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Rating: 
Summary: good grief....... it's all smoke and mirrors
Review: I close this book with a definite feeling I've been to one of those snooty plays where they allude to people and places us common folks don't know. I refuse to feel as if I may just be The Great Unwashed... the Undereducated... McWilliams has in this novella confused wordiness with erudition. There is an interesting story here, and sections of it are beautifully told. It is with regret that I give such a low rating, and that is due to the author apparently trying to draw layers and layers, and yet more layers of words and half-formed thoughts across your path. You are not only slowed and a bit confused, you actually start to drown on the lyrical but extraneous paragraphs - thrown like a vapor over the story. Some of the characters take shape and life; the wife, the little son, and the Nanny. They are fleshed out and you can hear them breathe and speak. The husband is of cardboard, perhaps due to the shortness of this volume, probably intentionally as a sort of pivot for the main cast. The after-taste was disapointing, as if I were given a pretty treat that some layers were tasty cookie and jam and then I bit into a layer of boiled turnips. Speaking of food; this author does bravely and skillfully handle the painful subject of a national crisis (not only here in the USA but many countries) of facing eating disorders, both anorexia and bulimia. Kudos for that.
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