarious and harrowing all in the same sentence seems an odd combination to describe a book. But “Knocked Down-A High Risk Memoir” is all those things.
Aileen Weintraub has it all together until she doesn’t…. Newly married and a recent transplant from Brooklyn to upstate New York, her pregnancy joy is deflated when she is forced into five months of bedrest by “monster fibroids.” Her only company is Satchie Red, her doggy companion and weekly visits from the UPS guy. Adding to the alone time is the circumstance of her husband building a new tractor business from the ground up while their house seems to falling down around her.
What to do? Making light of the situation while dealing with the very present memories of her father’s passing and the missing, broken parts in their relationship, Weintraub comes to terms triumphantly, albeit after traveling a l o n g bumpy road, to making peace with the past. Weaving her current challenging circumstances with those that often mirror her own upbringing, the echoes of her father’s advice supports her throughout.
You’ll need to get the book for yourself to reach its happy ending (sorry to give it away).
Caution: Do Not read in bed late at night like this reviewer did. I nearly startled my husband awake with the laugh/crying. If there was a six-star rating for this book, I’d give it six stars. The End.
((It should be noted there are f-bombs sprinkled into the text, and while ordinarily put off by such, this reader was not offended.))
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I have heard the term “bed rest” so many times before—an abstract idea about an abstract someone needing an abstract form of rest for abstract healing. KNOCKED DOWN by Aileen Weintraub changed all of that for me.Weintraub’s memoir is largely framed around the year she had a high-risk pregnancy and the havoc this brought her young marriage, her sense of self, her relationship to commitment, her understanding of her Jewish identity, and her relationship to her family—especially her deceased father. I talk a lot about how amazing memoir is as a genre. THIS IS WHY. I never hear stories like this. Rephrase that: I’ve never heard a story like this. Why? People get put on bed rest so often, pregnant women especially. Bam. Erased. This experience matters and, as Weintraub rightly points out, it is such a fuzzy zone in medical research that it really demands much more attention and understanding as a recommended course of action. Not wanting to threaten the life of her child, the narrator follows orders to stay in bed for months and months. Not only does the medical establishment describe her ailment as an “incompetent cervix” and a “hostile uterus” (who names these things?!), but late in the pregnancy one of her doctors has the audacity to say they weren’t sure the bed rest thing was necessary at all.“What did it mean, he thought I never needed to be on bed rest?” Weintraub writes. “Why was he so flippant about it? I wasn’t a statistic. You don’t stop another human being’s life for months and then say you didn’t have to go through that, but no biggie, right?” (194)Also: “I was disappointed in my doctor for not mentioning how psychologically strenuous bed rest would be. It’s a fact of life that people miscarry. But like bed rest itself, it doesn’t seem to hold a lot of weight out there in the world” (114).How does a narrator make a story about being stuck in bed day in and day out interesting and universal? Humor! Weintraub jokes pop on every page. The self-deprecation and humor take this story to the next level. This starts from literally page one, with the blurbs (her nervous mom wrote one! Ha!)Another aspect of this memoir I appreciated was the portrait of early marriage. My own memoir focused on this, so I have a natural interest, but I always appreciate memoirs that tell the full truth about marriage. Not “my partner is the best angel person ever” and not “my partner [usually an ex] was Satan incarnate.” I was really invested in this relationship and biting my nails at the hardship the two go through. I also resonated with so much of the tensions with religion/identity/community.Memoirs are incredible. Women’s stories like this one matter! I’m grateful I finally got to read this one, enjoying the story and also learning so much along the way.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022
I had a hard time coming to terms with the idea that we couldn’t just fix this. Would I really lose the baby? What was I willing to risk?” From Chapter 6, The Pregnant Pause, Knocked Down, by Aileen Weintraub.
Using words like heartfelt, hilarious and harrowing all in the same sentence seems an odd combination to describe a book. But “Knocked Down-A High Risk Memoir” is all those things.
