Maybe Baby

August 1, 2004
The tensions and controversies surrounding gender-neutral parenting form the core of Darlington's quietly provocative debut. Former home-ec teacher Judy Glide doesn't understand why all her children drifted away from her: Henry gone to join a rock band, Carson to join a cult, Gretchen to somewhere in Chicago. None of them ever calls home. That is, not until Gretchen phones to declare that she's pregnant, filling Judy with dreams of homemade pink and blue baby outfits. But Judy is soon dealt a shocking blow: Gretchen and her partner, performance artist Ray, plan to raise their child in an underground gender-neutral community where children are brought up without a gender, without toys and wearing black clothing. Darlington carefully juxtaposes the futuristic, almost sci-fi, allure of this unorthodox community with the domestic details of the Glides' family dynamics, flipping back and forth between Judy's home in Fort Cloud, Wis., and bohemian Chicago. And she skillfully tracks how the unexpected development forces Judy and her husband, Rusty, to acknowledge the longstanding rift in their marriage and their still-painful disappointments in their children. Though the story has an earnest, activist feel to it (complete with ultra-optimistic ending), and the historical placement is a little shaky, this is a quirkily engaging suburban drama.

July 5, 2004
The tensions and controversies surrounding gender-neutral parenting form the core of Darlington's quietly provocative debut. Former home-ec teacher Judy Glide doesn't understand why all her children drifted away from her: Henry gone to join a rock band, Carson to join a cult, Gretchen to somewhere in Chicago. None of them ever calls home. That is, not until Gretchen phones to declare that she's pregnant, filling Judy with dreams of homemade pink and blue baby outfits. But Judy is soon dealt a shocking blow: Gretchen and her partner, performance artist Ray, plan to raise their child in an underground gender-neutral community where children are brought up without a gender, without toys and wearing black clothing. Darlington carefully juxtaposes the futuristic, almost sci-fi, allure of this unorthodox community with the domestic details of the Glides' family dynamics, flipping back and forth between Judy's home in Fort Cloud, Wis., and bohemian Chicago. And she skillfully tracks how the unexpected development forces Judy and her husband, Rusty, to acknowledge the longstanding rift in their marriage and their still-painful disappointments in their children. Though the story has an earnest, activist feel to it (complete with ultra-optimistic ending), and the historical placement is a little shaky, this is a quirkily engaging suburban drama.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2004
The Glide family, eccentric and dysfunctional, is led by father Rusty and mother Judy. Each of their three children chose to leave his and her bedrooms for the basement. Then the two sons moved out as soon as they were able and now live separate and unknown lives. Gretchen, the youngest, stayed long enough to graduate from college but is as much of a cipher as her brothers. The novel begins with Gretchen and her boyfriend in the basement bed, unbeknownst to her parents upstairs, in the process of conceiving a child, and the expectations brought by the coming baby provide the plot. It turns out that Gretchen and friend belong to a group that rejects gender definitions, so no one will be told the sex of the baby, and he/she will live an entirely gender-neutral life. Although it lacks charm, Darlington's tale is an interesting addition to the tradition of novels about eccentric families.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)