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Perfect Life
Two years ago, Neil Banks walked into a bathroom in the Pacific Fertility Center to provide his former college girlfriend, Jenny Callahan, with the biological material needed to conceive a child. Becoming a father was not part of the deal: adrift in his postmodern Los Angeles lifestyle, he signed away all paternity rights. But on the day of the baby's christening, Neil turns up at the church. His unexpected and unauthorized return to Jenny's privileged East Coast world sends a shockwave through the families of Jenny and her two college roommates and sets off this deeply funny and keenly observed novel about fertility, love, and American excess.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 3, 2009
38 people are currently reading
701 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Shattuck
9 books1,095 followersJessica Shattuck is the New York Times Bestselling author of the novels Last House (forthcoming from William Morrow May 2024), The Women in the Castle, The Hazards of Good Breeding, a New York Times Notable Book and finalist for the PEN/Winship Award, and Perfect Life. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Glamour, Mother Jones, Wired, and The Believer, among others. She received her MFA from Columbia University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
February 2, 2017
This was a gem I happened on by following a goodreads review of Jessica Shartuck' s forthcoming novel, due for release early this year. I loved the setting of A Perfect Life, Cambridge, Massachusetts, as New England is in my background. After reading one passage early on: "Laura had a memory of that other time, a million years ago it seemed, when they had all been college students, living in that cushy, all-American holding pen for almost adults, reading books and being cooked for, drinking five nights week and worrying over nothing more than term papers and social gaffes", I found the prose addictive. There's humor and pathos as well as deep sadness in this tale of four college friends reunited when their lives intersect years later. The author does have a knack for describing seemingly ordinary occurrences with great clarity. Nostalgia, regret, insecurity, the strengths and liabilities of friendship - all are skillfully wrought. How quickly one's life can be upended resonates in the following passage: "Not that she cared so deeply about the behind-her-back circumstances of it - but precisely that she didn't. It didn't matter. It served only to emphasize the stark life-and-death difference of the planet she now inhabited. A planet where such frivolities as sex and marital strife and attraction had no place. It filled her with a desperate sadness for her old life." Perfect Life contains much food for thought - and it's quite a story!
September 27, 2010
Here's how my husband describes a French movie: "It starts off and you're introduced to all these characters who prattle on endlessly about next to nothing. Two-thirds of the way through the movie, you think a plot is finally developing. Then, after another thirty minutes, the credits roll and you're thinking, 'Well, there's two hours of my life I'll never get back.'"[return][return]"Perfect Life" is the book version of a French movie. It goes on and on, has a few high points, and then ends, to quote Eliot, "not with a bang, but a whimper." Basically, if I want to listen to a bunch of thirty-something disillusioned white people from mostly privileged backgrounds blather on about how much their lives suck, their marriages are stale and how nothing turned out the way they thought it would, I'll just get together with my friends and drink a few margaritas. [return][return]I gave it two stars only because I did manage to read it to the end, and it had an interesting premise: boy meets girl, girl breaks up with boy, girl marries infertile workaholic, girl asks former boy to provide sperm in order for her to conceive on the condition that he goes away and never shows up again. Who would have thought that would end up to be a problem??[return][return]But, I ramble. The fact is there are much better books out there. Go read some of those.
February 16, 2013
This is not the type of book one reads to escape. Like so much in our modern world it raises endless questions. It prompted me to take handwritten notes while reading, something I haven't done in years. I took notes because I wanted to ensure I considered all of the themes percolating throughout the book.
There is something both thrilling and exhausting about this book. It explores the nuances and complexities of modern life with such a keen sense of observation and irony. The characters are so real and so inherently a product of their modern world. They (like many other experiences today) make me want to run away from modern society. Here are these individuals who went to Harvard and they are completely weighted down by their histories and their ambition. Their modern life styles seem oppressive and exhausting. At the end of the day, does all this striving make us happier? I found myself connecting this story to a recent article in the New Republic about a longitudinal study of males who graduated Harvard in the 1940s. We expect these individuals to be happier. But what does a pedigreed education really do to enhance a person's happiness? Obviously it increases their earning potential but that in itself will not increase happiness beyond a certain point.
One of the four main characters, Jenny, is a typical type-A female, and what many would deem a "true success." The youngest child of a canning plant foreman father and a mother who ran her own day care service while raising four children, Jenny journeyed from a small town with "ghastly colored houses" to Harvard and Harvard Business School. She admires and loves her father "possibly more than any other on earth" and yet he has never visited her house in Boston. Additionally, Jenny clearly understands that she is raising her son to operate in a completely different world than that of her father, a quiet man with "hands like slabs of meat and a face as flat, ruddy, and impassive as a statue's." Here is one of the many complexities of modern life. Many individuals seem to want their children to have more than they had, but what does that look like? Is a woman with a Harvard MBA who excels at marketing pharmaceuticals happier than her quiet foreman father?
I was particularly affected by the passage that talks of the chasm between Jenny's son and her father. Shattuck writes: "They would not speak the same language. Even the simplest nouns would be attached to such different things in their minds: kitchen, school, transportation, meat....They would be left with nothing but the hugest most basic precepts: ocean, light, sickness, death. Would this be enough?" I suppose this chasm doesn't really exist in the world I operate in. My parents were raised middle class - my mother especially grew up in a similar manner to me and my brothers. I no longer have grandparents and while I can imagine they might laugh at my high-flautin vocabulary we would still attach words to the same ideas. Many of my friends seem able to have conversations with their own grandparents and parents without defining words in different ways. I suppose part of this chasm has to do with class. I defined school differently than my students who grew up in the Bronx. It really isn't surprising that those who make it out of their low income communities rarely return. There is an idea of otherness, of being separate.
