For The New Yorker, Olga Ravn writes an eerie story about a woman who becomes delirious after giving birth.
If there was one word to describe “Maintenance, Hvidovre” by Olga Ravn, it would certainly be “disorienting.” The narrator, who remains unnamed, is a mother who has just given birth to her third child. However, unlike the other times she has given birth, she experiences a level of delirium that is uncomfortable to read. Including a supporting cast of mothers who are just as confused and paranoid, “Maintenance, Hvidovre” is a metaphor for the postpartum depression that may manifest within mothers, regardless of how many children they have.
"It wasn’t my first baby, but it was my first night in the hospital at Hvidovre.
I’m talking about it now because my husband doesn’t believe me and our two other children don’t, either. None of them were there at the start."
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