Deborah M. (nitenurse) - , reviewed on
I really liked Anna Quindlen's New York Times column "Public and Private" and enjoyed her non-fiction. I read this book without reading the synopsis first. I am glad I did it that way. The story, told in the mother's voice, is a look into a family's everyday life - the joys, the frustrations, the ordinariness of it all. I was not prepared for the horrific event in the story and after finishing the book, found myself angry with Quindlen for even writing it. However, working with teens, I am aware of the trajectories their lives can take when stability, consistency and love are absent from their lives. On the whole, the book was quick reading. I don't think all the family characters were fleshed out enough...for example, her husband was an ophthomologist but I felt like he had blinders on throughout the story. Quindlen writes of grief and loss well and that is what saved this book for me.