Jenny believes that motherhood "did not fit logically into the modern, well-educated career-driven woman's life." Shattuck offers Jenny as a lens through which to hone in on modern motherhood. We are left to ponder, when a woman was brought up learning to cook, garden, and keep house, when a "woman's primary aspiration was to achieve reproductive potential" as opposed to the more elusive form of recognition modern women strive for today, monetary or otherwise was it easier to mother? While Jenny questions these ideas I couldn't help but find fault with her own arguments. She talks of women who were taught to take care of sisters and brothers and grandparents, as if this was all so foreign to her, even though she worked in her mother's day care. It seems easy to look at the past with a rosy view without realizing that of course with more options and a high powered career traditional motherhood is not easy.
I can't help but wonder, what are we all striving for? In many ways some of the characters in this book seem like gerbils on a wheel grasping for what those around them covet, circling back into the lifestyles of those who came before. That isn't to say their aren't a variety of lifestyles portayed. Elise, one character, seems to love her world as a scientist. It is her niche and that is uplifting. She has also found peace in a loving relationship with her partner Chrissy, but all of that is affected by their decision to have children (carried by Chrissy).
Biology is a reoccurring theme in the novel. What makes someone a parent, blood or their actions? This question is offered up through more than one story stream. Additionally, how should biological parents be considered in a world with more rampant and acknowledged use of donors. Is it better to know your donor?
At the heart of the story are a series of even larger questions: What is the good life for a child? What is the good life for an educated individual? What is fundamental? What is normal? Do modern individuals overuse their brains when they should be better using their bodies? Shattuck uses Neil --the individual the other characters view as troubled, unstable and even teetering on crazy-- as a tool to question many of the experiences and ideas that have become normal. He is concerned with human suffering and hates the way coddled people have inflated their own low points. He questions if people actually deserve to be happy. He wonders if symptoms of social psychological issues serve a purpose. He wonders if antidepressants are a cultural force and an arbiter of normalcy. He puts forth the idea of "all American delusional," for example, getting caught up in the minutiae of something as small as a video game without considering its frivolity and utter insignificance in the larger world. While he may have been the character with the most problems, I sympathized with him, saw things more through his lens than the three female characters (even though I myself am a woman).
Shattuck offers a beautiful and magical story that stops the reader and causes them to ruminate on modern life. The novel, like its characters, is complex, intense, and varied. I immediately recommended the book to friends. And if I had words to convey high praise without sounding ridiculous I'd offer them here. I loved being in this world even though it was frustrating and at times nauseating. I loved wrestling with these questions and I know I will continue to do so for a long time.
There is something both thrilling and exhausting about this book. It explores the nuances and complexities of modern life with such a keen sense of observation and irony. The characters are so real and so inherently a product of their modern world. They (like many other experiences today) make me want to run away from modern society. Here are these individuals who went to Harvard and they are completely weighted down by their histories and their ambition. Their modern life styles seem oppressive and exhausting. At the end of the day, does all this striving make us happier? I found myself connecting this story to a recent article in the New Republic about a longitudinal study of males who graduated Harvard in the 1940s. We expect these individuals to be happier. But what does a pedigreed education really do to enhance a person's happiness? Obviously it increases their earning potential but that in itself will not increase happiness beyond a certain point.
One of the four main characters, Jenny, is a typical type-A female, and what many would deem a "true success." The youngest child of a canning plant foreman father and a mother who ran her own day care service while raising four children, Jenny journeyed from a small town with "ghastly colored houses" to Harvard and Harvard Business School. She admires and loves her father "possibly more than any other on earth" and yet he has never visited her house in Boston. Additionally, Jenny clearly understands that she is raising her son to operate in a completely different world than that of her father, a quiet man with "hands like slabs of meat and a face as flat, ruddy, and impassive as a statue's." Here is one of the many complexities of modern life. Many individuals seem to want their children to have more than they had, but what does that look like? Is a woman with a Harvard MBA who excels at marketing pharmaceuticals happier than her quiet foreman father?
I was particularly affected by the passage that talks of the chasm between Jenny's son and her father. Shattuck writes: "They would not speak the same language. Even the simplest nouns would be attached to such different things in their minds: kitchen, school, transportation, meat....They would be left with nothing but the hugest most basic precepts: ocean, light, sickness, death. Would this be enough?" I suppose this chasm doesn't really exist in the world I operate in. My parents were raised middle class - my mother especially grew up in a similar manner to me and my brothers. I no longer have grandparents and while I can imagine they might laugh at my high-flautin vocabulary we would still attach words to the same ideas. Many of my friends seem able to have conversations with their own grandparents and parents without defining words in different ways. I suppose part of this chasm has to do with class. I defined school differently than my students who grew up in the Bronx. It really isn't surprising that those who make it out of their low income communities rarely return. There is an idea of otherness, of being separate.
