Cheryl E. Klein is a "failed perfectionist and successful hypochondriac" who had a hard time accepting that the world would not end when she was unable to have a baby. She writes with humor about things that would leave most people a sobbing puddle. But her self-deprecating, raw honesty is the beauty of the book. If all we saw were her tears, the book would be too impossibly maudlin to struggle through. As a reader, I felt like I understood what she went through as she navigated a series of disasters that brought her to consider the adventure of open adoption. ( )

As someone who doesn't want children, I was surprised to discover how personally engaged I was in this page-turner of a memoir. I cared about Klein's journey throughout and found myself rooting strongly for her to succeed in becoming a parent and kicking cancer's ass. So many memoirs fail to make you feel such deep empathy for the protagonist, and one of the key highlights was how well Klein guides her readers to that empathy through rich narrative, humorous self-takes, and clever pacing. A must read for anyone who's experienced hardship in their life. This book is relatable and worthwhile.

Cheryl Klein opens up with her deepest heartfelt feelings -- struggling to have a baby – in this memoir. She begins with the stress and anxiety she was facing. Her mom died from breast cancer in 2003. A relationship didn’t work out. And now she was trying to find someone from a dating site. There was hope. She found Cecilia who went by CC. She had dark brown hair, had a boyish gait, drank vodka and their parents went to the same high school. Turns out she and CC got married and the next step was to have a baby which was a challenge.

She described in detail what was involved with her infertility treatments. The regimen created great hope but also a lot of fear if it didn’t work. Every time she learned that one of her friends was pregnant, she turned into a “crybaby.” What she didn’t talk about was the cost of the treatments which could add up.

Then, she had to go through treatments for breast cancer with more understandable tears. “It felt more like I’d already died but somehow missed the train to the afterlife. Being stuck among the living felt wrong and torturous.” At this point, there was no baby and she had cancer. She said, “Some people learn the fundamental unfairness at a younger age than I did.” She had surgery and joined a support group. Next, the couple looked into adopting. It was another emotionally difficult part of their journey.

She writes a detailed chronicle of what she went through which could help others in understanding what is involved with specialized fertility services and also healing the body from breast cancer. In both cases, one of the key words was: therapy. Lots of it. After pages of ups and downs, the author presented the readers with a happy ending. ( )

Crybaby by Cheryl E. Klein is a real, page turning memoir of a life lived with happiness and heartache, to say the least. This is a story that needed to be told by the writer to show what it means to be a lesbian dealing with anxiety, depression, marriage problems, infertility in both herself and her wife, and the stress and struggle of adoption. I was in as much disbelief over the events in this book as Klein was when she lived them. I was never confused as Klein described everything honestly and clearly. I rooted for her and had to reassure myself that all this was past events. Cheryl E. Klein is a deft writer and I appreciate her for sharing her story publicly.

At first I couldn't stand the tone of this book, or the narrator. Cheryl Klein seemed like a wishy-washy, shallow, whiny crybaby, who just wanted the world to hand her a healthy pregnancy on a silver platter. I almost couldn't make it through the first fifty pages, but at some point past that I realized I was reading the book at a pretty good clip, and that my sympathies were slowly turning toward Cheryl as she struggled with IVF, miscarriages, separation from her wife, arguments with her family, breast cancer, removal of her ovaries, and the heartbreak of open adoption. When someone goes through so much, all in the pursuit of the life they wish to lead, you can't help but feel like maybe they should be crying, and you are heartened by the snarky humor they show through the tears. This book especially opened my eyes to the process behind open adoption, and the scams that Cheryl and her partner CC ran into along the way. As a Native person I'm extremely wary of adoption, but I loved hearing about a process that could go right, even if you run into heartbreak along the way.

I admit I was glad to get to the end of this book because it was a harrowing read. But something about Cheryl's refusal to be quiet, and something about the way she never stopped trying to bring her life to where she wanted it saved the book from being too depressing. ( )