DOUBLE OUT AND BACK Review - Lisa Leibow

DOUBLE OUT AND BACK by Lisa Leibow is a definite must read for women, especially mothers and those trying to become mothers. Taking a look at infertility and the societal pressure surrounding families and parenthood, Leibow gives us a beautiful and compelling story. Even though she's working with a sensitive topic, Leibow does so with amazing grace and sincerity. I highly recommend this book as I, myself, loved it.

Double Out and Back by Lisa Leibow
Publisher: Red Rose Publishing
Pages: 496 (eBook)
ISBN +13: 9781604353655
My Recommended Age Group: Older Young Adult to Adult
Released: August 13, 2009
Other work: Published Works

From Red Rose Publishing:

Not every woman who rides the fertility treatment roller coaster winds up like Octomom!

Who will find friends, family, and fertility?

Three women's lives are intricately intertwined, as Amelia Schwartz and Summer Curtis struggle with the complex dynamics of intrafamily embryo adoption, and Chandy Markum strives to make her patients' dreams a reality.

After more than a decade, of mourning her parents' deaths, anal-retentive Amelia Schwartz decides to take control of her life, pursuing single motherhood via embryo adoption. While her fertility doctor, Chandy, is preoccupied with the destruction of the cosmopolitan Cape Town of her youth and her first love in apartheid-torn South Africa, believing all is lost, her niece, a young, married, overachieving attorney Summer Curtis, juggles zealous career ambitions, demanding bosses, and friction with her husband over family and fertility issues. They must confront the painful reality that, no matter what technology humans devise to manipulate reproduction, prolong life, and construct family units, they have not yet mastered control over their beginnings and endings.

Thrown all into this is one story that can make or break. Are you up to it?

My thoughts:

There really is nothing better than finding a great book and I am glad to say that DOUBLE OUT AND BACK met that for me. This was a lovely read and one that I'm sure I will revisit often.

In DOUBLE OUT AND BACK, we get to visit Summer and Amelia as they make some reproductive and family planning choices. Chandy is the doctor whose mission in life is to help women achieve their dreams of motherhood. Reproductive technologies are becoming more and more complex, allowing many women to attain motherhood that would not have been able to without that help. Although the technology is there to help, many people don't look highly upon women that either choose to or need to use it. Leibow gives us a look into society and the images surrounding reproductive technology while at the same time giving us a look into the minds of each of the women we follow.

That was probably my favorite aspect of the book: being able to see how society saw reproductive technology while at the same time seeing how it affected the women involved with it. Leibow's book is so close to reality for many women that I have a hard time seeing how people could not be affected by her writing. I found her story captivating and at times even a little addicting. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, tension makes a book. The entire premise of Leibow's book is already full of tension, but she goes a few steps beyond and sprinkles tension throughout the pages of DOUBLE OUT AND BACK, creating a book that was seriously hard to put down. I would find myself finishing one chapter and saying, "Okay, time to go to bed." The next think I know, I'm walking upstairs to go pass out and I'm reading while I'm walking. It takes a truly great book to risk life and limb in order to not miss a single moment.

Leibow's character development was superb. In a story like this, where the people really make the story, character development is key. Without it, we have a good retelling of an interesting idea, but not something that's going to move people or instill some sort of emotion in them. Leibow worked this wonderfully. Not only do we get to see the emotional toll on both Amelia and Summer, but we get a good look at Chandy's story as well. Each character has their own background and special kick that makes them unique while Leibow is still able to pull the characters together and create a cohesive story out of them.

The last thing that I really need to mention about DOUBLE OUT AND BACK is the writing style. I found DOUBLE OUT AND BACK very easy to read and follow along with. Some of my favorite books would not be classified as easy to read although the stories are superb. It's obvious that Leibow put a lot of time and energy into making DOUBLE OUT AND BACK the best book that it could be. I was glad that in a book full of emotional strains and stresses I didn't have to fight with the words to journey along in the story. Instead, it was more like floating along quite fluidly across the pages as I got the chance to have an adventure with the characters.

Writing: 9
Interest: 10
Passion: 10
Originality: 10
Characters: 10
Pace: 9
Overall: 58/60 - A

Book Cover: 2/3

DOUBLE OUT AND BACK was a wonderful book and would be great for a variety of readers. With current controversy, relationship issues and a fair amount of drama, this is a story that brings entertainment as well as an emotional roller coaster. I recommend this to anyone looking for something to curl up with and any woman curious about the workings of life.