Jenny believes that motherhood "did not fit logically into the modern, well-educated career-driven woman's life." Shattuck offers Jenny as a lens through which to hone in on modern motherhood. We are left to ponder, when a woman was brought up learning to cook, garden, and keep house, when a "woman's primary aspiration was to achieve reproductive potential" as opposed to the more elusive form of recognition modern women strive for today, monetary or otherwise was it easier to mother? While Jenny questions these ideas I couldn't help but find fault with her own arguments. She talks of women who were taught to take care of sisters and brothers and grandparents, as if this was all so foreign to her, even though she worked in her mother's day care. It seems easy to look at the past with a rosy view without realizing that of course with more options and a high powered career traditional motherhood is not easy.
I can't help but wonder, what are we all striving for? In many ways some of the characters in this book seem like gerbils on a wheel grasping for what those around them covet, circling back into the lifestyles of those who came before. That isn't to say their aren't a variety of lifestyles portayed. Elise, one character, seems to love her world as a scientist. It is her niche and that is uplifting. She has also found peace in a loving relationship with her partner Chrissy, but all of that is affected by their decision to have children (carried by Chrissy).
Biology is a reoccurring theme in the novel. What makes someone a parent, blood or their actions? This question is offered up through more than one story stream. Additionally, how should biological parents be considered in a world with more rampant and acknowledged use of donors. Is it better to know your donor?
At the heart of the story are a series of even larger questions: What is the good life for a child? What is the good life for an educated individual? What is fundamental? What is normal? Do modern individuals overuse their brains when they should be better using their bodies? Shattuck uses Neil --the individual the other characters view as troubled, unstable and even teetering on crazy-- as a tool to question many of the experiences and ideas that have become normal. He is concerned with human suffering and hates the way coddled people have inflated their own low points. He questions if people actually deserve to be happy. He wonders if symptoms of social psychological issues serve a purpose. He wonders if antidepressants are a cultural force and an arbiter of normalcy. He puts forth the idea of "all American delusional," for example, getting caught up in the minutiae of something as small as a video game without considering its frivolity and utter insignificance in the larger world. While he may have been the character with the most problems, I sympathized with him, saw things more through his lens than the three female characters (even though I myself am a woman).
Shattuck offers a beautiful and magical story that stops the reader and causes them to ruminate on modern life. The novel, like its characters, is complex, intense, and varied. I immediately recommended the book to friends. And if I had words to convey high praise without sounding ridiculous I'd offer them here. I loved being in this world even though it was frustrating and at times nauseating. I loved wrestling with these questions and I know I will continue to do so for a long time.
April 4, 2022
In the world of ambition and privilege these former college friends navigate their lives to find perfection where none exists. One by one each realizes that there is something more, and that realization can bring trauma as well as painful resolution. I really liked this book.
November 16, 2009
I keep making these forays into what I guess you might call "Literary Fiction" in an attempt to broaden my horizons, or make myself better at Reader's Advisory, or something. I read a few reviews of Perfect Life, by Jessica Shattuck, while I was doing collection development at work and impulsively placed a hold. As usually happens when I finish one of these books, I ended up somewhat disappointed. The novel is the story of four college friends (three women and one man, Neil) who attended Harvard undergrad together, and the action largely takes place in Boston (which is one of the problems, but I'll get to that momentarily). As the story begins, advertising executive Jenny is preparing for her son Colin's christening. Colin is biologically the child of Neil, who has agreed to give up his right to have knowledge of or contact with the child. So naturally, he is peering in the window of the fancy church that social-climbing Jenny has selected as an appropriate staging ground. The other friends, Laura (stay at-home mom and wife to a self-made immigrant) and Elise (lesbian and new non-bio parent), are each also prominent characters. I feel that the main difficulty with Perfect Life is that it takes on too many things. Each thirtysomething wrestles with mundane issues such parenthood and connecting with their spouse, in addition to heavier topics such as biology, inheritance, marketing, video game design, and a general crisis of faith. Jenny's husband [spoiler alert] is diagnosed with cancer, bringing her perfect world down around her ears just as she pioneers the launch of a new drug for postpartum depression. Laura, the most likeable character, struggles to find meaning in the daily routines of motherhood. Elise, a biologist, finds her partner's desire to meet other children conceived with their donor's sperm bewildering. Neil returns to Boston for reasons unknown even to himself, and it is around him (as the wild card) that the action largely turns.
In a weird way, this book is like a cousin of The Magicians, which I also read recently: a youngish group of friends struggling to find a place in the world and have angst and complicated relationships. But because Shattuck presents the narrative from the perspective of each of the four main characters, a lot of the interactions and character motivations end up feeling shallow because the reader never gets to spend enough time with one person. I lived in Boston for several years, and still don't consider myself an expert, but something about the way Shattuck dropped street, restaurant, and place names into the narrative really struck me as unnecessarily forceful, as if she was always trying to stress the location as an integral part of the story. Unfortunately, I don't feel that the location was an integral part of the story; the events could have played out anywhere. I get that Shattuck lives in Cambridge, and she wants to write what she knows--but it really was like reading one of those Gossip Girl or chick lit novels in which the names of designers and posh locales are always intruding on the plot.
I guess it probably sounds like I didn't really like this book. I'll be honest: it took me a long time to finish. I wasn't hurrying to pick it up. But it did make me think about a few things, like parenthood and friendship between adults, in a different way.
