This week’s trip to the library resulted in my searching for African American fiction that mentions infertility. Information is great, but sometimes you just want to find a good story. That’s why we read these blogs, isn’t it?
Anyhoo, my search, both online as well as through the catalog, led me to only TWO stories that featured African American characters dealing with infertility. The first being HeatSeekers by Zane, which was listed as being in, but is NEVER there when I go (Darn you Oak Park Public Library OPAC!) And the second being Here and Now by Kimberla Lawson Roby. I put ALL the other books I was reading on pause, so that I could quickly finish up this story of two sisters.
It wasn’t until I was nearing the end of the book that I recalled my having read it years ago. The fact that I so quickly forgot the subplot of infertility, reminded me of how oblivious we are to infertility until we’ve encountered it ourselves. Which made this read all the more endearing to me.
The story centers around two sisters, Raquel and Marcella. Marcella has two children by a deadbeat father, and is pushing her way through the trials of minimum wage and single motherhood. Raquel, is a second-grade teacher, married to a wonderful husband, and going quickly into debt and solitude because of her infertility. The two couldn’t be more different. And in those ways…they were just alike.
For the purposes of this blog, I will focus on Raquel and her infertility.
First of all, I commend the author for doing her research on the medications and feelings of infertility because for the most part, she nailed them! She also did a great job of showing the role that miscarriage can play into the infertility world. This is something that many people tend to overlook. There was a sincere look at the emotional and physical strain that was afflicting not only Raquel, but her husband Kevin. She even made effort to note how annoying it can be when one partner is willing to have a child by any means neccesary and the other is has basically had enough.
Kevin and Raquel have spent the majority of their four years of marriage on the road to baby. While Kevin, (and most of the other people in her life), are supportive of Raquel, they are beginning to feel that her desire has become an obsession. One that is threatening her marriage. Spending hundreds on baby clothes before even being pregnant, devastation after repeated calls from the nurse to relay negative test results, and even the thoughts of worthlessness, are all not only read but felt while following Raquel’s journey.
I applaud the author for making Kevin a patient husband. It would be far too easy to create an angry and threatening charatcter from him, but instead the marriage of these two is primarily tested by Raquel. The selfishness of this character, whom I did want to identify with, was a bit lengthy. Her inability to SEE her husband over the desire to make her husband a father, was one that I did find eerily familiar. With regard to Raquel and Marcella, it would have been equally as cliche to allow these two women to dwell on “the grass is greener” syndrome. Instead, Ms. Roby found a way to make BOTH women find the same realization about valuing their own stations in life.
So, all that being said, and without telling too much of the book, if you have a lazy Saturday or a trip to the beach coming up, stop by the library and pick up Here and Now. It’s an oldie but definitely a goodie. The entire story was full of out-of-the-blue twists and yet some great familiarities.
Roby, Kimberla. Here and now. Kensington Pub Corp, 1999. Print.
In all, I rate Here and Now:
Omelet Worthy – Great lessons, engaging story, well-written, informative.
