ยป From We Are Not in Pakistan by Shauna Singh Baldwin (pp. 61-72)
When Naina becomes pregnant, everything proceeds normally until the day of her delivery, when the baby simply refuses to be born. Fourteen years later, Naina is still pregnant, and still doesn’t know why her baby has chosen to stay in the womb, until she agrees to consult a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, Dr. Chi.
My only experience with magical realism thus far has been Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, for which I conceived a cordial loathing. This story is better, although I still have a sneaking suspicion that the genre in general won’t be to my taste.
Naina’s story is set squarely in the real world, in modern-day Toronto. She takes streetcars, cleans offices, and wrestles with OHIP. Dr. Chi, like so many foreign-qualified professionals, must retrain in order to practice in Ontario. I sort of liked the contrast between the fantastic element of Naina’s pregnancy and the everyday world.
The story fell down for me in two places. Most importantly, I really had no interest in Naina or her pregnancy. At only twelve pages, the story simply wasn’t long enough to make me care.
I was also very sceptical about Naina’s passive acceptance of her long pregnancy. I’ve met women nine months pregnant, and none of them seemed likely to accept a 14-year extension of that state with equanimity, to say the least. Naina’s attitude made her seem less real to me, which didn’t help me to invest in the story.