In a weird way, this book is like a cousin of The Magicians, which I also read recently: a youngish group of friends struggling to find a place in the world and have angst and complicated relationships. But because Shattuck presents the narrative from the perspective of each of the four main characters, a lot of the interactions and character motivations end up feeling shallow because the reader never gets to spend enough time with one person. I lived in Boston for several years, and still don't consider myself an expert, but something about the way Shattuck dropped street, restaurant, and place names into the narrative really struck me as unnecessarily forceful, as if she was always trying to stress the location as an integral part of the story. Unfortunately, I don't feel that the location was an integral part of the story; the events could have played out anywhere. I get that Shattuck lives in Cambridge, and she wants to write what she knows--but it really was like reading one of those Gossip Girl or chick lit novels in which the names of designers and posh locales are always intruding on the plot.
I guess it probably sounds like I didn't really like this book. I'll be honest: it took me a long time to finish. I wasn't hurrying to pick it up. But it did make me think about a few things, like parenthood and friendship between adults, in a different way.
May 20, 2011
There are times when I read a really good book but sort of wish I'd never picked it up. Reading Jessica Shattuck's Perfect Life was one of those times.
::: The Plot :::
Four friends who attended Harvard together have hit their mid-thirties, most of them still in touch with each other regularly. Elise and her partner Chrissy have twin boys Chrissy conceived using a sperm donor. Laura and her husband Mac have two girls and a typical suburban life, complete with Laura's low-effort job and an au pair. Jenny has been upwardly mobile in her marketing job for a pharmaceutical firm where Elise also works, as a researcher. But when Jenny's husband turns out to be infertile, she turns to a friend of the three women (and Jenny's ex-boyfriend), the brilliant but seemingly unmotivated Neil for a sperm donation. Neil agrees to her terms: any child conceived would never know he was the father, and he has no contact with her or her familiy.
Neil, however, throws a monkey wrench into the perfect set-up and returns to Boston for a year-long gig for a game company, his version of "selling out." In no time, he's creeping around Jenny's house to see his child, having an affair with Laura, adding to a rift between Elise and Chrissy, and screwing Jenny's employee (who's also a work colleague of his) on the side.
::: All Too Real :::
I like to read fiction as an escape from the stresses of everyday life. Perfect Life is anything but an escape. Shattuck has a fairly large cast of characters to keep track of, but she's given each of them the depth that makes them real. Anyone of a certain age can identify with Laura's ennui: stuck in the suburbs with an inattentive husband and a lackluster sex life. It's the same with Elise and Chrissy; Elise fears that Chrissy's biological link to their sons is shoving her out of the picture, and when her perfect job adds to the stress, the perfect life she thought she had doesn't look quite so perfect anymore.
The reader will find him- (or her-) self rooting for Neil, though. The wunderkind who never managed to get out of the starting gate, he's even more lost than his old friends, and you want him to find something--anything--that gives him something to hold onto. That feeling of waking up one day to find out that your youth has passed you by with not much to show for it is palpable, and painful.
Perfect Life is an all-too-realistic novel that may hit a little too close to home to be what I'd call enjoyable.
This review originally published on Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_P...
::: The Plot :::
Four friends who attended Harvard together have hit their mid-thirties, most of them still in touch with each other regularly. Elise and her partner Chrissy have twin boys Chrissy conceived using a sperm donor. Laura and her husband Mac have two girls and a typical suburban life, complete with Laura's low-effort job and an au pair. Jenny has been upwardly mobile in her marketing job for a pharmaceutical firm where Elise also works, as a researcher. But when Jenny's husband turns out to be infertile, she turns to a friend of the three women (and Jenny's ex-boyfriend), the brilliant but seemingly unmotivated Neil for a sperm donation. Neil agrees to her terms: any child conceived would never know he was the father, and he has no contact with her or her familiy.
Neil, however, throws a monkey wrench into the perfect set-up and returns to Boston for a year-long gig for a game company, his version of "selling out." In no time, he's creeping around Jenny's house to see his child, having an affair with Laura, adding to a rift between Elise and Chrissy, and screwing Jenny's employee (who's also a work colleague of his) on the side.
::: All Too Real :::
I like to read fiction as an escape from the stresses of everyday life. Perfect Life is anything but an escape. Shattuck has a fairly large cast of characters to keep track of, but she's given each of them the depth that makes them real. Anyone of a certain age can identify with Laura's ennui: stuck in the suburbs with an inattentive husband and a lackluster sex life. It's the same with Elise and Chrissy; Elise fears that Chrissy's biological link to their sons is shoving her out of the picture, and when her perfect job adds to the stress, the perfect life she thought she had doesn't look quite so perfect anymore.
The reader will find him- (or her-) self rooting for Neil, though. The wunderkind who never managed to get out of the starting gate, he's even more lost than his old friends, and you want him to find something--anything--that gives him something to hold onto. That feeling of waking up one day to find out that your youth has passed you by with not much to show for it is palpable, and painful.
Perfect Life is an all-too-realistic novel that may hit a little too close to home to be what I'd call enjoyable.
This review originally published on Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_P...
July 22, 2011
I really shouldn't have taken this book out after my disaster run in with this authors last book. I wasn't looking forward to this one at all, but thank god, it was a little better. College friends grown up. Three girls and a dude. Girl #1 is happily married with kids. Girl #2 is a lesbian and has kids with her partner that her partner had, so technically she isn't part of them at all. Girl #3's husband can't have kids, so she asked the Dude to be the father. He's a little flaky and does it. The women live in Mass and the Dude lives in Cal, but the Dude comes back to Mass for work. He sleeps with Girl #1 when her husband is away. Girl #3 is freaked that the kid is going to find out and the Dude is going to tell everyone because as part of the deal, he isn't supposed to tell anyone (tho the couple knows, of course and the friends do, but no one else, including the kid). Also, the husband of Girl #3 gets cancer. And Girl #2 has a hard time dealing with the connection her partner has with the kids that she doesn't. In the end, the rules with the Dude change and even though he isn't the day to day father, he is allowed in the child's life. Anyway, slightly better then this authors last book, but still a little too dry for me.
