Kimberly Stuart, Balancing Act

Balancing Act

Kimberly Stuart

Navpress, Sep 2006, $12.99

ISBN: 1600060765

Following steak and stitches at that gourmet spot the "birth suite" of St. John's Hospital to celebrate her giving birth to a girl, Springdale High School Spanish school teacher Heidi Elliott returns home to raise her infant with her spouse of five years Jake, owner of Elliot Paints. Six months later Heidi is near a breakdown from the demands of motherhood, teaching, neighborhood, and a few other hoods. Nothing seems the way it was before the birth of baby Nora.

Nora is 24/7 smelly no matter how hard Heidi tries to keep her clean for a nanosecond. Meals are late and half cooked while Heidi drops her subscription to National Geographic as she compares her pathetic helplessness to mothers in the Amazon. At work, substitute teacher Ms. Stillwell feels like a failure, Jake seems to spend more time with his new client Jana van Fleet, and Heidi's former live in lover Ben Cooper has moved into the neighborhood while the new parents have no sex life and less and less of a relationship between them. A desperate Heidi joins the Mom's Group where she meets strong females ready to devour outsiders (males and females with no offspring)

This is an interesting look at how much having a baby nukes the lifestyles of the parents. The delightful character study centers on mostly Heidi's woes as she finds her world off kilter since giving birth. Teaching is not the same as her students wonder if her humor was removed along with the placenta. Jake is not the same as he prefers time at work over time with his two special girls. Finally Ben is not the same man she remembers though he remains more than just a distraction. Readers especially working mothers will appreciate this well written deep look at a woman's Balancing Act failures.

Harriet Klausner