cover image Rockabye: From Wild to Child

Rockabye: From Wild to Child

Rebecca Woolf, . . Seal, $15.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-1-58005-232-0

Woolf's awkwardly puerile memoir of pregnancy and early motherhood dives between partying and feeling guilty. Stunned by the news of her pregnancy at age 23, the author, a freelance writer and native of the San Diego suburbs, was unmarried at the time, living alone with two dogs and fond of drinking and smoking all night with her friends. The pregnancy takes her and Hal, the man she's been dating for four months, by surprise: are they having this baby and should they move in with each other? Eventually they moved into the “Valley” and braced themselves for the baby, a boy, Archer. They ended up marrying in Las Vegas and growing closer despite frequent fights. When Archer was slow to crawl and to speak, the author grudgingly took him to specialists (not wanting to acknowledge he was less than perfect), and speech therapy was prescribed. Yet Woolf missed her freedom, and while she demonstrates her unconditional love for her boy, even publishing intimate letters she wrote him on the anniversary of his birth, she sheds humor on her experience (“I have agreed to put Archer in speech therapy... he should probably know some English if he plans on doing anything extraordinary for America”). (Apr.)