Grade: C
Grade: C
June 19, 2017
Enjoying reading this author's second book but highly disappointed in the copyediting. On p. 23, it is written that a character's mother died when she was 9; on p. 90, it says she was 10 when her mother died. Also, just within a five-page span, the phrase "pick himself up by his bootstraps" is used several times about several characters. Page 156 has: "the months of of peeing on ovulation sticks," and p. 159 has: "...It was clear immediately that the results were not good. She knew this immediately from..." Ugh. Too bad a good writer was let down by the sloppy editing.
June 9, 2020
I purchased and read this book because I read " Women the Castle" and was SO impressed that I purchased her other two. This one is very good-just not as much so. The characters were chosen to provide examples of women in a various relationships. Good choices.
“Jessica Shattuck’s engrossing, deceptively ambitious novel explores a wide range of subjects . . . with a shrewd and sympathetic eye.”―Tom Perrotta
“In this smart and engaging follow-up to her well-received debut, The Hazards of Good Breeding, Shattuck focuses on three privileged Gen X college roommates who are now grown up, coupled up, and raising kids in pre-recession Boston. The cracks in their ‘perfect lives’ begin to show when the most precocious of the trio, a gorgeous striver named Jenny whose husband is infertile, makes the unconventional decision to have a baby with a sperm donation from Neil, her brainy, slacker ex-boyfriend from Harvard. . . . Stylish storytelling and sharp social commentary . . . make Perfect Life both topical
“Jessica Shattuck’s engrossing, deceptively ambitious novel explores a wide range of subjects . . . with a shrewd and sympathetic eye.”―Tom Perrotta
“In this smart and engaging follow-up to her well-received debut, The Hazards of Good Breeding, Shattuck focuses on three privileged Gen X college roommates who are now grown up, coupled up, and raising kids in pre-recession Boston. The cracks in their ‘perfect lives’ begin to show when the most precocious of the trio, a gorgeous striver named Jenny whose husband is infertile, makes the unconventional decision to have a baby with a sperm donation from Neil, her brainy, slacker ex-boyfriend from Harvard. . . . Stylish storytelling and sharp social commentary . . . make Perfect Life both topical
May 15, 2019
This was a finely crafted novel built around the central questions of a life created well. Four friends navigate a year in their lives as their carefully constructed plans fall or shift or turn up empty despite all the planning.
It’s a novel about creation: how do you create the life you want, and after you’ve done that, how do you contend with the life you built?
I was swept up in this book. Shattuck is a talented writer, and her characters and plot are both well developed. It’s a book, though, of white status anxiety that already feels dated. Wealthy white people, in particular mothers, who need to make sense of their comfortable, monied lives. It reminded me of Meg Wolizter’s The Ten Year Nap, though Perfect Life felt less anthropological. Both novels, though, exist in a world that feels either vanished entirely (in the recession, in the stagnating economy, in this split and evolving world of regressive politics and radical change) or exists entirely behind a mantle of wealth.
It’s a novel about creation: how do you create the life you want, and after you’ve done that, how do you contend with the life you built?
I was swept up in this book. Shattuck is a talented writer, and her characters and plot are both well developed. It’s a book, though, of white status anxiety that already feels dated. Wealthy white people, in particular mothers, who need to make sense of their comfortable, monied lives. It reminded me of Meg Wolizter’s The Ten Year Nap, though Perfect Life felt less anthropological. Both novels, though, exist in a world that feels either vanished entirely (in the recession, in the stagnating economy, in this split and evolving world of regressive politics and radical change) or exists entirely behind a mantle of wealth.
January 12, 2018
Self conscious, self absorbed characters, none of whom have motivations that are very well developed. A very homogenous group of upper middle class Harvard University friends who apparently think the whole world is about them. I️ didn’t meet anyone deeply in this story. A couple of times, almost, I️ thought I️ caught a glimpse of some self-reflection and awareness that went beyond the beige, entitled characters - but we never quite got there. The person I️ liked most was Jeremy - he’s the one I️ would have chosen to sit down and visit with at a party - he seemed capable of looking up and out and beyond himself. Unfortunately, despite hints about his growth and growing self-awareness, we ultimately never really got there.
July 31, 2020
Annoying characters make it difficult to become engrossed- or like them enough to continue. While she has some good lines and insights there's not enough to carry the book. I have a huge impatience for a writer who has to explain everything, describe the detail in actual terms - I prefer the more esoteric description, analogies, literary references, etc.
Disappointing, I did like the Women in the Castle, sort of liked the Hazards..., I think I will give up on her - for now.
Disappointing, I did like the Women in the Castle, sort of liked the Hazards..., I think I will give up on her - for now.
May 25, 2023
Self absorbed 30ish characters, none of whom have any concern for anyone but themselves and their wants and desires. (OK one does come out of it a bit when her spouse becomes ill.) A group of Harvard University friends who apparently think the whole world is about them. There was some hint at self-reflection and entitlement awareness - but, alas, it was glossed over. My favorite character in this novel was Ula, the sheep!
