Choosing You: Deciding to Have a Baby on My Own

By Alexandra Soiseth

Book Overview

Choosing You is the deeply honest memoir of one woman's decision to brave pregnancy and motherhood alone.

All her adult life, Alexandra Soiseth has wanted a husband, children, dogs and cats -- a busy, loving, home. But at thirty-nine, with no husband on the horizon, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

She googles for sperm.

Choosing You is Alexandra's memoir. With humor and heart, she shares the often gut-wrenching reality she faces in having a baby on her own: a mother and father who disapprove, friends who think she's crazy, a society that thinks she's selfish. But it is her struggle with weight and self image, possible infertility, and the terror of bringing a child into this world without a father that almost stops her from getting what she wants most -- a family.

Alexandra's story shows us all that with a little guts, a lot of love, and the internet, almost anything is possible.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580052223
• ISBN13: 9781580052221
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Seal Press (CA)
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Choosing Truth

I recently read a wonderful interview with the late Grace Paley. She said, "I struggle to be truthful to myself. I think that's what literature is about; it's the struggle for truth. It's the struggle for what you don't understand." These words came to me again and again as I read Alexandra Soieth's book because although it is a clear and focused work on the decision to have a baby, it also exhibits the mark of the best kind of writing: the author seeks, explores and celebrates truth. Honest, forthright and entirely readable, this book made me proud to be a woman. It captures all the fluctuations of self-esteem and self-love we face, all the courage and cowardice we experience, all the depth in the recognition of our power to make life. I am officially inspired.

A book that will stay with you

I found this book a page turner. As the mother of a young child myself, I couldn't wait to read the book and find out how the writer made the decision to have a baby on her own. What I learned about the author as a person made me care about her and made her decision that much more interesting. This book is compelling. I highly recommend it.

This Book Won't Disappoint You!!!

I don't remember the last time I stayed up all night reading because I couldn't put a book down, and then walked around bleary-eyed the next day thinking about it. Alexandra Soiseth's "Choosing You" is so beautifully written and so honest -- every parent should read it. I have two children who are older, but it brought back memories of the thrill and terror of deciding to have a child as if it were yesterday. This book won't disappoint you!!!

Compelling honesty

This fascinating and painfully honest book takes you on a journey with one brave woman as she "chooses" her child. As she tackles head-on the thorny problems surrounding such a choice ("googling for sperm"!) the reader goes with her. It's for everyone who wants children, who has children, who has decided against having children because the soul-searching and practical implications touch us all - men included. Highly recommended!

Wonderful, candid book - highly recommended!

I sat down several hours ago to start reading this book and could not put it down. As a single woman considering becoming a mother, I found Ms. Soiseth's book heartwarming, funny and marvelously honest. Many of the books on this subject that I have read seem to gloss over the "scary bits" - the doubt, the challenges, etc. Her story was a complete picture of the experience, in all its wonderful, scary, and ultimately joyful glory!