Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing but still gripping
Review: First I'll say I couldn't put it down. But after letting it all gel the book made me mad. Why?
-I know of her family and what she writes is often unethical and sometimes mean and insensitive. She revealed information too personal and was so harsh on her father. Of course he needed to adjust to and then grieve about his grandson (it wasn't easy for Martha either and she carried Adam and may have aborted him if it weren't for such strong spiritual experiences).
-The spiritual things that happened to her are too personal some of it shouldn't be written or could've been written in a way that honors rather than exploits them.
-A lot of the book is quite negative and judgemental of people. I can't imagine how much she must've alientated herself from others (people who live in Utah, people at Harvard, those who are still LDS who she paints as total kooks, etc).
I gave this to a woman who is carrying a child with severe disabilities. I sort of regret it now. Martha is a life coach who sounds like she could use some training in acceptance. That's exactly why God sent her Adam. If she writes a sequel I hope she has gone further in understanding and acceptance that he's trying to teach her and helps her heal and move on from a lot of the negativity and doubt that filled this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow...great book.
Review: What a terrific book. When you initially hear of the subject matter, it's not quite so inviting, but it is one of the best books I've read in some time. The way Beck moves from one emotion to the other made me laugh, cry and stay up late to see what was going to happen. Very well written.
Rating: 
Summary: Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
Review: Martha Beck has done an outstanding job creating a memoir about his Down Syndromes son from the day she got conceived. As a Harvard student, she had to face lot of criticisms from impervious and lofty Harvard students and professors when she decide to give birth to the abnormal baby. However, she did not let those callous hearted people hinder her from keeping the God's sent gift. Beck said, "they themselves were the ones who would be 'born,' infants in a new world where magic is commonplace, Harvard professors are the slow learners and retarded babies are the master teachers"(p.7). Although Martha Beck was an intelligent graduate school student from one of the top school in the country, she learned new things while she was fostering her son. Obviously, there are some heartbreaking parts in this book but Beck's witty remarks gives lift to the tragic moments in the novel. Also, Beck's foreshadowing the times she conceived Adam for nine months and three years after he was born makes an attention-grabbing plot. I was able to believe all the reviews that praised this book without any skepticism because, this became my all time favorite novel. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. If you liked Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Houden or Attitude of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Everyday of Your Lie by H.J. Ryan and Sue Bendor then you will like this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: This is one of my new favorite books. When a book has me shedding tears of sadness AND laughing out loud repeatedly, (sometimes at the same time!)it's got to be a winner! This is a beautiful book, one that I could thoroughtly identify with -- even though I don't have a Down Syndrome child, didn't attend Harvard, haven't experienced the paranormal experiences they did. The books' true-ness transcends those external experiences and touches those internal experiences that mothers, women, (people?) all share.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I expected wise and heart-warming (which it is) but I wasn't expecting how funny this book is. The worst pregnancy in the world is described in detail, so how can this be funny? Well it is. It is a riot, in addition to being thought-provoking in many ways. If you've ever been pregnant, or married to anyone who has been pregnant, or gone to college, or worked like a workaholic, or been a Mormon, or known a person with Down's Syndrome--or even if you haven't done any of those things--I think you'll like listening to this lady's story.
Rating:
Summary: Some Angels Come in Small Packages...
Review: Expecting Adam, is a memoir written by Martha Beck about her pregnancy with her son Adam. What makes this novel unique is not that Beck discovers her son has Down Syndrome, but how she finds herself transformed by her pregnancy and the birth of Adam.
Matha and her husband John are an amazingly brilliant Harvard couple who don't beleive in a world that doesn't have
answers for all it's phenomena. When the couple begin to experience strange incidents Marhta begins to question her beliefs. She yearns for her husband who is on business in Asia and suddenly she's there, not physically of course but she can hear, see and smell where he is. She is so weak she can't get out of bed and a woman she barely knows appears at the door with groceries, because she had a strange urge that Martha needed her.
These type of things happen on a daily basis as well as some more startling events.
Martha Beck is a wonderful storyteller. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion as well as cried on others. It's as if she is a long time friend having a conversation with you
on your living room couch.
What touched me the most was Beck's description of Adam, the love she has for him and how he as a person has changed not only their families lives for the better, but all those that Adam comes into contact with. Although he has Down Syndrome, he is wise beyond his years and a master teacher.
This is an uplifting book, that shows us all that some angels do come in small packages.
Rating:
Summary: The Language Is Amazing!