September 12, 2017
At first this seemed to be your average beach read, because the character seemed stereotyped. Every way of having children had a representative in the story. As the plot unfolded and problems arose people became more rounded out. I did not think the way Neil's dissertation got a boost was very credible; it looked more like hastily tying up loose ends.
August 13, 2025
Well written novel about a group of college friends in Boston in their early adulthood--themes of friendship, privilege, and creating the life you think you deserve (and the ways that can go sideways).
May 14, 2017
A bunch of uninteresting characters. Story bounced around so much and never flushed out any of the people. By the end I didn't like any of them, just wanted it to end.
November 18, 2017
This story worked hard to hang together and I kept "at it" because I like the author. If this was the first book of hers that I ever read, she would not have made it to my favorite author list.
May 6, 2019
This story. Ugh. I weep that we live in a world that this story is SO relatable and convincing .
February 12, 2025
I liked the cover.
September 13, 2025
I read this several years ago, so my hazy recollection could be due to the passage of time... although TBH, I think I had the same impression just after finishing the book.
June 22, 2009
Jessica Shattuck's new novel, Perfect Life, covers a lot of ground and mixes a lot of familiar themes. Take one part The Big Chill, one part Jodi Picoult, and blend it with women's fiction, and you'll start to see what I mean.
Meet four college friends: Jenny, Laura, Elise, and Neil. Gone are the pot-smoking days of simplicity, and welcome to the real world. Elise is frustrated with her partner's quest to find other children of their child's sperm donor; Laura has a husband that is never home and questions if she ever really knew the father of her two children.
But the novel's backbone lies with Neil and Jenny. Two years prior, Neil provided his sperm so Jenny and her husband Jeremy could conceive a child. With this donation, though, he signed away all rights and recognition as the biological father, and he is just now starting to question whether this was a good decision. Neil's unexpected return to the East Coast sends a shockwave through the group and brings them together in this book about family, friendship, morality, and (as the back of the book states) fertility.
One part Big Chill: I believe the strongest point of this novel is Shattuck's ability to realistically depict her characters' relationships and reactions. The plot fundamentally revolves around Neil's return and how it affects each of the other characters, both within their circle of friendship and outside of it with their own families, and for this reason, it reminds me of The Big Chill. The reader gets a clear and descriptive picture of each character's personality and problems, so we feel as though we really know them and their relationships.
One part Jodi Picoult: Picoult always writes on the grey area of legality, taking an issue like Neil's controversial sperm donation and chronicling its impact on her characters. I found Shattuck's storyline to be very creative, but I don't believe it was used to its full potential. For once, I wish it had been more Picoult-esque, because the Shattuck's characters seemed to be very submissive, and somewhat passive, about the whole Neil issue. I understand there is a fine balance between keeping it a character novel and turning it into a legal drama, but it seemed weak as Neil was the only one who seemed to care one way or another about the situation. I was happy to leave the characters at the end because their problems exhausted me.
The back cover synopsis describes this as a "deeply funny and keenly observed novel," but it certainly is in no way, shape, or form 'funny.' This is a serious novel, but not a negative one. You may not chuckle, but you will appreciate Shattuck's character insight as you ponder how you would react in a similar situation.
Meet four college friends: Jenny, Laura, Elise, and Neil. Gone are the pot-smoking days of simplicity, and welcome to the real world. Elise is frustrated with her partner's quest to find other children of their child's sperm donor; Laura has a husband that is never home and questions if she ever really knew the father of her two children.
But the novel's backbone lies with Neil and Jenny. Two years prior, Neil provided his sperm so Jenny and her husband Jeremy could conceive a child. With this donation, though, he signed away all rights and recognition as the biological father, and he is just now starting to question whether this was a good decision. Neil's unexpected return to the East Coast sends a shockwave through the group and brings them together in this book about family, friendship, morality, and (as the back of the book states) fertility.
One part Big Chill: I believe the strongest point of this novel is Shattuck's ability to realistically depict her characters' relationships and reactions. The plot fundamentally revolves around Neil's return and how it affects each of the other characters, both within their circle of friendship and outside of it with their own families, and for this reason, it reminds me of The Big Chill. The reader gets a clear and descriptive picture of each character's personality and problems, so we feel as though we really know them and their relationships.
One part Jodi Picoult: Picoult always writes on the grey area of legality, taking an issue like Neil's controversial sperm donation and chronicling its impact on her characters. I found Shattuck's storyline to be very creative, but I don't believe it was used to its full potential. For once, I wish it had been more Picoult-esque, because the Shattuck's characters seemed to be very submissive, and somewhat passive, about the whole Neil issue. I understand there is a fine balance between keeping it a character novel and turning it into a legal drama, but it seemed weak as Neil was the only one who seemed to care one way or another about the situation. I was happy to leave the characters at the end because their problems exhausted me.
The back cover synopsis describes this as a "deeply funny and keenly observed novel," but it certainly is in no way, shape, or form 'funny.' This is a serious novel, but not a negative one. You may not chuckle, but you will appreciate Shattuck's character insight as you ponder how you would react in a similar situation.
April 1, 2012
No one's life is perfect, no matter how hard they try to make it so, although some do succeed in making their lives look perfect from the outside. Former college roommates and long-time friends Jenny, Laura, and Elise all seem to be doing quite well. Laura has a successful husband and is a stay-at-home mom to their two young daughters; Jenny has a thriving career, a new baby boy, and a pending move to the suburbs; and Elise is engaged with her scientific research and her own family.
