Rating: 
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I enjoyed this book so much, I raced through it the first time, and then had to re-read it immediately. I don't have any children, and to be honest, I would not have made the decision the Becks did. Also, I am not sure how much I believe in the paranormal experiences they each (but especially Martha) had, although I am convinced that SHE believed them. In spite of all that, I found this to be a gripping read and I was moved by certain chapters very much. Ms. Beck is an incredible writer, and the touches of humor she injects into this story were priceless.I found this book at the library and now plan to buy a copy. Actually, I may buy two copies, because this is one of those books you feel compelled to loan to your friends, even though you're reluctant to part with it!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I cannot say enough about this book. I could not put it down; I laughed, I cried. I have no children, and do not personally know anyone with Down's, but I was extremely moved by everything about this book. It says alot about intuition, going with your instincts, and the appreciation we all need to have for the truly important things in life. Martha Beck is a brilliant writer, and a courageous person for some of the things she put into writing. I think anyone could enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Expecting Adam
Review: This is one of the most magical and uplifting story I have ever read. I love the message of living life for the sole purpose of joy and love. Adam is an Angel.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, spiritual, I was mesmerized
Review: I was almost angered by the review which was so negative toward this book. I really don't understand how anyone in their right mind wouldn't find this a touching, incredible read. And only 1 star is outragious! I have read this book a total of 20 times. I pull it out when I am sad, and need some uplifting words. Martha's experience is a true example of how the worst of situations can become something beautiful if you allow yourself to think "outside the box". I would recommend this book to be read by everyone at least once in their lifetime. It will make you think differently about children with Downs...and about life in general.
Rating: 
Summary: My high hopes were dashed! Ugghhhh is all I can say.
Review: I bought this book b/c of its topic -- I had read a wonderful series of articles in the Boston Globe this past summer about the experiences of a young Hartford, CT couple who found out they were having a Down's Syndrome baby. That series had me laughing and crying and really touched me. I had similiar expectations for this book, but they were dashed in the first chapter. There are so many problems with it. The writing is childish and sophomoric. The author's tone is whiney and grating. And I fear she has created a fictional world of overwhelming conflict just to make a better story. My husband, daughter, and I live, study, work, and go to daycare in the Harvard community. My husband's professors were incredibly flexible and understanding about the birth of our daughter, which occurred one month before final exams last year. And we know others here who have experienced the same generous treatment. I think the author's limited skills didn't really allow her to explore the subtle complexities of the situation without using Harvard as a sterotyped "character" in the book. It is simply a story beyond her means as a writer, which isn't to negate her personal experience, only her ability to recount it to us. I also found that it focussed too much on how her tangible, material world and personal plans were affected by Adam -- despite her use of supernatural gimmicks -- than on how her own inner self was touched by him. I found the supernatural to be an excuse she has concocted to explain the presence of Adam in her life. Why couldn't he be just an ordinary boy with Down's Syndrome who probably won't be going to Harvard? Why? Because his parents are gifted members of an elite community, so Adam must be too. Surely God wouldn't taunt them so much as to give them an unremarkable kid? I wish she had let Adam's true self, the miracle that is every seemingly ordinary child, shine through instead of giving him supernatural powers.
Rating:
Summary: Touching Reality
Review: This is a most welcome break from the routine of our "normal" lives. It sheds light on the important issues of life, while opening up horizons of extraordinary possibilities. Well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: What a story - what a book.
Review: I am thankful to have never been put into the situation Martha Beck found herself in in this book. Well written & thought provoking, I shirked my chores until I'd finished this powerful book. My only complaint is that there were no pictures. I wanted to see that front page photo of Martha & her daughter coming out of the burning building. And I wanted to look at Adam - as the ultra-sound Polaroid on the fridge, the tiny newborn they first met and the child he had become by the time the book went to print. I wonder why Ms Beck didn't want to share those images with us when she had us wrapped around her mystical finger through-out the entire book. I recommend this book to read no matter who you are.
Rating:
Summary: Miracle, Mystery and Mothering
Review: When Martha Beck learns that she is carrying a Down syndrome child, she practices saying to herself, "Why not me? Why not me? Why not me?"--in order to keep herself from asking the other question. Yet, even then, as she was carrying Adam, and now, as she watches her son experience his struggle to go through life, she does ask, "Why him? Why him? Why him?" "Expecting Adam" is the author's response to both of these questions. Not her "answer"--there are no answers. The book is her spiritual response to the transformative demands of bearing and rearing an Adam, and it is an incredible response. Yet the parts of this book that seem the most unbelievable are the parts that are most true. That's what Martha Beck says. And there are a LOT of parts that seem unbelievable--at first. But as we read, we are drawn into the author's own struggle with what first seems too hard to swallow but gradually becomes too hard to reject. "Expecting Adam" is, among other things, a straightforward argument, by a highly-credentialed intellectual (PhD, Harvard), for the power of mystery in our lives, an argument based on the author's painful personal experience during her pregnancy with her Down syndrome son, Adam. Both Martha and her husband experience this child as "sent," but not because they have some kind of "philosophy" about exceptional children. After what they both go through during his gestation, there is no way they cannot experience their son as coming from, as a gift from, and as a link to, that other world we all intuit but are terrified to believe in. Yet, "Expecting Adam" is not ALL about miracle and mystery...plenty of pages are devoted to excruciatingly vivid and highly accurate renderings of the terrible toll that children take on their parents, before and after they are born--and of our willingness to pay the toll collector because of some dim recognition we seem to have that "it's worth it," though often during pregnancy and after, we're not quite sure HOW it's worth it! The book is a spiritual journey, as well as a psychological one, and distinctly maternal. It is filled with wisdom and wonderful insights...here is a favorite example (from p. 194 of the paperback edition): In response to her musings about "Why him?", the author writes, "The hardest lesson I have ever had to learn is that I will never know the meaning of my children's pain, and that I have neither the capacity nor the right to take it away from them." Amen, Martha. A luminous, wonderful book!
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely moving
Review: This book is very well written, hysterically funny, and extremely moving. I have a baby boy who has Down Syndrome and I appreciated very much her uplifting account of her son's birth. I heard Martha Beck speak at a Down Syndrome Conference and she was so engaging I started reading her book that day. Well I finished it at one in the morning, it was that hard to put down. The only thing I didn't like was her slanted view on Mormonism - - I am a member of the "Mormon" church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and her statements about the church were misleading and untrue. Other than that the book was incredible and I have recommended it to all of my friends and family.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely moving story.
Review: Beautiful, inspiring, funny, crazy book about Beck's experience carrying and then caring for her son Adam, a Down's Syndrome baby. Not only is Beck so honest sometimes she made me want to cry, but her story is just truly amazing. I don't know if I believe everything thing she was saying she experienced while pregnant with Adam (lots of really weird psychic-y stuff), but I do know that I really really want to. I loved this book.
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