I picked this up to read mostly because I have got to Q in my challenge where I’m trying to read a new author beginning with every letter of the alphabet. I’d seen earlier books by Anna Quindlen on my search that looked quite interesting so I got the latest one without knowing anything about it and wasn’t expecting anything particularly special. Then it turned out the book was all over the place as one of Richard & Judy’s book choices of the summer. (On the whole I think R&J come up with a decent selection of interesting books, not all to my taste and the odd one that looks like a terrible clunker to me (one man’s poison…) but I find it an interesting selection to peruse if not necessarily to read.)

It’s definitely a book to read without knowing too much about what happens. It reminded me of authors like Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult. Small town American family life with added disaster/trauma. I thought the author did a good job of the characters, their interactions, reactions to situations, motivations and what-not. I can see why it’s a book that some people would write off with a 1-star review and others will rave about with a 5-star review which would make me hesitant to recommend it. Personally I thought it all worked and I’m glad I knew very little of the story before I started reading. For me it was a moving read but stopped somewhere short of fabulous.