Aileen Weintraub has it all together until she doesn’t…. Newly married and a recent transplant from Brooklyn to upstate New York, her pregnancy joy is deflated when she is forced into five months of bedrest by “monster fibroids.” Her only company is Satchie Red, her doggy companion and weekly visits from the UPS guy. Adding to the alone time is the circumstance of her husband building a new tractor business from the ground up while their house seems to falling down around her.
What to do? Making light of the situation while dealing with the very present memories of her father’s passing and the missing, broken parts in their relationship, Weintraub comes to terms triumphantly, albeit after traveling a l o n g bumpy road, to making peace with the past. Weaving her current challenging circumstances with those that often mirror her own upbringing, the echoes of her father’s advice supports her throughout.
You’ll need to get the book for yourself to reach its happy ending (sorry to give it away).
Caution: Do Not read in bed late at night like this reviewer did. I nearly startled my husband awake with the laugh/crying. If there was a six-star rating for this book, I’d give it six stars. The End.
((It should be noted there are f-bombs sprinkled into the text, and while ordinarily put off by such, this reader was not offended.))
Hilarious, Heartfelt & Harrowing Tale of Family Tension and Baby Joy
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022
“Sometimes there is simply no pill or procedure, or anything else. Sometimes it’s just you and whatever or whomever you believe in trying to figure out how to get through the next moment.Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022
I had a hard time coming to terms with the idea that we couldn’t just fix this. Would I really lose the baby? What was I willing to risk?” From Chapter 6, The Pregnant Pause, Knocked Down, by Aileen Weintraub.
Using words like heartfelt, hilarious and harrowing all in the same sentence seems an odd combination to describe a book. But “Knocked Down-A High Risk Memoir” is all those things.
Aileen Weintraub has it all together until she doesn’t…. Newly married and a recent transplant from Brooklyn to upstate New York, her pregnancy joy is deflated when she is forced into five months of bedrest by “monster fibroids.” Her only company is Satchie Red, her doggy companion and weekly visits from the UPS guy. Adding to the alone time is the circumstance of her husband building a new tractor business from the ground up while their house seems to falling down around her.
What to do? Making light of the situation while dealing with the very present memories of her father’s passing and the missing, broken parts in their relationship, Weintraub comes to terms triumphantly, albeit after traveling a l o n g bumpy road, to making peace with the past. Weaving her current challenging circumstances with those that often mirror her own upbringing, the echoes of her father’s advice supports her throughout.
You’ll need to get the book for yourself to reach its happy ending (sorry to give it away).
Caution: Do Not read in bed late at night like this reviewer did. I nearly startled my husband awake with the laugh/crying. If there was a six-star rating for this book, I’d give it six stars. The End.
((It should be noted there are f-bombs sprinkled into the text, and while ordinarily put off by such, this reader was not offended.))
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2022
Knocked Down is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read (again, I don’t read many memoirs so do with this what you will) and I was enthralled from beginning to end. It was introspective, honest, and relatable while also being laugh-out-loud funny and heartwarming.
As someone who is not Jewish, I appreciated the own-voices Jewish representation. I realized there is so much I didn’t know or understand so it was really enlightening!
Thank you so much Get Red PR for the gifted copy! All opinions are my own.
Laugh-out-loud funny while also introspective and relatable!
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2022
I do not read memoirs very often, but every once in a while I find one that just begs me to read it! As soon as I heard about Knocked Down: A High Risk Memoir, I was intrigued and I’m so glad I read it.Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2022
Knocked Down is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read (again, I don’t read many memoirs so do with this what you will) and I was enthralled from beginning to end. It was introspective, honest, and relatable while also being laugh-out-loud funny and heartwarming.
As someone who is not Jewish, I appreciated the own-voices Jewish representation. I realized there is so much I didn’t know or understand so it was really enlightening!
Thank you so much Get Red PR for the gifted copy! All opinions are my own.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
Holly Gerlach
Heartbreaking, hilarious, very entertaining
Reviewed in Canada on November 11, 2022