As I continue down my Tin House Books rabbit hole, I decided to read one of their newer titles that I heard a lot about Eleven Hours by Pamela Erens. The good news was that it is another fantastic and well written book under the Tin House banner. The bad news was that it is also an extremely heavy book about broken relationships.

The whole story takes place over the course of eleven hours as Lore, a single pregnant mother, is about to deliver her baby. By her side is her nurse Franckline, a tough yet caring person. Both women have been thrown together by happenstance, but both women are dealing with broken relationships and secrets.

Lore's story involves her friend Julia and her friend Asa. Asa and Julia were at one time childhood lovers and have been on and off lovers as adults too. Julia convinces Lore to date Asa. There is a broken triangle relationship between the three of them.

Franckline is pregnant, but has not told her significant other yet. She has had several miscarriages and keeps fearing the baby within is also dying. Her paranoia and fear has kept her from being truthful to her husband about this new baby.

It is also the story of these two women who have now been brought together. Franckline initially does not like Lore's attitude or demands, but grows to see that Lore is doing the best she can with the situation she is in. Lore doesn't enjoy Franckline's nature, but grows to see that Franckline is doing the best she can to take care of Lore and feels lost without Franckline in the room.

As stated, the whole book takes place during the contractions portion of the delivery of Lore's baby and is told as if it were a train of thought book. We sometimes jump into Lore's story and Lore's thoughts and at other times we are following Franckline. There is not break or any chapters to allow for such transitions. Mid page and a paragraph jump and we might be in a different woman's head. The entire book is a single chapter.

The structure makes the book a tad difficult to follow at times, but it also lends to the idea that thoughts are flowing constantly during downtime and when left alone. Lore while waiting for the next contraction in the room alone might have a memory of how she got into this situation. Fanckline while working at her desk would think about her situation, so it works on that level. Having the person jumps though, mid page, was difficult in a few locations.

This is not a feel good book. While there are certain movies that one should watch even though they are heavy dramas, the same is with books. This is a heavy book. These two women's lives are not perfect in any sense of the word. They are in situations they do not want to be in. They are filled with worries and doubts. I will not spoil the end, but it isn't an easy delivery for Lore. I read the ending in the morning before going to work and that was a huge mistake!

The book is so well written that the story keeps moving. We feel the pain Lore is in both physically and emotionally. We are with Franckline as she struggles with her world. These women are alive and breathing characters.

While it isn't a book I will be ready to read again any times soon, I gave this one 4 stars. ( )

Now if you're pregnant (especially w your 1st), don't read this. And as someone who's already had two, it was still a very emotional read. Lore arrives at the hospital, all alone, feeling like she's going to give birth at any second but she's just 3cm along. Her nurse Franckline is herself pregnant, something she wasn't expecting and something she worries about. Such lyrical writing as we follow these 2 women through labor, through their past ( )

The more I read, the less I liked it.

I didn't really want to spend more time with Lore, so I wasn't engaged and started noticing errors. She's a speech and language therapist, but got a four year degree (part of the plot). That specialty requires graduate study. At one point, the labor nurse grasps hands with an orderly when he enters the room. I expect hospital workers avoid shaking hands. They'd have to wash up afterwards. And seriously, a patient in labor is not allowed to stroll out of the ward and wander the hospital unaccompanied even for an extended near-dream sequence.

As it went on, the plot just seemed more contrived. Every character, well, every female character, had something unusual about them. Except for Annoying Nurse Carol who was just annoying. The men were cardboard. Oddly, this probably fails a reverse Bechdel test, because the men are only there to explain what the women do.

Finally, the ending is also "special", a rare occurrence. My wife went through something similar and it was much more calm and controlled than this description. For example, at one point, I noticed the nurse quietly moving furniture to make a clear path from her bed to the door of the room. That seems like a more telling moment than the things that happen in this book. ( )

This is a masterpiece. A recently separated woman, Lore, checks into the hospital alone to deliver her first baby. She is assisted by Haitian immigrant nurse, Franckline. This book is literally told in real time. It takes about eleven hours to read (I’m slow) and it is probably one of the few books where the present tense is clearly the right tense to use.

Erens skillfully weaves the two women’s stories together. We glide from one perspective to the other, and in those pauses between contractions we learn the backstories of both women. Their stories are fascinating and it must have been tempting to make this a longer book with more details on the lives of both women. But this is a story of a delivery.

I’m sure that this will find a large audience of women readers. I hope that men will read it too. It’s an action story. The tension and drama are almost unbearable. When Lore got to eight centimeters there was no way I could put the book down until I was finished.

I would give this book six stars if I could.
( )

Read from June 20 to 30, 2016

I would've finished this five days ago had the technical complication of my digital library book being removed from my iPad despite me trying to trick the system and turn off wifi. Had I finished it five days ago when I was completely wrapped up in the lives of Lore and Franckline I would've appreciated the last dozen pages more. Alas, I had to wait and anticipate what was going to happen next and that is never good. Expectations are raised. The longing makes no book better.

I was invested in the characters initially (well...it took a little while), but I felt like I never got enough of their story. This is very much a snapshot, a moment, an experience between two women -- a nurse and her charge. Ultimately this is a good start to a longer story that I wish the author would've told. ( )