This is a beautifully written contrast between a woman who has everything and a woman who has nothing. The dramatic scene on a beach in Africa where the two women meet is nothing short of spectacular. It's hard to think of other single scenes in fiction that present such a clear moral dilemma - the characters are believable, the ramifications far reaching. Great for discussion.

The subject matter is dark; the five year old narrator is not. It reminded me of the film, "Life is Beautiful." It's good for discussion on many levels - the writing itself, the narrative voice, or the issues it raises: how children see their mothers, how we cope with trauma, the media, our families. There's a lot going on in this one.

It's probably a good book for discussion purposes, but I didn't find it nearly as insightful as I'd hoped. The characters were a bit stereotypical and I didn't think it offered anything new. I was disappointed.

It's long. The characters aren't easy to love. But Franzen is deeply insightful about personality quirks that you may find embarrassingly true. I thought it was a very comprehensive snapshot of a certain lifestyle, a certain contemporary sensibility that was worth the read. It's been called a literary masterpiece. If your book club is full of serious readers, it's a good pick. But it's not a light, easy beach read, so may not be for everyone.

For such a fascinating topic, this novel didn't deliver. We were very disappointed to see such poor character development, the near-satirical treatment of media and pornography, the haphazard inclusion of research studies for shock value...in short, many missed opportunities to make a thoughtful commentary on modern life.

We suspected just hearing her talk about her experiences researching the book might be more interesting than reading the novel.