Swimming Upstream, Slowly Book

After too many vodka tonics at her best friend's baby shower, twenty-seven-year-old Sasha finds herself having a ladies' room epiphany. How quickly life can change, she thinks to herself: one minute she's writing a master's thesis about a TV comedy show for kids–and the next, the program actually gets optioned with her as the star. But Sasha’s awe at the twists of fate proves to be premature. The real shock comes the next day, when her routine visit to the ob-gyn reveals that she’s pregnant—even though she hasn't slept with anyone in more than two years.

To her unbelieving ears comes the doctor’s diagnosis: Sasha’s body has unwittingly hosted a cellular hitchhiker, a medical anomaly known as “lazy sperm.” And now that this plodding genetic contribution has finally fulfilled its destiny, it will be up to Sasha to summon the courage to revisit her past loves even as her future slowly takes shape inside her. Which of her exes will be the father and how will he take the astounding news? And what will the end of the mystery mean to Sasha? The answers are revealed in this wonderfully inventive debut about the bonds that linger between people even after they part ways, and how the future can change in the twitch of a tail.

Publishers Weekly

Ambitious Sasha Salter, whose master's thesis was turned into a hit children's television show, isn't ready for kids of her own. So when her gynecologist tells her she's pregnant, Sasha is incredulous; she hasn't had sex in two years. Sasha's next appointment is with unorthodox researcher Dr. Rusmeuth, who hypothesizes that "lazy sperm" can rest in a "very hospitable environment" until ready to fertilize an egg. But whose sperm are so lazy that they hang out for two years? As Sasha searches for the father of her babe-to-be, her best buddies Erika (pregnant via the usual speedy method) and Jordan (who seems too snarky to be straight, but is) lend moral support and light comic relief. The novel's convoluted plot affords Sasha the opportunity to catch up with former boyfriends and the odd one-night-stand, all the while trying to decide whether she wants to abort. Dr. Rusmeuth, meanwhile, abuses the doctor-patient relationship to further his career. Television writer Clark tries gallantly to express the precariousness of her heroine's predicament, but the unflaggingly strong and willful Sasha is never out of control, which strips dramatic potential from the novel as it swims toward a happy conclusion. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.