Took a bit to get in to it and was hard going at times. I see motherhood as a beautiful thing not something that has stopped me from living life to the fullest. I understood and felt the pain of the disinterested partner and hated the in-laws passionately. My son was born with a facial birthmark and have faced the pitying looks and comments of surgery etc to make him “normal”. So also this resonated with me. I don’t think I would recommend this book as it’s quite dark in places and I think we need cheering up currently.

My two stars are not for the book itself, which is well written and well thought, but simply because it’s not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t purchase it and honestly I wouldn’t know who to recommend it to. I found it utterly disturbing and unnecessarily unsettling, it takes the whole dark fable allegory a step too far. I found it incredibly difficult to empathise with the characters, their faults make them irritating and ridiculous and for the entire book I just wanted to scroll everyone by their shoulders and tell them to get a grip and pull themselves together. Motherhood, which is meant to be the main topic of this novel, is depicted almost like this astonished stupor, as if Tiny entered a sort of trance and she’s unable to wake up. Her husband and his perfect all-American family are quite bland, you don’t root for them but you don’t blame them either for being so uptight and narrow minded. I finished this book passively, with no particular interest in how it was going to end and what was going to happen to Tiny, Chouette or the father. If you’re interested in the eerie and weird, you might give this book a try – but be ready for a strong journey.