Nobody's Child

Child of Mine by Judy Mollen Walters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The premis of this story is compelling. The inherent unfairness of human procreation - those who can, those who can't, those who should not ... Those who do, anyway. None of it is easy. The author captures some of that in her work. The lead female protagonist, in her desire to have a child, faces many challenges - not the least, finding out her own creation story. The book is good, and it is a solid treatment of a difficult subject. The novel avoids melodrama, but also fails to capture the depth of what are, ultimately, very primal emotions surrounding identity. It steers a fairly even middle ground. The characterisations are adequate, but I couldn't feel enough empathy or sympathy for any of them - even the central female protagonist was sketched, rather than drawn out, and her husband was not as well developed as he should have been. He was less of an equal partner, more of a vessel, almost an afterthought. The novel fell short of adequately capturing the strain of infertility on a couple - there was too much story and not enough feeling. There was just too much going on for enough attention to be paid to the little things that define a relationship. A good read, and a solid treatment of a difficult subject, but I didn't feel close to any of the characters - or affected by their reality. I would have liked some depth. All in all, though, a very good first novel from a promising author. Easy to read and hard to put down. I look forward to Ms Walters' next offering.

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