A review by stacymy
The Longings of Women by Marge Piercy

2.0

I was disappointed in this book. I thought that the story could have been told much more effectively using about 1/3 of the words and details. It took me over a week to read, not because of its length so much as my lack of interest. The storyline of Leila and Becky were interesting but I found myself becoming bored with Mary. I feel like this was an "almost there" book as I think the premise was good but the wordiness and the lack of character-depth was disappointing. I found Leila's extended family to be a superfluous addition to the story and many of the metaphors were borderline juvenile. I know this was the author's attempt to capture the characters' voices, but I think she missed the mark. I gave it 2 stars because I did plow through and finish it, because I wanted to know what happened. Though, since I didn't connect with the characters, I was ambivalent to whether they got divorced or married or killed or put in jail or fired or hired...I was just curious about the plotline, I guess.