Book Review: How "Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic" Hits Closer To Home

Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic

What's so admirable about a good book is that it gets the readers thinking or leaves them wanting more, especially when they finished the last page, last sentence, and word. Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic by Lauren Ho did the trick when I finished it a couple of weeks ago.

It was by far the best book I've read this year, and I truly enjoyed not only the plot and style of writing, but also the fact that it made me think deeper about my perception of marriages and relationships these days.

The story

TLDR: Lucie Yi is a 37-year-old Singaporean woman who all along wanted a kid. But considering her single marital status and conservative parents in Singapore, her thoughts of making a baby with a stranger on a co-parenting website seemed absolutely absurd. Or not.

She found the best candidate Collin, who later became the father of their child, and eventually her romantic interest. While all things seemed to be going according to plan, it wasn't until Lucie's ex-fiance Mark tried to enter her life again.

My thoughts

One reason why I decided to borrow the book from the library was that how I was hooked by the unconventional way that Lucie decided to have a child. While I don't consider myself a conservative person when it comes to relationships, I am also not the most open person out there. Will I ever be as courageous and as brave as Lucie? Perhaps not.

The idea of having a child with someone you barely know is wild AF, not to mention, co-parenting the child with them afterwards.

As someone who will probably not have a child in the future, I have to admit that I respect Lucie for her guts to do something like this. Everyone has their own dreams and goals in life, and for Lucie, it is to have a child of her own.

Perhaps because Lauren Ho is a Singaporean author, she penned down perfectly the reaction from her traditional Chinese family - some were confused, others were angry, and also a few respected her decision.

Singapore is, unfortunately, not the most accepting society unless you come from a "proper" nucleus family. So for someone who has a child through unconventional methods like Lucie, you'll probably get unwanted gossip and annoying questions from naysayers.

I like how the book branches out and explore the different types of family and relationships that people can have IRL, and TBH, I don't think it is anything bad. It all depends on the viewers' perspective and whether you understand where they are coming from.

Have an open mind, that's all I can say.

xoxo