Jenny's baby was conceived with donor sperm, due to her husband's infertility, from a chosen donor - their old college friend Neil, an ex-boyfriend of hers whose life has gone adrift since he abandoned his doctoral dissertation. Elise's twin boys had similar origins, but from a different source, and are the biological children of her partner Chrissy. Chrissy is seeking out her children's biological half-siblings from the donor, and Elise, a biologist, is conflicted over her efforts. Meanwhile, Neil has chosen to violate the agreement that he made with Jenny - that he'd have no contact with any child produced from his donation - and has secretly returned to Boston.
One of the central themes in Perfect Life is played out through those storylines - what defines a parent? How much of a role does biology play, and without a biological connection, can parent and child be truly bonded? What about when biology is the only connection? Does a person have to have a family to have a happy, "perfect" life...and is that happiness deserved? What might people be willing to do to get the happiness they deserve?
There are some good questions here, and Jessica Shattuck's exploration of them kept me reading, but ultimately I felt that it fell short. I thought the material was good, but it seemed underdeveloped, and that was a bit disappointing. There were quite a few good scenes, but others really didn't seem to lead anywhere. The characters didn't feel fully fleshed out. I think Laura came the closest, and also found her the most likable; but considering how much of the story revolves around Jenny, I didn't think I really knew her well enough. "Sketchy" was the word that came to mind; the novel was like a series of related sketches, and I wish it had been more filled in, filled out, and connected. Perfect Life isn't quite a perfect novel, though - I think it doesn't quite live up to its potential. Having said that, I do think there's a lot of good discussion material here for a book group, and I'd read other novels by Jessica Shattuck.
Jenny's baby was conceived with donor sperm, due to her husband's infertility, from a chosen donor - their old college friend Neil, an ex-boyfriend of hers whose life has gone adrift since he abandoned his doctoral dissertation. Elise's twin boys had similar origins, but from a different source, and are the biological children of her partner Chrissy. Chrissy is seeking out her children's biological half-siblings from the donor, and Elise, a biologist, is conflicted over her efforts. Meanwhile, Neil has chosen to violate the agreement that he made with Jenny - that he'd have no contact with any child produced from his donation - and has secretly returned to Boston.
One of the central themes in Perfect Life is played out through those storylines - what defines a parent? How much of a role does biology play, and without a biological connection, can parent and child be truly bonded? What about when biology is the only connection? Does a person have to have a family to have a happy, "perfect" life...and is that happiness deserved? What might people be willing to do to get the happiness they deserve?
There are some good questions here, and Jessica Shattuck's exploration of them kept me reading, but ultimately I felt that it fell short. I thought the material was good, but it seemed underdeveloped, and that was a bit disappointing. There were quite a few good scenes, but others really didn't seem to lead anywhere. The characters didn't feel fully fleshed out. I think Laura came the closest, and also found her the most likable; but considering how much of the story revolves around Jenny, I didn't think I really knew her well enough. "Sketchy" was the word that came to mind; the novel was like a series of related sketches, and I wish it had been more filled in, filled out, and connected. Perfect Life isn't quite a perfect novel, though - I think it doesn't quite live up to its potential. Having said that, I do think there's a lot of good discussion material here for a book group, and I'd read other novels by Jessica Shattuck.
December 21, 2009
Ive been reading while I nurse in the wee hours of the morning. I needed something that was entertaining yet a light read and didnt require too much thought. This book satisfied all those criteria very well. Its written well, but, simply. The story line was engaging but not heavy. Id give it 5 stars for satisfying my intentions for a book. But, overall it only gets 3 stars because its not thought provoking or engaging in a real sense of a novel.
The novel centers around college roommates some 15-20 years after they have all graduated and moved onto well established lives. All except for one heartthrob Neil. Neil's life is a disappointment, to him, to his mother, to his roommates, to everyone who saw the potential he had in college and the lack of anything he did with it. Neil, having no meaning in his life, agrees to this implausible contract with Jenny, one of the roommates, to father her child because her husband is sterile. But, he must walk away from the child once his sperm is donated. He does so. But, soon regrets his choice and heads back to his college town of Boston to find himself, his child and his meaning in life.
The novel centers around college roommates some 15-20 years after they have all graduated and moved onto well established lives. All except for one heartthrob Neil. Neil's life is a disappointment, to him, to his mother, to his roommates, to everyone who saw the potential he had in college and the lack of anything he did with it. Neil, having no meaning in his life, agrees to this implausible contract with Jenny, one of the roommates, to father her child because her husband is sterile. But, he must walk away from the child once his sperm is donated. He does so. But, soon regrets his choice and heads back to his college town of Boston to find himself, his child and his meaning in life.
September 12, 2010
Oh Man! I took forever to read this book. Not so much becasue it was bad, but because I just couldn't find the time to read. I felt lucky if I found 10 minutes a day to read.
That being said, I think the first half of the book was kinda confusing. I didn't realize the connection of the characters at first. I really did think that they were just a bunch of random people who may or may not have a connection. But I don't think that was the author's fault, I think it was because I wasn't reading as consistently as I normally do, and wasn't paying close attention to what was going on.
