At first this seemed to be your average beach read, because the character seemed stereotyped. Every way of having children had a representative in the story. As the plot unfolded and problems arose people became more rounded out. I did not think the way Neil's dissertation got a boost was very credible; it looked more like hastily tying up loose ends. ( )

I hate to admit it, but I just didn't like this book, and I wanted to. The premise sounded great, I just found the characters flat and whiny, I couldn't even finish it. Better luck next time. ( )

I keep making these forays into what I guess you might call "Literary Fiction" in an attempt to broaden my horizons, or make myself better at Reader's Advisory, or something. I read a few reviews of Perfect Life, by Jessica Shattuck, while I was doing collection development at work and impulsively placed a hold. As usually happens when I finish one of these books, I ended up somewhat disappointed. The novel is the story of four college friends (three women and one man, Neil) who attended Harvard undergrad together, and the action largely takes place in Boston (which is one of the problems, but I'll get to that momentarily). As the story begins, advertising executive Jenny is preparing for her son Colin's christening. Colin is biologically the child of Neil, who has agreed to give up his right to have knowledge of or contact with the child. So naturally, he is peering in the window of the fancy church that social-climbing Jenny has selected as an appropriate staging ground. The other friends, Laura (stay at-home mom and wife to a self-made immigrant) and Elise (lesbian and new non-bio parent), are each also prominent characters. I feel that the main difficulty with Perfect Life is that it takes on too many things. Each thirtysomething wrestles with mundane issues such parenthood and connecting with their spouse, in addition to heavier topics such as biology, inheritance, marketing, video game design, and a general crisis of faith. Jenny's husband [spoiler alert] is diagnosed with cancer, bringing her perfect world down around her ears just as she pioneers the launch of a new drug for postpartum depression. Laura, the most likeable character, struggles to find meaning in the daily routines of motherhood. Elise, a biologist, finds her partner's desire to meet other children conceived with their donor's sperm bewildering. Neil returns to Boston for reasons unknown even to himself, and it is around him (as the wild card) that the action largely turns.

In a weird way, this book is like a cousin of The Magicians, which I also read recently: a youngish group of friends struggling to find a place in the world and have angst and complicated relationships. But because Shattuck presents the narrative from the perspective of each of the four main characters, a lot of the interactions and character motivations end up feeling shallow because the reader never gets to spend enough time with one person. I lived in Boston for several years, and still don't consider myself an expert, but something about the way Shattuck dropped street, restaurant, and place names into the narrative really struck me as unnecessarily forceful, as if she was always trying to stress the location as an integral part of the story. Unfortunately, I don't feel that the location was an integral part of the story; the events could have played out anywhere. I get that Shattuck lives in Cambridge, and she wants to write what she knows--but it really was like reading one of those Gossip Girl or chick lit novels in which the names of designers and posh locales are always intruding on the plot.

I guess it probably sounds like I didn't really like this book. I'll be honest: it took me a long time to finish. I wasn't hurrying to pick it up. But it did make me think about a few things, like parenthood and friendship between adults, in a different way. ( )

Shattuck's writing is top notch, but most of the characters were too self-absorbed to care about. Still, a quick read and an interesting idea for a novel. ( )

Take four college friends (three former roommates and one ex-boyfriend) living what look to be perfect lives about ten years after college, stir in a broken promise, add a dollop of discontent and you have the premise for this novel. Opening with a prologue that takes place after the events in the bulk of the novel, Laura muses on a scene from the main characters' college years that carries the seeds of the big plot driving occurrence within it as each of them reflect on children and their future families.

Years later in Boston, the three former roommates have the lives they might have predicted that night or close to it. But those lives are only perfect on the surface. Laura is a wife and mother whose marriage is stagnant and who feels unappreciated by her mostly absent husband. Elise, a gifted research biologist, is feeling alienated from her partner over the issue of their children, who are biologically Chrissy's but not hers. Jenny is a new mom, having just had the baby she conceived using donor sperm from her old college boyfriend due to her husband's infertility. She is also a pharmaceutical exec contemplating a way to open up new markets for an existing antidepressant. Neil, Jenny's ex, has just moved back to Boston to work on a video game (selling out in his view) and is suddenly obsessed with the baby with whom he promised Jenny zero contact.

Neil shows up outside the church where Jenny's son is being baptised and accidentally runs into Laura. This unplanned meeting brings Neil back into the lives of Laura and Elise in ways that cause them each to examine the foundations of their lives and relationships. And of course, it will also lead Neil back into Laura's life, no matter how tightly she thinks she's secured her life against him.

Shattuck examines our notions of family, and biology in this complicated look at what determines and defines the word parent. There is also the question of what sort of life each of us is entitled to have and whether we are justified in doing whatever is needed to attain that life, regardless of the innocent bystanders who might be hurt.

It is easy to see why the characters are so dissatisfied with their lives given the sense of ennui that pervades the book. The writing keeps the reader at a distance, making it difficult to connect emotionally to any of the characters. Although it is Jenny's decision to have her son using Neil's sperm (he is a known entity and brilliant to boot, if aimless, in her view) and their agreement that he will stay forever out of the child's life that drives the actions of everyone in the book, the brittle Jenny is the least well fleshed out of the characters remaining a bit of an enigma throughout the story.

In general I enjoyed the premise but found the detached feel of the novel to hold me back from complete enjoyment and immersion in the lives of these four. With interesting and thought-provoking themes running through it, this was a decent read so I'd be willing to read more of Shattuck's work in the future. ( )