Cry When the Baby Cries

New Yorker cartoonist Barnicoat wrings hard-earned laughs from her experiences with motherhood in her wry graphic novel debut. She describes how her messy, painful pregnancy bears little resemblance to the images she sees on social media of flawless pregnant bodies, Instagrammable babies, and “aspirational” birth experiences (including “the dreamy water birth” and “the legend of the orgasmic dancing birth”). After her son is born via cesarean, she compares parenting an infant to a job where “sometimes the CEO will absolutely lose his shit and scream in my face for hours.” Reentering the adult world proves difficult in a society that makes little room for strollers or breastfeeding. Though she mines her experiences for comedy, designing games like the Wheel of Parenting Insomnia (spin it to land on a “new, terrible thing to worry about” like the “microplastics time bomb”) and Leaving-Your-Kid-at-Nursery Bingo (with squares like “guilt,” “Eau De Nappies,” and “why is the front door open?”), she’s frank about being depressed, exhausted, and often reduced to tears. Her loose ink-washed art suggests the humanistic style of Roz Chast, complete with charmingly drawn babies and hilariously frazzled self-portraits (Barnicoat frequently depicts herself wandering around the house in a half-naked, feral state). Parents will find much to identify with, and expectant parents would do well to heed Barnicoat’s warnings. Agent: Lindsay Edgecombe, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (Mar.)