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Finished this last night. A tremendous tour de force...so much to think about and so wonderfully written. This is a book where I had to read every word of every sentence because it was so well structured and so many interesting thoughts could be inserted when you least expected it. This was my second Lionel Shriver book this year and I think she is just an amazing author. I would rank both as two of the best novels I have read. Very complex, very deep and very meaty. You really enter the story. This one was difficult to read and I confess to feel fairly dispirited when I was reading it. I had seen bits and pieces of the movie so I knew how the it ended, but the the point in the book was not just the story but also the journy to get to the end...much like the journey Eva was on herself. I thought the author did a good job of presenting the down side of motherhood; after all, not everyone feels great every moment of pregnancy and taking care of children is not always sweetness and light. I wasn't big on the alphabet song either. But Eva had a bigger job of motherhood than most people could ever imagine. I did feel I uncovered some minor plot holes (why did Eva not have any friends who might have encouraged her to get help for herself or Kevin or their relationship? How could Franklin possibly be so obtuse? Didn't their pediatrician suggest some intervention when Kevin wasn't toilet trained at the age of 5?)but they were not sufficient to detract from the overall presentation of the story, both the story itself and the writing of it. Highly recommend it.