Cherry’s life is quietly unravelling while the rest of the world watches her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Tom, rise to fame. As the creator of a successful (and somewhat autobiographical) comic turned film, Tom has transformed their marriage into public spectacle, most painfully through “Baby,” a caricatured version of Cherry that strangers now recognise everywhere and let their thoughts on her be known. Left behind in Omaha, Cherry must navigate the loneliness of an absent partner, the humiliation of unwanted visibility, and the disorienting question of who she is without the life they once planned together. Because what do you do when someone you loved has written your story before you ever get the chance to tell your own?
Boy, do I have some mixed feelings about Cherry Baby. I will say that this book turned out to be one of those where the blurb and the marketing are not really on the same page as the actual story and while I don’t know whether this was a strategic choice to make the story have more of an impact on readers, it did leave me frustrated at times. While I’m a lover of second-chance romances, I think this would have worked a whole lot better if I’d known it was going to be about a soon-to-be-divorced couple reconnecting instead of just me hating a man that I’m supposed to root for getting his “Baby” back. But let’s get into the goods first:
Rowell’s prose is as crisp as ever in Cherry Baby. She creates a wholly believable world with characters that come alive on the page. Cherry felt incredibly real. Her insecurities and struggles around her body and her identity as a fat woman and especially with the image the world now has of her thanks to her husband’s comic were handled with a delicate yet honest touch that made me feel for her and just want to give her a hug. Her thoughts really make you turn introspective multiple times as you think about the way you encounter the world (and its many judgments) and just what that can do to a person’s self-image and self-confidence. I’ve read some reviews that mentioned Cherry being whiny or crying too often but to me, it just felt real. If you’ve ever struggled with your body image, I think reading Cherry’s story can help you feel a lot more seen than other books who have tried to do the same.
Closely related to Cherry’s portrayal, by far one of my favourite parts of Cherry Baby was Cherry’s relationship with her family members. Her sisters just tucked at my heartstrings and without spoiling too much, there is one storyline that is going to probably make you cry (I for sure did). It’s sometimes hard to make secondary characters stand out enough to feel real but not to have them take the spotlight and while Rowell did that wonderfully here, I’d also…not be opposed to getting to hear more from Cherry’s sisters in the future.
Now for the romance:
Cards on the table, I just didn’t really care for Tom.
Admittedly, one of the best parts of the entire story were the flashbacks we got that added depth to Cherry and Tom’s relationship and gave us glimpses into how they got together in the first place and what made them click. This isn’t really a romantic story but the flashbacks at the very least helped you understand why Cherry and Tom ever got married in the first place. However, as wonderful and heartwarming as they were, they were all in the past. Moments of romance and steaminess also appeared in the present but that wasn’t enough for me to really see what made it worth “trying again”.
In order for me to believe (and root for) a couple getting back together, I need to be invested in them individually and need to see that things have actually changed. While I was very invested in Baby’s happiness, I also felt a lot of the times that she was happier on her own. True, in the beginning there is a little bit of a flirtation going on between Cherry and an old college crush which definitely showed that she wants someone who truly sees her and cares for her but even there I wasn’t sold on another guy actually adding a lot to her life. Sure, he didn’t know about Tom’s webcomic or the way he caricatured Cherry but even with that in mind, there wasn’t a strong connection that made me think “oh yes, I’m rooting for you instead of Tom.” And meanwhile, I didn’t really see any change in Tom that made me think them trying again would not end up in the same result a few years down the line. Sure, there was some miscommunication and misinterpreted situations along the years but many of them weren’t really resolved in a way that everyone grew from it.
Take this with a grain of salt though as I am neither married nor know how a separation actually works in practice so…maybe people with more experience will relate to Tom and Cherry on a whole other level and actually think this is a wonderful second-chance story!
Alas, even when I don’t root for the characters’ romance or am not invested emotionally, the pages still fly by because that’s just the magic Rowell brings to the table with her distinct voice. So if you’re a long-time fan of Rowell’s writing or find yourself in a similar situation as Cherry, Cherry Baby might be the perfect read for you!
Cherry Baby is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up Cherry Baby? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis
#1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell returns with a breathtakingly honest novel about a woman who lost everything — and isn’t sure she wants it back.
Everybody knows that Cherry’s husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie . . .
Almost nobody knows that he isn’t coming home.
Tom is the creator of Thursday—a semi-autobiographical webcomic that’s become an international phenomenon.
Semi-autobiographical. That means there’s a character in this movie based on Cherry . . . “Baby.”
Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby.
Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page—let alone on the big screen. But there’s no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry that strangers recognize her at the grocery store.
While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles getting rich and famous and being the internet’s latest boyfriend, Cherry is stuck in Omaha taking care of the dog he always wanted and the house they were going to raise a family in . . . and wondering who she’s supposed to be without him.
Cherry had promised to love Tom through thick and thin.
She’d meant it.
One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems, including Tom’s overgrown puppy, at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album . . . and someone recognizes her from across the room.
Russ Sutton knew Cherry when she was a young art student with a fondness for pin-up dresses and patent leather heels. Before Tom.
Russ knows Cherry. He likes Cherry.
And best of all . . . he’s never heard of Thursday.
Tender, funny, and utterly human, Cherry Baby is Rainbow Rowell’s richest, most surprising—sexiest—novel yet.
