✨️Review✨️
Television For Women: by Danit Brown
6/5 🌙's
ARC release date June 2025

Overview: Estie isn’t sure she likes being eight months pregnant. She isn’t even sure she likes her husband anymore, especially after he hid that he’s been fired from his job—just in time for parenthood. Goodbye upward mobility! Goodbye life as Estie imagined it! Now, she’s stranded and bloated and alone. Her cat is not a people person, and on top of it all, her best friend has been ignoring her calls ever since Estie told her about the baby.

This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review via @netgalley

Review: *First let me start this statement by saying that I did Review this book very high. Although I didn't care for a few of the characters choices in the book I understand that post partum depression effects everyone differently. This Review may contain spoilers so let me say this first:
Every father, mother, brother, sister should read this book and pay attention to the women in your life post partum. They may truly need your help*


Spoilers possible after here:
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Second let me say as a mother who suffered with post partum depression after giving birth to my first child I believe this book was very accurate. The deep feelings, the emotions, the painful thoughts, all of it was very real. I read this book in a couple of days after a long slump. It was exactly what I needed. It was gripping, it was emotional, and it was relatable. I would say more importantly it is EDUCATIONAL. Yes I said that right. Post partum depression is real and many women suffer with this condition. I was able to mask in front of my family members outside of my home but my husband could see that something wasn't right with me. I am thankful every day for his advice and help during such a tough time in my life. This book shows that love can withstand the harshest conditions. That love is the first to notice when things aren't right. This book could help others notice signs or symptoms like not showering, emotional turmoil, etc. I couldn't recommend this book enough. I feel like the author really understands this topic If she herself hasn't suffered through it. Definitely a must read for anyone with women in their lives. The complicated truth of friendships changing after giving birth and new ones developing. When you become a mother you "molt" into something new.

I loved this book although I think the comparisons to NightBitch are a little unfair to what this book is, which is not magical realism (if that's what NightBitch is -- it's a definition I've always struggled with!) but very much realism. I would give this to everyone who was about to have a baby, but then it might be a much better gift for everyone who has a baby and is a year or two out. My own kids are teenagers now and there was a long stretch about 2/3rds of the way through this book where I found that my eyes were leaking and I didn't even realize it, that viscerally familiar low-hum of inexplicable sadness while you tug at the raw edges of your life and try to sew it back into something that resembles 'you' after having a baby has metaphorically (let's hope not literally) cleaved you open. Intensely moving, quietly funny, and so real. 10/10, will read this author again.

some books tell the truth, and some books rip the rug out from under you and leave you gasping. damn did this one do both. this is not a feel-good, everything-gets-better story. it’s raw, unsettling, and brutally honest about the parts of motherhood no one likes to talk about—the crushing loneliness, the identity loss, the nagging fear that you might never feel like yourself again.

premise: Estie isn’t glowing. she isn’t transformed. she isn’t basking in the joys of motherhood. she’s exhausted, abandoned, and stuck in a life she’s not sure she even wants. her husband? useless as fuck. her best friend ghosted her. the cat couldn't even care less. also, that deep, magical bond she’s supposed to feel with her baby? yeah, still waiting on that.

this book doesn’t sugarcoat a thing. the humor is good yes, but it doesn’t soften the blow—it makes it hit harder. Estie’s struggle is painfully relatable, not because she’s a bad mother, but because she’s honest about how hard it all is. and the scariest part? she’s not sure she’ll ever get back to the person she used to be.

this story isn’t here to reassure you. it's here to tell the truth, even when it hurts. and somehow, in all that mess, it makes you feel a little less alone.

5 stars.

This book has been marketed in a "if you like nightbitch you will like this book" and in a way I agree. Both books cover many of the same topics and while our main character Esti seems to be hit with one issue after another I found her inner voice fascinating. When her husband loses her job she contemplates why she didnt think of that as something that might happen. Very appropriate for today's reader.

Television for Women paints a stunningly vivid portrait of what exactly it means to become a mother.

I can honestly say this book made me feel SEEN. As a mother who experienced post partum depression, I could have written this book myself. It so accurately depicts the grief, worry, fear, angst, resentment, loss of self, and despair all with the backdrop of the feeling that you SHOULD be happy because you just experienced the absolute miracle of life.

This was an easy five star read that I couldn’t put down the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley, Melville House Publishing for the arc, and to Danit Brown for destigmatizing the experience of first time motherhood and postpartum depression.

A chilling look at postpartum depression and the realities of the early days of motherhood. Readers who have experienced such will see themselves in Brown's words and readers who haven't will gain a better understanding of those in their circle that have. 4 Stars.

As someone who has been swinging on a pendulum of wanting/not wanting a baby, this book was rough! In the best way. I feel like anyone who can give birth will appreciate the brutal honesty, the solidarity of knowing that at least one other person gets the way that they might be feeling. It's not a cautionary tale, it isn't condescending mom talk, it's reality. I loved the ebb and flow in the characters' growth, crying when Estie cried, smiling when Estie smiled, and sometimes...You know, shaking my head at Estie sometimes. The character development was wonderful. I have already recommended some of my mom friends to put this on their wishlists for the year, and I can see a huge audience for it at my library.

Estie, pregnant wife of Owen, college professor, discovers her husband has been fired. This incident creates a domino effect of uncovering a history of lies in which he has weaved into their lives. Their relationship takes a downhill turn as their finances become a concern, as Estie works at an artisan tile company, and the birth of their baby is imminent. Estie has a strained relationship with her mother, a strained relationship with her college best friend, and an obsessively one-sided interest in her college ex boyfriend. The birth of her daughter triggers a severe mental health reaction that offers insight and horror into the childhood Estie experienced with her mother. Without spoiling major plot points, Estie's relationships are put to the test. Dishonesty, vulnerability, and forgiveness seem to be the major players in this text and are explored in new and inventive ways. It is an honest and unconventional look at motherhood in all of it's realities, and will certainly cure a case of baby fever.
While it was a quick and seamless read, I personally wanted more from the characters and from certain elements of the plot. I also would strongly not recommend this novel to anyone who is sensitive or upset by animal death.
Thank you NetGalley and Melville House for sharing this ARC with me!