Womb: a novel in utero by Eric D. Goodman
Now Available from Merge Publishing — Womb: a novel in utero
What makes Womb most unique is the unusual narrator. Set in the city and suburbs of Baltimore,
Womb is narrated from the point of view of a child still in utero.
He describes his own reality inside the womb, his connection to the collective consciousness, and also narrates (through his own perspective) the drama of his mother's life as she deals with her pregnancy, friends, family and work.
Womb has been compared to Room by Emma Donoghue in style, as well as The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold. Womb is due for delivery on March 21, 2017.
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What makes Womb most unique is the unusual narrator. Set in the city and suburbs of Baltimore,
Womb is narrated from the point of view of a child still in utero.
He describes his own reality inside the womb, his connection to the collective consciousness, and also narrates (through his own perspective) the drama of his mother's life as she deals with her pregnancy, friends, family and work.
Womb has been compared to Room by Emma Donoghue in style, as well as The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold. Womb is due for delivery on March 21, 2017.
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Advance Praise for Womb: a novel in stories
“An utterly unique look at the world from the most unlikely vantage point. In Womb, Goodman has created a humorous, thoughtful, unexpected narrator who is wise beyond his years.”
- Jennifer Miller, author of The Heart You Carry Home
“Eric D. Goodman has taken a strange and wonderful idea and turned it into the novel Womb, which is narrated winningly by the wisest fetus in literature.”
- Michael Kimball, author of Us, Big Ray, and Dear Everybody
“Wild, wacky and engagingly original, Womb will take you on a journey whose destination is nothing short of Life—with a capital L.”
- Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The House On Primrose Pond
“There is real suspense in this brave book and more than one surprise. So, suspend your disbelief and let the lad talk.”
- Ron Tanner, author of Missile Paradise
“In Womb: a novel in utero, Eric D. Goodman explores the paradox between what we know innately about love and what we’ve forgotten in our attempts and mistakes to cherish each other. It is a tenderhearted story that’s laced with grace.”
- Jen Grow, author of My Life As A Mermaid
“Womb’s wise before his years narrator has a whole world to show us—our own—if only we, and his own struggling parents, can remember how to listen past the noise of our busy postnatal lives. He knows big things we’ve forgotten and he knows he’ll forget them soon, too, but this highly attuned, deeply inquisitive novel gives us a welcome chance to be reminded of what is always already there.”
- Steve Himmer, author of Scratch, Fram, and The Bee-Loud Glade
“Goodman's Womb is a witty, innovative look into inner space. Well written, with entertaining plot twists."
- Toby Devens, author of Barefoot Beach and Happy Any Day Now
“Eric D. Goodman's absorbing new novel, Womb, is about a high-risk pregnancy—in more ways than one—told from the fetus's point of view. The narrator is full of wisdom and goodwill, which we understand to be our birthright, but it's his father, Jack, whose character and courage burst from the pages like … well, like an infant from the womb. Eric D. Goodman is a talented storyteller.”
- Charles Rammelkamp, author of Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and
American Zeitgeist
“It is amazing, what awaits in Eric D. Goodman's latest full-length fiction. Womb, an inventive and eye-opening novel-in-utero, is a cocktail of all human emotion, presented through the impressions and knowledge of the most internally omniscient and instinctual of narrators. Goodman bravely stakes out uncharted routes in his endearing and enduring account of life, both before and after birth. Fear, love, pain, desire, and longing drive the human minds and voices of this literary crossroads, and their unstoppable drive toward and from each other.”
- Katherine Cottle, author of Halfway: A Journal through Pregnancy
“Leave it to Eric D. Goodman to have the imagination to narrate his latest risk-taking novel, Womb, in utero. The point of view here is not only inimitable and inventive in its fly-on-the-wall approach, but Goodman’s novel also brings the goods in scintillating prose. A truly tender, remarkable story. You won’t read another novel like Womb anywhere.”
