It took me a little while to get into the story and during the first half I kept losing track of the main characters. But on the whole I liked the book as this story of where does life go when you're not looking - and how can it turn out so differently than planned. There are moments throughout the book that are great character studies. It's the attention to detail and the interrelatedness of the characters despite each one thinking they are basically alone and different. How people (especially women) react to the changes in their lives and their vision of themselves was an undercurrent throughout. There's also a small stream of consciousness aspect to the book as the main characters will mention (as an aside) an influential person in their life and then the next chapter gives a small window into that person's life. I almost liked those small stories better than the the main story. The arc of the book was good - it started with women awakening and then came back to one of the best ending sentences. "One day you just woke up, and there was somewhere that you needed to be." How true.