Would YOU read this book?

By Mad Dog
Published: Mar 17, 2011

The novel — let’s skip the title and author — was highly praised. (Sarah Gruen called it "haunting.") And then one of you suggested it. So I got it. And started to read. Here’s the set-up: A married woman, late in her pregnancy, has stomach pains. She’s just moved into a new house. Husband’s at work. Phone’s not connected. She stumbles to a neighbor. Doesn’t know the name of the local hospital and doesn’t ask. Doesn’t remember her former doctor’s number and, though weeks away from the delivery room, has no new doctor. So she calls her father, who lives in this city. He’ll call a cab. She doesn’t know her address; she has to ask her neighbor. In the cab, she realizes she has no wallet. At the hospital, she has no ID. (Amazingly, she does know her social security number and date of birth.) They tell her to go to the back of the line, and she does. Maybe it’s just me, and maybe I’m just testy, but I ask you: Is this woman an idiot, or what? And having read the first chapter of this allegedly realistic novel, would you go on to the next?