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Title: an unedited disappointment
Review: This book is not without its strengths. The selections from the author's father's journal are interesting. And I do not discount the personal experiences described, either the father's death, or the author's fertility treatments. The problem is that, as written, there is only enough real material for a long magazine article. The rest consists largely of references to what the author is eating, wearing, or listening to on the radio. It is difficult to imagine what, if anything, has been excised. In one excruciatingly cloying passage, the author repeatedly refers to herself in the third person as 'the possibly pregnant person.' I am an enthusiastic reader of McSweeney's, and wanted to like this, but could not. That said, Ms. Fusselman has a good grasp of language, and may have a better book ahead of her.
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