--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: After Birth is a fast-talking…" description: "\"After Birth is a fast-talking, opinionated, moody, funny, and slightly desperate account of the attempt to recover from having a baby. It is a romp thr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ad/lydia-davis-3244_absorbing_after-birth-is-a-fast-talking-opinionate_2820645.png" --- # After Birth is a fast-talking, opinionated, moody, funny… ![“After Birth is a fast-talking, opinionated, moody, funny, and slightly desperate account of the attempt to recover from having a baby. It is a romp through dangerous waters, in which passages of hilarity are shadowed by the dark nights of earliest motherhood, those months so tremulous with both…” quote by Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ad/lydia-davis-3244_absorbing_after-birth-is-a-fast-talking-opinionate_2820645.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ad/lydia-davis-3244_absorbing_after-birth-is-a-fast-talking-opinionate_2820645.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ad/lydia-davis-3244_absorbing_after-birth-is-a-fast-talking-opinionate_2820645.png) > “After Birth is a fast-talking, opinionated, moody, funny, and slightly desperate account of the attempt to recover from having a baby. It is a romp through dangerous waters, in which passages of hilarity are shadowed by the dark nights of earliest motherhood, those months so tremulous with both new love and the despairing loss of one's identity-to read it is an absorbing, entertaining, and thought-provoking experience.” [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Motherhood is a chaotic mix of humor, desperation, and identity loss, yet also love and growth. **In simple terms:** Parenthood blends joy, struggle, and self‑rediscovery. Key Takeaway Navigate motherhood with humor and self‑care. Themes parenthood identity humor Mood empathetic reflective Type narrative thought‑provoking When to use this quote - parenting - writing - support groups Key Concepts psychology social roles emotional resilience Questions to Reflect On - How does humor aid coping? - What steps help reclaim identity? A Different Perspective It may underplay the long‑term empowerment that follows. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absorbing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absorbing/) [Absorbing Entertaining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absorbing-entertaining-3587907/) [Accounts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accounts/) [Baby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baby/) [Baby Romp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baby-romp-3587908/) [Birth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birth/) [Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dangerous/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Dark night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark-night/) [Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate/) [Entertaining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entertaining/) [Having a baby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/having-a-baby/) [Hilarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hilarity/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Months](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/months/) [Moody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moody/) [Motherhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motherhood/) [New Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-love/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Opinionated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinionated/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Passages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passages/) [Provoking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/provoking/) [Provoking Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/provoking-experience-3587909/) [Read Absorbing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/read-absorbing-3587910/) [Talking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talking/) [Thought provoking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-provoking/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [“John, let me make one thing clear,” Jim said, cutting me off in his most stern, evangelical voice. “Every man is blessed with his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wong/john-let-me-make-one-thing-clear-jim-said-cutting-me-off-in-his-most/) [David Wong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wong/) > [My cancer continues to make for all kind of hilarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-thompson/my-cancer-continues-to-make-for-all-kind-of-hilarity/) [Scott Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-thompson/) > [“Her mission every minute of the day is to uncover the hilarity in random scenarios.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adele-levine/her-mission-every-minute-of-the-day-is-to-uncover-the-hilarity-in/) [Adele Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adele-levine/) > [“With Michael McCarty Books: You will find both Horror and hilarity ... at no extra charge (LOL)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-mccarty/with-michael-mccarty-books-you-will-find-both-horror-and-hilarity-at/) [Michael McCarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-mccarty/) > [“I wanted to write about the complexity and hilarity in the everyday business of being human.