Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brutally honest, 13 May 2005
This book has been one of the most honest pieces of work I have ever read. Her journey is painful and terrifying and this comes through clearly in her writing. I am fortunate not to have been through this myself, but I think it serves in it's purpose to highlight a problem that affects so many people today. I applaud her for her honesty and encourage everyone, not just women, to read this.
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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A welcome and open account of postnatal depression, 27 Jun 2005
Having a baby is supposed to be the happiest time in a woman's life. Yet not much is said about the potential problems that go with the process, eg infertility, a traumatic birth and labour and settling down to life with a newborn. Media ads portray childbirth and parenting through rose-tinted glasses, with laughing smiley babies and relaxed mummies and daddies. Many parenting magazines go along with this, insisting that if you take the right nutritional supplements, give up smoking, drinking etc that conceiving is a breeze, that if you do yoga throughout pregnancy you can squat and push a baby out in minutes, etc. When things don't go to plan, as they often don't, women can be left feeling like failures. This was the case with Brooke Shields who, having overcome fertility problems and a traumatic miscarriage, finally became pregnant with her daughter several years back. She was over the moon and had a wonderful pregnancy ... until labour began and complications meant she not only had to have an emergency C section but she also was in danger of having to have a hysterectomy because of postpartum haemorrhage. Life with her daughter began in the worst possible circumstances and Brooke was hit strongly and suddenly by postnatal depression (PND) although she didn't realise it at the time. She was terrified of being left alone with her daughter and craved solitude - spending ages every day in a scalding hot shower, crying to get away from her reality. This is one side of parenting that is never shown by the media. It is as if the truth has to be hidden from women, which makes the situation worse as it only increases feelings of isolation and failure. Brooke Shield's book will be of comfort to any woman currently battling PND and interesting for anyone, like me, who has been through it alone. Thank God someone has written so honestly and movingly about the condition. Her style is personal, warm and down-to-earth and she speaks candidly yet calmly about her illness - there is no excessive hyperbole or sentiment, which makes her story hit home even stronger. The fact that a celebrity such as Brooke has dared to write another truth about childbirth and parenting will help break down some of the unrealistic pictures presented to women. Perhaps one of the most important message that comes from this book is Brooke's insistence that by seeking help of any form you are not weak or a failure. This is a wonderful and touching book - highly recommended.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rainy days, 27 Sep 2005
Despite the ill-informed jibes of people like Tom Cruise, clinical depression is a terrible and widespread problem. The best description I've heard yet is that it's a cancer of the soul. And of all the types, postpartum depression is perhaps the most neglected -- some people don't even know it exists, let alone how it should be treated.
That is the heart of Brooke Shields' memoir "Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression." This is not a glitzy showbiz autobiography, but a wrenching look at one woman's struggle to have a baby, and then to regain her own happiness.
In 2001, Shields married producer/writer Chris Henchy, and soon they were trying for a baby. But because of cervical scarring, getting pregnant was difficult, and despite all the people prattling about adoption and relaxation, Shields and Henchy tried in vitro fertilization (IVF), and after a traumatic miscarriage, finally had a baby girl.
But baby Rowan was less than a day old when Shields began feeling depression and anxiety attacks. Initially she chalked this up to the difficult C-section birth and the newness of the experience, but her feelings continued over the months that followed. Though she tried to tackle her postpartum depression by herself, the help of friends and the drug Paxil were what brought her back out of the pit.
The first fifty pages of "Down Came the Rain" make it seem like this will be an up-and-down story, with generous amounts of self-deprecating humour. Shields lightens the mood with humour and a willingness to reveal her unflattering or goofy thoughts, such as thinking about those chest-bursting scenes from "Alien" during a C-section.
But after that, a grimmer tone takes over the book. Shields' detailed descriptions of her torment, doubts and increasingly deteriorated life are almost harrowing, as well as her description of how she couldn't even connect with her newborn daughter. It's exhilarating when she finally beats the postpartum depression and relearns how to enjoy herself with her husband and child.
An obvious motive is sprinkled through the story: Anyone who finds themselves in a similar position should get help, and get it right away. The afterword is basically devoted to that, and includes some phone numbers and websites to check out. Kudos to Shields for not keeping it just about her, but about all women with that problem.
Perhaps the book is best summed up by the only two photographs of Shields. On the cover, we see her looking sad and lonely. But by the end of the book (specifically, the back flap), she's joyously kissing her smiling daughter.
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