March Meeting, "The Abortionist's Daughter," by Elisabeth Hyde

We had dinner at Chili's, the closest we could come to an all-American restaurant near our destination. Good food and drinks, in any case.

I'm the one who picked this month's book, "The Abortionist's Daughter," for couple of reasons. I'd seen it mentioned in a magazine several years ago and thought it sounded interesting given the subject matter alluded to in the title. Since I had never gotten around to reading it, I thought it was about time to do so. Also, I thought it would be a good book to stimulate discussion among our book group members, some of whom are practicing Catholics and/or Republican.

Turns out it wasn't as exciting as it sounded in the review. In a nutshell, it was a decent read but didn't live up to expectations, a decent murder mystery but certainly not one that generated a great discussion. It had great potential: an abortion doctor is murdered. There were plenty of hot button issues: abortion, infidelity, marital discord, child pornography, drug use, obsession, special needs children, mother-daughter relationships. There were even plenty of likely murder suspects: the discontented husband, the rebellious daughter, a couple of jilted lovers, some drug dealers, distraught parents, religious zealots, the right-to-life activists. I think that about covers every issue imaginable!

During the book group meeting, I kept to trying to find way to express what I found disappointing about the book, beginning with the feeling that, at the very least, the title is misleading. That the murder was senseless was not the problem. Most murders are senseless. Ultimately, my aha moment came when I realized that the motive behind the murder was completely unrelated to the victim's chosen profession. In fact, the profession of the protagonist was almost meaningless, incidental at best. That role could have been filled by any number of of controversial figures - a civil rights attorney, an human rights activity, a socialist reformer. See my point?

So why did the author bother to make the doctor an abortion provider? Was it her deep conviction about women's right to choose? Was it a personal exploration of the conflict? Was the provocative title simply a marketing ploy to catch our attention? Here's the author, on why she made her murder victim an abortionist:

"I wrote The Abortionist's Daughter after someone criticized my work for being 'too quiet.' So I thought, okay, I'll write a murder mystery. And I'll make the victim the most controversial figure I can imagine... It taught me a lot, writing a more tightly plotted novel, and... it landed me a two-book contract with Knopf. There were a lot of foreign sales as well, and it became a best seller in England when it was chosen as a summer selection for... England's Oprah, complete with huge ads in the Tube. Sometimes the stars do line up." (From Amazon.com, More About the Author)

Let me draw your attention to a couple of things in her explanation: 1) Because her work was too quiet, she picked an abortionist just to be controversial; 2) That strategy made her a lot of money; and 3) It taught her how to write a tight plot. To summarize, the abortionist thing was just a marketing ploy to make money. Unfortunately, though, she didn't learn as much about writing as she thinks she did. The book wasn't that well written. In fact, most of the characters and the whole plot lacked depth. And for a "tightly plotted novel," there sure were a lot of loose ends:

• the autopsy report stated that seem was found in the doc's vagina but we never found out whose it was
• the back door of the doc's home was broken but no one bothered to fix it, despite death threats
• the doc also welcomed home tours of her house, despite death threats
• the police work was shoddy throughout the investigation
• there was that gross, inappropriate attraction between the cop and her daughter

I've said it before - where was the editor? Oh that's right, everyone thought it was a tightly plotted novel!

www.plannedparenthood.org

In the end, the book failed but I'll use this forum to promote Planned Parenthood and all the great work that they do. Keep their doors open by voting against the Republicans!