I didn't find the characters all that relateable or all that likeable. I didn't really connect with them. The reason I am giving the book 3 stars though is what I got out of it. What is the Perfect life? Does it mean that you have the perfect family? The perfect job? The perfect friends? What is perfection? The book, once I got into the groove of reading, made me realize that my life isn't necessarily what I thought it would be, but it is my life and it is up to me to make it the way I want it to be. If I don't like it, then what am I doing to change it.
That being said, I think the first half of the book was kinda confusing. I didn't realize the connection of the characters at first. I really did think that they were just a bunch of random people who may or may not have a connection. But I don't think that was the author's fault, I think it was because I wasn't reading as consistently as I normally do, and wasn't paying close attention to what was going on.
I didn't find the characters all that relateable or all that likeable. I didn't really connect with them. The reason I am giving the book 3 stars though is what I got out of it. What is the Perfect life? Does it mean that you have the perfect family? The perfect job? The perfect friends? What is perfection? The book, once I got into the groove of reading, made me realize that my life isn't necessarily what I thought it would be, but it is my life and it is up to me to make it the way I want it to be. If I don't like it, then what am I doing to change it.
February 22, 2012
I liked, but did not love, Shattuck's first novel, The Hazards of Good Breeding (the title alone is pretty fantastic). And the premise of this one -- man donates sperm to former girlfriend; can he stay away from his child even though that's what he's supposed to do? -- is both interesting and timely. But this was pretty dull. The story revolves around four college friends and where their lives have ended up at age 35. The central plot device, the sperm, is actually a factor for one of the other friends -- a lesbian, whose partner has twins by artificial insemination and is keen to meet all the other moms (and their kids) who were inseminated by the same donor -- but it's not really a novel about those sorts of complications at all. Rather, it's about love and betrayal and how our lives end up in ways we wouldn't have imagined and can't quite control. And yet it didn't seem to offer anything all that new or refreshing on these plenty interesting subjects. It was a very quick read, but largely because I was on a plane and the other book I'd brought was zipped up in my carryon in the overhead bin.
June 10, 2021
Four Harvard friends have an innocuous conversation about how many children they want to have. Flash forward to middle age, and oh, how things have changed! Laura is married to Mac, a successful businessman and has two small children. Elise is a lesbian and her partner bore their child. Neil almost dropped-off the face of the earth, but not before acting as a sperm-donor to his ex-girlfriend, Jenny. Jenny then made him sign away any rights to the offspring. Now, Jenny's husband has cancer, Neil wants to see his son, Laura sleeps with Neil and Elise is fighting with Chrissy and yet, in the end, it works-out for them all.
This is a really twisted take on the whole "coming of age" idea. I appreciate when a book doesn't patronize its reader with happy endings and perfect arcs to a story, but this was almost too depressing. From adultery to terminal illness, to non-bonding with kids, to mid-life crises, every one of these characters is flawed. And yes, all of us are flawed, but who picks-up fiction to be reminded of that? And, after a while, a reader wants to "like" someone they are reading about! There was just no one in here worthy of any effort.
This is a really twisted take on the whole "coming of age" idea. I appreciate when a book doesn't patronize its reader with happy endings and perfect arcs to a story, but this was almost too depressing. From adultery to terminal illness, to non-bonding with kids, to mid-life crises, every one of these characters is flawed. And yes, all of us are flawed, but who picks-up fiction to be reminded of that? And, after a while, a reader wants to "like" someone they are reading about! There was just no one in here worthy of any effort.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2010
I found this slow going at first because all the characters seemed unsympathetic, and stereotypical of upper class Boston (more what I’ve seen in the movies than what I have found to be true in my four years living here). PERFECT LIFE tells about four Harvard friends who years later find their lives still intertwined. The book touches on genetic engineering, adultery, overbearing parents, the need for perfection in life, dishonesty among friends. It is supposed to be satirical, but I didn’t feel that tone came through strongly enough. I had trouble connecting with the characters or their lives and concerns. Boston locales are well-described, and the language is occasionally creative, but I was not hooked.
May 10, 2010
Jessica Shattuck is a talented writer, but she tries too hard to be profound. The plot of this novel, which chronicles the life of a driven career woman who has a baby with the sperm of her ex-college boyfriend, is promising in its possibility for adventure, insights, and humor. However, Shattuck does not plot or pace the novel properly for maximum effect. She plots scenes and actions that strains credulity, such as having the ex-college-boyfriend break into the protagonist's house or having the husband become suddenly afflicted with a mysterious ailment. These actions introduce sentimental and maudlin elements into the novel, pushing it into the uninspiring territory of chick lit.
April 11, 2011
Very interesting that the main things happening in this book that are crazy are things from the author's experience. I liked that while this was total chick lit, it had a little more to think about from procreation and the many many ways a child is conceived through science, to the way we eat our expensive meals at a restaurant without thinking of how that much money could feed a family for a month or more in another country... I was sad it had cheating in it also, and now I'm wondering if it's a given element in chick lit. So interesting to see both extremes of morality after just reading The Scarlet Letter.
February 4, 2016
I immediately was intrigued by this group of characters- so incredibly different in personalities and lifestyles, yet linked together from their college years, a time that stays with us as an ever-important formative period. Each character's take on a 'perfect life' was unique and brought to light a new perspective, and I really respected that the author didn't shove the novel's theme down the reader's throat-- there was enough subtlety to each character's eventual revelations that I was able to appreciate the connecting threads without it feeling too campy or forced.
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