Expectation: The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year

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Here are five fiction books I think every woman should read in her twenties, and if you’re past that, read them anyway, because they’re excellent! 1. Expectation - Anna Hope The linoleum is peeling and the carpets are stained, but these things don’t matter when a house is so loved. The intended message, it seems to me, is as follows: every first-time mother goes through what Cate was going through in the first few chapters of Expectation, but that's no reason to deny yourself the unparalleled joy of having kids. Perhaps this is a narrative that’s been done before – but I doubt any forerunners spoke so powerfully from personal experience. I need not rattle off in detail the spiel of the pressures faced by modern women; the expectation to juggle marriage, motherhood, a high-flying career, adhere to beauty standards etc. What is original in Hope’s approach is the intimate and yet dispassionate elegy to what might have been. As each woman longs for what the others seemingly possess, will their bonds of friendship sustain them in this liminal phase of their lives—or will their envy and desire tear them apart?” - Expectation 2. Beautiful World, Where Are You? - Sally Rooney

Expectation by Anna Hope - Fantastic Fiction Expectation by Anna Hope - Fantastic Fiction

So this novel is a bit of a bold choice as the characters are already leaving their twenties. But this will be a recurring theme on this list, as I think a lot of the lessons of our twenties are learned too late, so by reading their reflections, you can aim to learn the same lessons a little sooner.Cate is ravaged by new motherhood: both by sleep deprivation and the weight of maternal expectation. Subjected to the interference of an overbearing mother-in-law and the relentless demands of a young baby, her relationship with her partner, Sam, is increasingly distant: “This is the pattern of their evenings. A little passive-aggressive banter and then separate computers on separate chairs.” Beautiful and unattached, Lissa is re-evaluating what it means to be an actress in her thirties. While she fiercely resists convention, she’s lonely. A chance encounter in the British Library with Nathan has her wondering if she missed her best chance at love when she introduced him to Hannah. I love discovering lists about which books to read, as I’m always looking for something new to read. I’m not a reading-monogamist, I like to try new things and often, and I’ll never commit to just one genre. So these lists ensure that my bookshelf is always stuffed full and that I never have to think too hard about where I’ll find my next book-fix. The only issue with a lot of these lists is that they’re always non-fiction books. When they recommend which books women should read or people in their twenties, they consistently mention non-fiction titles, without a novel in sight. So it turns out that the line I quoted earlier, a line I read as sarcastic - nothing beats Hannah's pain - was in fact meant sincerely. According to this book, there really is nothing worse than being childless, and it's Lissa who deserves our pity in the end. It's Lissa who missed out, Lissa who made the wrong choice, Lissa who gets left behind while the other two holiday together in France.

Expectation | Anna Hope | Review | Swirl and Thread Expectation | Anna Hope | Review | Swirl and Thread

Fast forward to 2010 and life is very, very different. The weight of societal expectations has these women caught in a loop of success, fertility and motherhood. All 3 seem lost and dissociated from who they were and want they wanted from life. It's a disconnetion rather than a dissatisfaction, as though in their own way, the goals that all three chased have led them to a place that they feel lost in. Nathan reached a breaking point and told Hannah that he loved her but he just couldn’t do the IVF treatments any longer. Ultimately, the novel’s message is a simple one: life is tough and we will often make mistakes and compromises, but we just do the best we can and try to be there for each other. The specific plot twists are slightly predictable, a few threads aren’t investigated as fully as they might be (Cate’s history with Lucy, chiefly) and I didn’t always feel as close to the main characters as I wanted to – first-person narration might have been better for creating that intimacy. My favorite relationship / subplot was Lissa and her mother. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her. Successful Hannah, married to Nathan would kill to be in Cate's shoes as she undertakes another round of IVF. Her expectation of being able to get pregnant has been cruelly dashed and her marriage is reduced to her ability to conceive, this need has become all consuming.Der Originaltitel von "Was wir sind" lautet "Expectation" - und nichts könnte besser zu diesem Roman passen! Es geht nämlich genau darum: Um die Erwartungen, die wir selbst, unsere Partner*innen, unsere Freund*innen, unsere Mitmenschen, die Gesellschaft an uns stellen. Wir sind umgeben von Erwartungshaltungen, manche erfüllen wir, anderen werden wir nicht gerecht und können das auch gar nicht. Anna Hopes Roman, übersetzt von Eva Bonné, greift dieses Erwartungs-Motiv auf ganz eindringliche Weise auf, sie lässt uns Lesende ihren drei Protagonistinnen sehr, sehr nahe kommen und schafft Figuren, mit denen wir uns auf ganz unterschiedliche Weisen identifizieren können.

Expectation by Anna Hope | Goodreads Expectation by Anna Hope | Goodreads

In her first year of motherhood after an unplanned pregnancy, Cate is constantly exhausted, spiraling into self-doubt and postpartum anxiety. Her husband Sam seems oblivious, but maybe she’d prefer he remain in the dark. How can she admit the unthinkable—that she misses her freedom? Beautifully observed study of female friendship and a moving account of the collision between aspiration and reality' DAILY MAIL MUST-READ Expectation is a beautifully written tale about the ups and downs of female friendship. Truthful, vivid and absorbing, this is a novel which is easy to get lost in. Which brings me to the second reason I'm in the one percent. This is a book with two themes: babies (having them, not having them, difficulty having them) and the tension between motherhood and career. Wow. Groundbreaking. It wouldn't be interesting even if Hope had something new to say on the subject, which she definitively does not. She throws some half-hearted activism plot points into the mix, presumably to earn the title quote of 'what happened to the women we were supposed to become?' Can't tell you, because I can't identify with any of the characters at any age.The first is Hannah. Her friends envy her successful London life, complete with a well-paying job and a husband. However, as she desperately struggles for a baby through a succession of failed IVF treatments, she is far from content. Enter Cate, Hannah’s childhood best friend. Despite having exactly what her friend wants, motherhood has left her feeling desolate and disillusioned. It has led to sleep deprivation, a move to Canterbury away from her friends, and ever-growing distance between herself and husband Sam. Finally, Lissa completes the trio, Hannah’s friend from university. She is a single actress who once had high hopes for her career, that have sadly whittled away with age. Let's start with the timeline in the blurb. It's supposed to be 'ten years later'. But Cate spends her early twenties in activism in Brighton. At thirty-three, she marries a man who impregnates her within three months of their meeting. Hannah is with her husband thirteen years by age of thirty-six. She appears to be thirty-six at the same time that Cate is thirty-three. Lissa is in a long-term relationship for about the same length of time. So Hope is saying that two women in their late twenties, who are both with partners about five or six years, move into a house-share instead? That can last - in the book's timeline - maybe one or two years, but this is their golden time?