This novel uses the lives of three generations of related women to explore the important idea of whether you should have children. Missy is the only female member of a band. At twenty-two she’s partying as hard as any of the men until she finds herself alone in a hotel room in Vancouver and pregnant.
Carola is Missy’s mother. She left the family when Missy was a child to live her own life of free love. She sees Missy’s picture on a music magazine. Being involved in a sex scandal at the ashram where she’s been living gives her an impetus to think about her daughter.
Ruth is the grandmother. When Missy crashes with her, she decides that it’s time for the women in the family to get to know and hopefully begin to understand each other.
The novel is divided into two parts: the first in 1997 when Missy and her mother meet after ten years. An obvious discussion arises about the desire to have children and what is owed to the children you bring into the world. The second half takes place in 2013. Now Missy wants to have a child, but she’s looking a her biological clock and worrying.
I found the characters in this book hard to connect with. Missy seemed too childish and brash. Carola is not a character I could sympathize with although I grew up in her generation. She didn’t seem that real. Ruth was more likable, but hers wasn’t the main story. I think the question posed by the novel is important, but the characters didn’t carry it for me.
I received this book from Ballantine Books for this review.
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