{"id":4084,"date":"2023-02-16T01:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T06:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/?p=4084"},"modified":"2024-06-13T21:46:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T01:46:45","slug":"book-graceful-burdens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-graceful-burdens\/","title":{"rendered":"Graceful Burdens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"book-522\" class=\"bdb-book-info\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_gracefulburdens.png?fit=250%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Graceful Burdens\" class=\"alignright\"\/><strong>Title:<\/strong> Graceful Burdens<br \/><strong>Author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/author\/roxane-gay\/\">Roxane Gay<\/a><br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/series\/out-of-line\/\">Out of Line #2<\/a><br \/><strong>First Published:<\/strong> <span content=\"2020-09-01\">September 1, 2020<\/span><br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/publisher\/amazon-original-stories\/\">Amazon Original Stories<\/a><br \/><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 24<br \/><strong>Genre:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/dystopia\/\">Dystopia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/short-stories\/\">Short Stories<\/a><br \/><strong>Format:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/format\/ebook\/\">Ebook<\/a><br \/><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/source\/prime-reading\/\">Prime Reading<\/a><br \/><strong>Rating:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/rating\/4\/\"><span class=\"bdb-font-awesome-star-wrap\"><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"far fa-star\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/55034954-graceful-burdens\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/addtogoodreads.png?ssl=1\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><br \/><br \/><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> <p>From New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay comes an unforgettable tale of nightmarish bureaucracy in which genetic profiling has redefined the \u201cunfit mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A trip to the library prompts one woman to question her fate in this galvanizing short story. For a woman like Hadley, deemed not acceptable to procreate, there\u2019s only one recourse. Unlicensed for motherhood, she can alleviate her grief and frustration at a \u201cbaby library,\u201d where a curiously endless supply of infants is available for a two-week loan. But the borrowed life that serves as a temporary balm leads to a journey of self-discovery that will forever change the direction of Hadley\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<strong>Get the Book:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Bp1W0u\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon<\/a>\r\n<hr \/><\/div>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Review\",\n\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2023-02-16T06:00:22+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\"description\": \"Graceful Burdens\",\n\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Radical Dreamer\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-graceful-burdens\\\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Graceful Burdens\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"author\": [\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Roxane Gay\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-database\\\/author\\\/roxane-gay\\\/\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t],\n\t\t\t\t\t\"isbn\": \"\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"numberOfPages\": 24,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Amazon Original Stories\"\t\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\t\"image\": \"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/book_gracefulburdens.png?fit=250%2C375&ssl=1\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2020-09-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.goodreads.com\\\/book\\\/show\\\/55034954-graceful-burdens\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"genre\": \"Dystopia\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Jamie\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/\"\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"ratingValue\": 4,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"bestRating\": 5\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<h2>Review<\/h2>\n<p>One of the biggest decisions a woman can ever make in her life is the choice of whether or not they want to bear children. Whether or not a woman decides to have a child has social consequences: her marriage partner(s), her career and education options, what social circles she will likely gravitate to, and how other people will view her; society places a lot of pressure on women to make this choice. Though it is a personal choice, society will always weigh in on this choice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Graceful Burdens<\/strong> takes this choice away from women and dares to ask the reader who is truly free in a world where eugenics dictates who can and cannot procreate. This short packs a punch and I was utterly engaged from the first page. There is so much untapped potential and the story could have easily been a full-length novel. Hadley and Seraphina are both unhappy characters that present unique viewpoints. The concept of a baby library to soothe the ache of unlicensed women is an interesting concept that I feel could easily be expanded upon. Both the characters and the plot feel cut short, but I enjoyed the story regardless, it&#8217;s a strong story that fans of feminist science fiction will easily enjoy.<\/p>\n<h2>Quote<\/h2>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cDon&#8217;t ever speak such <strong>heresy<\/strong> again. You are lucky enough to have a pristine genetic profile. You have a <strong>duty<\/strong>, and <em>you will<\/em> fulfill it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<h2>Content Warnings<\/h2>\n<span class=\"ubb-spoiler\"><a class=\"ubb-view-spoil\">View Spoiler &raquo;<\/a><span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"ubb-thespoil\">Sexism <a class=\"ubb-hide-spoil\" style=\"cursor: hand; cursor: pointer;\">&laquo; Hide Spoiler<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ubb-about-author\">\n<h3>About Roxane Gay<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_roxanegay.png?fit=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft ubb-about-author-photo\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_roxanegay.png?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_roxanegay.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_roxanegay.png?resize=75%2C75&amp;ssl=1 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Roxane Gay\u2019s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney\u2019s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ubb-author-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/roxanegay.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rgay\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/roxanegay74\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/3360355.Roxane_Gay\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Goodreads<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3XOnY4a\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review One of the biggest decisions a woman can ever make in her life is the choice of whether or not they want to bear children. Whether or not a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[844,1795],"book-author":[1694],"book-illustrator":[],"book-series":[],"book-publisher":[],"book-genre":[],"book-source":[],"book-format":[],"class_list":["post-4084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-black-literature","tag-haitian-american-literature","book-author-roxane-gay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_gracefulburdens-header.png?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4084"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18680,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084\/revisions\/18680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-author?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-illustrator?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-series?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-publisher?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-genre?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-source?post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"book-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-format?post=4084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}