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-de-goldi/i-wanted-to-write-about-the-complexity-and-hilarity-in-the-everyday/) [Kate De Goldi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-de-goldi/) > [With thought, with the ideal, is immortal hilarity, the rose of joy. Round it all the muses sing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/with-thought-with-the-ideal-is-immortal-hilarity-the-rose-of-joy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Ah,” said Magnus. “Nerd love. It is a beautiful thing, while also being an object of mockery and hilarity for those of us who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/ah-said-magnus-nerd-love-it-is-a-beautiful-thing-while-also-being-an/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [Phrase books seem to be a universal and eternal source of hilarity and I think I know why. Their authors go mad in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-thomas-ellis/phrase-books-seem-to-be-a-universal-and-eternal-source-of-hilarity/) [Alice Thomas Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-thomas-ellis/) > [One more royal trait properly belongs to the poet. I mean his cheerfulness, without which no man can be a poet,--for beauty is his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/one-more-royal-trait-properly-belongs-to-the-poet-i-mean-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship; and pass the rosy wine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/fan-the-sinking-flame-of-hilarity-with-the-wing-of-friendship-and/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [The ironic is a mere ancient whisper in this torqued narrative: its odd violence feels true. Today & Tomorrow crashes through the windows of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacey-levine/the-ironic-is-a-mere-ancient-whisper-in-this-torqued-narrative-its/) [Stacey Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacey-levine/) > [New York... Babylon-on-the-Hudson, sinful, extravagant, full of the nervous hilarity of the doomed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucius-beebe/new-york-babylon-on-the-hudson-sinful-extravagant-full-of-the-nervous/) [Lucius Beebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucius-beebe/) > [Hey, have you heard that one about the difference between me, Wit, and my loutish cousin, Hilarity? No? Okay, so I walk into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/hey-have-you-heard-that-one-about-the-difference-between-me-wit-and/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [I asked these Indians: "Do men ever make Chicha?" My question was met with gales of laughter. The women howled. Bent over in hilarity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-d-eames/i-asked-these-indians-do-men-ever-make-chicha-my-question-was-met/) [Alan D. Eames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-d-eames/) > [These are the highlights in a lifetime of following sports. Hilarity. The most sheer fun I ever had in sports was playing volleyball, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-michener/these-are-the-highlights-in-a-lifetime-of-following-sports-hilarity/) [James A. Michener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-michener/) ## More by Lydia Davis > [Heart weeps. Head tries to help heart. Head tells heart how it is, again: You will lose the ones you love. They will all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/heart-weeps-head-tries-to-help-heart-head-tells-heart-how-it-is-again/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“But on that particular day I did not even begin to feel interested in this chore, and was suddenly more deeply bored than I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/but-on-that-particular-day-i-did-not-even-begin-to-feel-interested-in/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [If a translation doesn't have obvious writing problems, it may seem quite all right at first glance. We readers, after all, quickly adapt to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/if-a-translation-doesn-t-have-obvious-writing-problems-it-may-seem/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [I always interrupt work with other work, either in a small way or big way, so that's normal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-always-interrupt-work-with-other-work-either-in-a-small-way-or-big/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [ I worked more intensively hour after hour when I was starting out \[writing\]. More laboriously. I'd say quantity is important as well as quality,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-worked-more-intensively-hour-after-hour-when-i-was-starting-out/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [I don't feel I have to struggle against allegory. I let the readers do the interpreting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-don-t-feel-i-have-to-struggle-against-allegory-i-let-the-readers-do/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“because she couldn’t write the name of what she was: a wa wam owm owamn womn”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/because-she-couldn-t-write-the-name-of-what-she-was-a-wa-wam-owm/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“Everything was sharper, clearer, and closer, as though, before, I had been seeing only little bits at a time, not all of it, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/everything-was-sharper-clearer-and-closer-as-though-before-i-had-been/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“He did not know exactly when to thank his hostess after attending a dinner or a weekend party. In his uncertainty, he would thank…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/he-did-not-know-exactly-when-to-thank-his-hostess-after-attending-a/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“There was no confusion of our bodies. I knew which arm was his and which mine, and which leg, and which shoulder. I did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/there-was-no-confusion-of-our-bodies-i-knew-which-arm-was-his-and/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“So it’s not really $100 a shot because it goes on all day, from the start when you wake up and feel her body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/so-it-s-not-really-100-a-shot-because-it-goes-on-all-day-from-the/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“The people of the town, though, remained strangers: I could not realize that I must be seeing some of them over and over again,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/the-people-of-the-town-though-remained-strangers-i-could-not-realize/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [“He