Michael Conant

There's an important story at the heart of this book--it's centered on parenthood and an imperfect system which is far too fallible to human error and misjudgment. And the plot, careful and horrifying as it is, compels a reader through the book in a powerful testament to those subjects and to the human emotions tied to them.

At the same time, I do think the book could have been a lot stronger if it were shorter and had been through a bit more editing and revision, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say so. The main character was sometimes hard to sympathize or engage with on any level But parenthood, and there were points when the writing really slowed things down, to the point that an editor who was willing to cut or suggest some real cuts--sometimes by paragraph and sometimes by page--could have done the book a lot of good. With those issues on top of some over-the-top choices and cliches, the book simply felt like it needed more editing in order to do justice to the story it was working to tell.

All told, I'd read another book by Conant, but I'd likely have a difficult time recommending this one unless a reader was specifically interested in the exact subject examined or in portrayals of parents being pitted against childhood disease and/or child services operations.… (mais)