Review: This is a great, great book. The way Ms. Beck puts words together leaves you smiling at adversity. The book documents paranormal experiences. It tells the truth of the power of being pregnant. It points out the difficult reality of the "rarified air" that exists in the best of the universities. The pleasure of the life with a Down child is written as well as Henri Nouwen's writing. Book clubs should read this book. It's lessons are subtle.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful inspiring story
Review: My sister sent me this book while I was pregnant with my second child at the age of 40. A blood test had shown that I was at greatly increased risk of having a baby with Down Syndrome and my husband and I had decided to keep the child no matter what and not undergo any further testing.This book is a wonderfully inspiring story of a woman's very difficult pregnancy, complicated by the knowledge that her child has Down syndrome. From the very start of her pregnancy, she just knows that her child is going to be special, but also feels that something is "wrong" and the many spiritual experiences throughout the book seem incredibly real and believable. I did feel though that the overwhelming negative reaction to them chosing to keep this baby and go through with the pregnancy was exaggerated and certainly did not parallel the way people reacted when I mentioned the possibility of having a child with Down Syndrome to friends and colleagues in my life. I felt that this might come from her obvious dislike of her Harvard acquaintances, of whom she was very critical.
Rating:
Summary: when an unusual pregnancy changes your world view
Review: 'Expecting Adam' covers the diagnosis of the author Martha Beck's unborn child with down's syndrome. Her resultant experiences when she decides to keep her child, including narrow minded bigotry from acquaintances and colleagues at Harvard, who seem to think down's syndrome children are inferior in every way to 'normal' children. The book raises interesting questions about screening for genetic defects before birth. The fact that down's syndrome children have just as much intrinsic value and worth as 'normal' children is something that Martha and her husband eventually realise, despite initial ambivilance about their own feelings.
Martha undergoes many spiritual experiences during her pregnancy, including seeing through psychic means the environment and feelings that her husband has for short periods of time, when he is half way around the world in Japan. She also encounters what can only be described as angelic beings, one of them actually saves her life at one point when she is suffocating by inhaling poisonous smoke in a fire at her residence. Martha realises that admitting to seeing angels can expose her to ridicule from sceptics, but she has the courage to speak out about her unusual experiences. Angels or non physical entities are not totally beyond the realm of physics. String theory, at the cutting edge of physics postulates the existence of a number of other dimensions ( 11 in total) apart from the three or four if you count time that we operate in.
The elimination of down's syndrome babies being born, due to genetic screening would be a tragedy. Martha states that she learnt more from being around Adam (her child) than she did at Harvard, and that's not because she was a bad student. Diversity of humanity is important. If everyone was blue eyed and blonde haired, with 160 iq's, perfetly toned bodies, heterosexual, the perfect designer species, ...and which may be possible through genetic engineering, then the world would be a much less interesting place. Any step in this direction, no matter how small is a step too far.
Adam is described at one point 'Adam laughs at himself everyday. He laughs at his own bizarre pronunciation, at the inaccurate attempts others make to understand him, at his strenuous efforts to communicate with them. He laughs as though he is being tickled over every inch of his body, finding his own plight the plight that for me the Harvard graduate, would be simply awful, awfully funny.' This reaction to difficulty is one that normally only a zen monk would embody and it speaks volumes. Down's syndrome have been described as having learning difficulties. Many people could spend a lifetime trying to learn how to overcome their difficulties and never succeed. There are certain areas of emotional learning where down's syndrome people can be just as adapt if not more so than 'normal' people.
( reviewed by Melchizedeck )
Rating:
Summary: If you've ever loved an exceptional child, read this book.
Review: Maya Angelou once said that "there is no greater agony than holding an untold story inside of you." This piece of work represents Martha Beck's luminous journey towards choosing to mother Adam, her son who was prenatally diagnosed with Down's Syndrome. Like many mothers of exceptional children I've known, Martha has touched on the one theme most of us feel reluctant to talk about--that our lives are peppered with unexplainable, prescient experiences that served to pave our way towards accepting a child that a highly educated world often believes is less than worthy of a chance at life. Because Ms. Beck's Harvard Education and academic's resume brings the reader into a metaphycial journey towards coming to accept Adam through a skeptics eyes, her story seems more credible than that of the average person who sits down to write a book that says "oh, but my child is so much more than what he seems." Martha's tale is as convincing as it is spellbinding. Her range as a writer is vast--she is both a comedian and an accomplished dramatist. Expecting Adam hits its intended mark. It reminds us that every child comes into this world for reasons that often lay beyond the realm of human reckoning. It offers proof that all lives have purpose, meaning and dignity. On top of all this, Expecting Adam offers the reader the benefit of an excellent writer. As the mother of two boys with autism, one who "came back" and one who "didn't", I commend this writer for sharing her story. Ms. Beck's experiences felt universal to me, and true in a way I can't begin to put into words. When I look into my children's eyes, I understand without reservation that nothing is left to chance. Like Ms. Beck, I feel both humbled and awed by the opportunity to mother children like mine. It is impossible to read "Expecting Adam", and fail to see that every life has meaning and dignity. For all things, there is a season...
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