daughter’s keeper - ayelet waldman
I bet you thought I was dead. Well, I'm not! I have just moved house, which is a time-consuming process, let me tell you. And I did read, but just no leftover energy to tell you about it. Will work through the backlog slowly...
First off: Daughter's Keeper, by my favourite brave and sensible author Ayelet Waldman (hear her talk good sense in that interview). She's moved beyond her funny mommy-track mysteries to write something much darker, and much more infuriating. The subject matter, that is, not the writing. Crummy USA judicial system! And Ayelet obviously knows what she's talking about (having been a public defender): this may be a fictional story, but it could have happened this way, and that stinks.
This isn't only a socially concious story about the absurdities of the War on Drugs, however: it's also quite a feat of describing the changing relationships between people (especially the mother and daughter) with many touching and realistic vignettes and descriptions. I feel envious about some of her scenes, and also proud that she is developing like this.
And as a follower I can't help but smile at Ayelet's good sense of economy as well: a trip she must have taken to Mexico for research yields results for both this book and Death Gets a Time-out. There's even a character named Araceli in both books, surely not a very common name. Fodder for the biographers, that.
09-03-2004
