By Kaylie Seed
Content warning: multiple miscarriages, infertility, premature birth, graphic descriptions
Reviewing a memoir as intimate and vulnerable as A Womb in the Shape of a Heart is not an easy task. Joanne Gallant put her life out into the world for others to read and that is something that I commend wholeheartedly, especially when it is about a topic that can be seen as taboo and hush-hush. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, approximately 16% (or 1 in 6) couples in Canada experience infertility, and yet infertility is something that we choose not to discuss. In its place we teach youth that intercourse always results in a baby; oh, how wrong this narrative is.
Gallant has chronicled her journey with infertility—which included multiple miscarriages, various diagnoses, and ultimately a son whom she loves with every fibre of her being. A Womb in the Shape of a Heart is raw, vulnerable, emotional, and real. Gallant takes her own story and makes it something that others who have struggled with infertility and experienced miscarriages will find solace in. By putting her story out into the world, Gallant is attempting to normalize infertility and its struggles, and she does this well. Gallant puts everything on display in A Womb in the Shape of a Heart by going into extensive detail of the emotions and physical feelings she felt throughout this journey.
Gallant’s prose flows smoothly, making this memoir one where the reader feels as if they are right beside her through every moment. Gallant is unafraid to dig into the gritty details and to evoke a reaction from the reader. These raw and emotional parts of A Womb in the Shape of a Heart are meant to make the reader feel uncomfortable because infertility is a fact of life we don’t often get a glimpse into. A Womb in the Shape of a Heartis not an easy read but it is a necessary read that can help break down the stigma that, sadly, surrounds infertility. Gallant clearly set out to make an impact and an impact she made. I hope to see more of her writing in the future and I thank her for putting her journey out into the world; she is helping more people than she knows.
Thank you to Nimbus Publishing for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
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