Fiction Book Club Girls in Trouble by Caroline Leavitt Buy book: $16.73
Sara is sixteen and pregnant. She decides her best and only option is an open adoption with George and Eva, a couple desperate for a child. After the birth it's clear Sara has a bond with the child that Eva can't duplicate. When Sara cannot let go, Eva and George make a drastic decision, with devastating consequences for all of them.
The story seems to be a bit jumbled. I could not get a handle on the young girl's personality. My feeling is that an author needs to introduce the reader to the characters at the onset of the story to keep the reader interested.
Although I am intrigued by the story I could not differentiate very well between the characters of Sara and her mom, Abby. I look forward to sticking with it though.
I found myself stopping from time to time trying to recall if Abby was the mother or the daughter and vice-versa. However, I feel as though Caroline Leavitt is only showing us bits and pieces of the characters to draw us in more. If that's the case, it worked with me. I want to see more of Jack's personality.
At the same time, I believe today's excerpt went too fast. I know that things can be pretty crazy when a baby is on the way (I've had 3), but they can also be tense. I would have preferred Mrs. Leavitt to slow things down a bit and build up the pressure some more. Things were moving so quickly I could hardly keep up.
And what's the deal with the doctor and the students? Why didn't protective daddy, Jack, say something about having all those people looking at his daughter? He's obviously concerned for her.
Furthermore, I didn't feel as though the hospital staff's dialogue was on target. "Check the centimeters," "Get my girl into delivery," "Get mad at the baby," the nurse telling Sara about the Orthodox Jew not taking medication- what happened to patient confidentiality?
I will read the next chapter when I receive it, but I am not too thrilled with it. Writing style seems bland.
If I'm not more interested in it by the 3rd or 4th chapter, I doubt I will continue.
I respect the fact that you think this is a book for teens but this can happen to anyone. I have a friend who is 21 and is now pregnant, she has had two abortions before this pregnancy. I think that if you think you haven't lived your life to the fullest you could be thinking that it is the end of the world .
Sara is a young sixteen year old who got pregnant and believes her life is over. She then decides to go ahead and put the baby up for adoption. She never thought that she would end up getting attached, only it is too late.
I agree with Shareen and Leigh on character development and writing style. I am concerned that Caroline Leavitt's somewhat stilted language is going to fail to draw me into her characters in the same way that Alice Sebold's writing disappointed me in The Lovely Bones. The references by name to "Abby" and "Jack," instead of an occasional "Sara's mom/dad" seem awkward--unless perhaps Leavitt is using that reference to convey a distanced or stressed relationship between Sara and her parents? It didn't work for me. I'll be ready for the twist to come early; otherwise, I think Doris is right about the back-to-school special treatment of this important topic.
Having placed my son for adoption just over a year ago, I'm eager to read this book and see how it portrays birthmothers. I hope it doesn't help continue the stigma attached to women who have tried to give their children a better life by placing them with another family. Too often we are shown as uncaring and psychologically unbalanced which only makes an already painful situation that much more difficult.
Interesting. We've been on the adoptive parents side twice and I am like Sarah J., wondered how they would portray the couple adopting. I was very interested in the excerpts and will get the book to read asap. Just as an aside, we consider the birthmother extremely brave to do what she feels is best for the child.
hmmm...yes, the reading is jumbled but keep in mind, the main character is in the midst of labor - wouldn't your mind be jumbled as well?? She's practically in shock, confused, riding a roller coaster of emotions. Level headedness went out the window with the first contraction. We're riding the waves right along with her.
I'll keep reading...I'm interested in the anomosity her parents seem to have about the adoption.
Perhaps today's installment could be required reading for teens considering activity that could lead to pregnancy....I'm quite interested in the story, who Abby and Jack are, as well as the adoptive parents, when they turn up. And how will Sara respond to becoming a Mom? jill
Um, yes, I could't quite put my finger on what was "wrong" with this read until I read Doris's message and I agree - the book does seem to be written more for teens. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it could still be worthwhile reading for us older girls. It's just that ... now that I am older I like books written from an older viewpoint better than this type of thing. I might still read all of something like this but it wouldn't have the urgency for me of something like "the Seduction of Water" which was just featured and was oh so good.
...is more like reading about a rape than a birth. Regardless of where you give birth, a mother should have respect, privacy and support - not people staring and strange doctors shoving their hands inside of you. I think that I would have been fascinated by a book like this before I had my child and discovered what a beautiful experience birth can be in the right setting. Now, I'm absolutely disgusted by reading it, even though I know it's a work of fiction, because it's portraying birth as something terrifying and scary and humiliating.
In this case, to this character, birth IS "something terrifying and scary and humiliating." She doesn't know what to expect, she knows it's not her baby. She's only 16, she can't even know her own body too well. It IS humiliating to her to be a mother, being so young, being uncomfortable, giving the baby away, having strangers touching her.
Today's read made me incredibly sympathetic toward Sara. My heart goes out for all of the mixed up emotions she must be having.
This chapter seemed a little 'off', a little forced in it's characterizations and descriptions. But maybe if I was just reading along, I'd be caught up in the moment and not notice....Still, I'm ready for the mystery now. jill
As a woman who gave up a baby for adoption at seventeen I can tell you that this book hits it right on the head. I am now a registerd nurse and also know that the scene in the case room is also the way it is, with medical students, nursing students, residents, fellows, doctors, and everyone but the janitor in on the act. Sometimes we (health care professionals) are not sensitive enough to the patients because for us this is just our daily business but I do know exactly how this young girl feels and I also know that she will bond to her baby in such a way that she won't want to give her up.
I was captivated by this book from the first installment. I think the author is telling the story through the eyes of the sixteen year old so therefore will be in a younger more immature voice. How else could the story be told? Yes there will be some fragmented pieces but it will all come together I believe. The personalities of all the characters will be developed as the story unfolds.
I think thi is a good book and am looking forward to finishing it soon.
Having had my first daughter at 16, I can't help but get pulled into this book. I have to admit that I am angry with Abby for the way she is handling everything, acting like her daughter is 'dirty' for lack of a better word. Jack seems like he would have understood and helped if the baby had been kept and of course the adoptive parents seem wonderful. Poor Sara though having to deal with all of this in such a bad way... Bothered me that we have no idea what happened to the father... may have to get the book so I can finish it.
My wife read it before I did. The novel has a waiting list at the library, but fortunately I was able to finish it in three days.
I found it rewarding, though I have a few nits. The first is that I didn't expect it to end up the way it did (which I ought not to give away). I think it was part of a larger problem, which is that the novel seems to be written in such a way that it would take over 900 pages to tell. As a compromise, she skips over vast stretches of time as if there wasn't much of interest going on. Perhaps this is possible, but it might have made it more understandable had Levitt been able to bring out Anne's personality and predicament during her developmental period, rather than have it sprung on us so abrubtly.
Notwithstanding this, however, I enjoyed what I believe to be the most important aspect of the novel, which is to portray parenthood in a way that shows both our mistakes and outright deceits as something each of us is capable of making, even if, early on, we believe we will be better than our own were at parenting.
One other point of interest in this novel: The men in it are not irresponible, dumb, witless, destructive or otherwise irrelevant to the lives of their children. Can this be a trend, or merely an anomaly?
I couldn't put it down. While the storytelling was a little jumbled, I found the raw emotion displayed to be very compelling. I wasn't adopted, know my parents, and have no children -- but the characters' attachment to their children was very powerful.
