Sue Miller has gotten attention mainly due to one of her novels being picked as an Oprah book club selection a while back. This novel spent time on the bestseller lists. But it’s not really up to the hype, I think.

Miller examines the lives of two women, one younger and just married, and her neighbor an older woman with grown children. The newlywed is trying to make sense of her new life, and she is oddly curious about the past life of her new friend, whose senator husband has been notoriously unfaithful over the years. She seems to think her neighbor will have some kind of “answers” for her.

Miller does a fine job detailing the stresses and life changes that women typically experience, but she misses the mark on some other things. The book would actually probably work OK if it weren’t for its odd resolution. So I wouldn’t recommend this one even if it were completely clean.

Rated: High for several occurrences of strong language, details of pornographic material and some sexual scenes.