**A candid and philosophical memoir tackling abortion and the complex
decision to reproduce
I Know You Rider* is Leslie Stein's rumination on the many complex
questions surrounding the decision to reproduce. Opening in an abortion
clinic, the book accompanies Stein through a year of her life, steeped
in emotions she was not quite expecting while also looking far beyond
her own experiences. She visits with a childhood friend who's just had
twins and is trying to raise them as environmentally as possible, chats
with another who's had a vasectomy to spare his wife a lifetime of birth
control, and spends Christmas with her own mother, who aches for a
grandchild.
Through these melodically rendered conversations with loved ones and
strangers, Stein weaves one continuing conversation with herself. She
presents a sometimes sweet, sometimes funny, and always powerfully
empathetic account, asking what makes a life meaningful and where we
find joy, amid other questions--most of which have no solid answers,
much like real life.
Instead of focusing on trauma, I Know You Rider is a story about
unpredictability, change, and adaptability, adding a much-needed new
perspective to a topic often avoided or discussed through a
black-and-white lens. People are ever changing, contradicting
themselves, and having to deal with unforeseen circumstances: Stein
holds this human condition with grace and humor, as she embraces the
cosmic choreography and keeps walking, open to what life blows her way.