does not trust her: she will claim to be in a bad mood when she is not, and then require him to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/he-does-not-trust-her-she-will-claim-to-be-in-a-bad-mood-when-she-is/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-would-recommend-definitely-developing-a-day-job-that-you-like-don-t/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [the translator, a lonely sort of acrobat, becomes confused in a labyrinth of paradox, or climbs a pyramid of dependent clauses and has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/the-translator-a-lonely-sort-of-acrobat-becomes-confused-in-a/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) [Explore all 135 Lydia Davis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) ## More Absorbing quotes > [The artist has to be something like a whale swimming with his mouth wide open, absorbing everything until he has what he really needs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romare-bearden/the-artist-has-to-be-something-like-a-whale-swimming-with-his-mouth/) [Romare Bearden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romare-bearden/) > [I probably need another couple of years of absorbing that and really looking at it to be able to do it because you actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-hanks/i-probably-need-another-couple-of-years-of-absorbing-that-and-really/) [Colin Hanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-hanks/) > [I bless the gods for not letting my education in rhetoric, poetry, and other literary studies come easily to me, and thereby sparing me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/i-bless-the-gods-for-not-letting-my-education-in-rhetoric-poetry-and/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Edge also implies what Ben Graham…called a margin of safety. You have a margin of safety when you buy an asset at a price…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-mauboussin/edge-also-implies-what-ben-graham-called-a-margin-of-safety-you-have/) [Michael Mauboussin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-mauboussin/) > [I would spend hours absorbing every intonation, every inflection - how the singer would convey a sentiment and how it would sound coming out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kat-edmonson/i-would-spend-hours-absorbing-every-intonation-every-inflection-how/) [Kat Edmonson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kat-edmonson/) > [The nut of this tree is hung high aloft, wrapped in a silk wrapper, which is enclosed in a case of sole leather, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-de-camoes/the-nut-of-this-tree-is-hung-high-aloft-wrapped-in-a-silk-wrapper/) [Luis de Camoes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-de-camoes/) > [The habit of quietly absorbing the shocks will be quite a great help to stabilize pure awareness. The technique is: Just feel not disturbed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/the-habit-of-quietly-absorbing-the-shocks-will-be-quite-a-great-help/) [Maharishi Mahesh Yogi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/) > [It's hard to pick. I mean, I think the one that is most emblematic of the collaboration that occurred is "We Know The Way."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lin-manuel-miranda/it-s-hard-to-pick-i-mean-i-think-the-one-that-is-most-emblematic-of/) [Lin-Manuel Miranda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lin-manuel-miranda/) > [Babies breathe a lot more rapidly than adults do, and what's more, they're also growing quickly and so they're absorbing lots more into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-thompson/babies-breathe-a-lot-more-rapidly-than-adults-do-and-what-s-more-they/) [Francis Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-thompson/) > [Where does the ego get its energy? The ego feeds off your desire to be something else. You are poor and you want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/where-does-the-ego-get-its-energy-the-ego-feeds-off-your-desire-to-be/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I know "accessibility" is a term that's kind of thrown around wantonly today, especially with talking about visual media. But I think that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-powell/i-know-accessibility-is-a-term-that-s-kind-of-thrown-around-wantonly/) [Nate Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-powell/) > [I've always looked at directing as the next step for me in my creative career, and after spending the better part of the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-anthony-dale/i-ve-always-looked-at-directing-as-the-next-step-for-me-in-my/) [Ian Anthony Dale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-anthony-dale/) > [In anything fit to be called by the name of reading, the process itself should be absorbing and voluptuous; we should gloat over a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/in-anything-fit-to-be-called-by-the-name-of-reading-the-process/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [Inside you're like some kind of mirror, reflecting everything without absorbing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-j-deikman/inside-you-re-like-some-kind-of-mirror-reflecting-everything-without/) [Arthur J. Deikman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-j-deikman/) > [There are two kinds of actors -- one sits in a dressing room waiting for his call and the other gets out into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clint-eastwood/there-are-two-kinds-of-actors-one-sits-in-a-dressing-room-waiting-for/) [Clint Eastwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clint-eastwood/) [Browse all 189 Absorbing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absorbing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "After Birth is a fast-talking, opinionated, moody, funny, and slightly desperate account of the attempt to recover from having a baby. 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