Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine
Sourcebooks Landmark (August 2023)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Welcome to pregnancy. As you grow your bundle of joy, you’ll experience discomfort. That’s just part of it.
But why?
In Delicate Condition, Danielle Valentine mounds a tower of dread with every dismissive doctor and sacrifice Anna makes for her child, all before she’s pregnant. Early on, this book reminded me of Ira Levine’s Rosemary’s Baby, where the spouse, neighbors, and doctors view the woman more as a vessel than a person. There’s a simplicity in how Valentine conveys this, so familiar, yet still so horrific. Misogyny needs no ghost. Gaslighting needs no demon.Continue Reading
