A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl

This was a interesting story told in three voices - three generations of women in the same family. It was an exploration of what society expects of women and what women expect of themselves. Grandmother Evelyn was the most ambitious of the three, yet was constrained by expectations of her marriage and by society in her time. Mother Laura had no real ambition beyond being a wife and mother, and as a depiction of my generation I could relate to the prevailing ideas of the time. Laura tries very hard to be the perfect wife and mother, but her overly demanding husband is rarely satisfied with either her or their children, especially their floundering son. Her husband feels no need for other friends and so Laura has no real female friends to distract her from her constricted life. Grace, the daughter, doesn’t present a very compelling picture of a modern woman. She has moved out of the house but stays mired in a dead-end job and a succession of not very serious guys. She hates the atmosphere at her home and questions her mothers choices, but doesn’t seem able to make her own path. The central questions of a woman’s choices in life spiral through the story. When Laura becomes ill Grace is pulled back into the family life whether she wants it or not, but she can’t fix the dynamics any more the her mother could. I enjoyed the book, but I never was pulled deeply into a relationship with the characters. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.