- Nathan Leslie, author of Sibs, Madre, and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice
“Eric D. Goodman’s Womb: a novel in utero is unique. In Goodman’s telling, the zygote—and later the embryo and still later the fetus—is blessed with the wisdom of the ages, which he fears he will lose upon birth. As he watches his parents and people around them cope with his existence, he worries about their life choices. He yearns to impart to them his wisdom and is determined that after birth he will remember everything he now knows. Written with sophistication and poetry, Womb surpasses Goodman’s earlier writing in the sheer beauty of the prose and the suspense that unnerves the unborn protagonist.”
- Tom Glenn, author of No-Accounts and Last of the Anamese
“The precocious prenatal narrator of Eric D. Goodman's novel, Womb, examines one of humanity's most common experiences—the nine-month drama of expecting parents—complete with its anxiety, joy, and adjustments. When a secret threatens to tear apart Jack and Penny, the arrival of this imaginative novel's in utero sage might be the ultimate solution.”
- Gregg Wilhelm, Founder Emeritus, CityLit Project
“Goodman rises to the challenge posed by the foetus’ limited perspective, relating a story of betrayal and domestic turmoil through the filter of the uterine wall.”
- Litro,United Kingdom’s largest print and online literary magazine
“An expansive meditation on stability and identity from a confined perspective.”
(In a review comparing Eric D. Goodman's Womb to Ian McEwan's Nutshell and Emma Donoghue's Room.)
- Library Journal
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Praise for Eric’s Previous Writing
"… cunningly crafted …"
Madison Smartt Bell,
Author of All Souls’ Rising,
“… Eric D. Goodman takes the craft to the level of art. An exciting talent.”
Thomas Steinbeck,
Author of Down to a Soundless Sea
and In the Shadow of the Cypress
“Goodman is a keen, compassionate and refreshingly un-ironic observer of the human condition.”
Bathsheba Monk,
Author of Nude Walker and
Now You See It ... Stories from Cokesville, PA
"Sincere and empathetic, Goodman delivers. … brim with soulful compassion."
Victoria Patterson,
Author of Drift and
This Vacant Paradise
"… an absolute delight … beautifully-written … will hypnotically pull you in and captivate you to the very end."
Jessica Anya Blau,
author of Drinking Closer to Home and
The Summer of Naked Swim Parties
"Goodman limns the lives of his characters … with a light and sensitive touch, yet he manages to delve deep, right to their very hearts. By turns comic and poignant …"
Yona Zeldis McDonough,
Author of Breaking the Bank,
In Dahlia's Wake and The Four Temperaments
“… Goodman manages to capture the complicated push and pull of family, of friends, of history, of life—how it bears down on each of us, pulling us apart while simultaneously pushing us together. His characters are, in turn, compassionate, indifferent, bitter, sympathetic, wistful, and most of all, real.”
Mary Beth Keane,
Author of The Walking People
“… insightful, engaging and, in so many ways, truly moving.”
Toby Devens,
Author of My Favorite Midlife Crisis (Yet)
"I have long been a fan of Eric D. Goodman's taut naturalistic fiction … rich textures … well-drawn characters … breathtaking moments of epiphany."
Patry Francis,
Author of The Liar’s Diary
“Eric D. Goodman is a virtuoso; he breathes life into each character in such a way that you want to know everything about them.”
Nancy Greene
Author of Portraits in the Dark
"... irresistible ..."
The Writer Magazine
“… Goodman is a born storyteller …”
New York Journal of Books
“The author has a knack for easily and quickly evoking a sense of place …”
ForeWord Magazine
“… entertaining writing … fascinating …”
Broken Pencil
“… Goodman writes with an appealing directness and attention to detail.”
Washington Independent Review of Books
“Goodman writes in a witty, confidential style …”
The Potomac: A Journal of Poetry and Politics
See what others are saying about Eric’s writing.
Author Eric D. Goodman imagines himself in utero.
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Spare one minute of your time for an important video message from Dr. Hutchens,
an OBG/YN and Pre-Natal Psychologist.
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Spare one minute of your time for an important video message from Dr. Hutchens,
an OBG/YN and Pre-Natal Psychologist.
Watch the teaser trailer for Womb: a novel in utero
Video of Enoch Pratt’s Writers LIVE: Eric D. Goodman, Womb: a novel in utero
Video of question and answer session
Interactive Press Release
