text: This is an overwritten and overhyped piece of fiction that will never pass for great literature. It is timely but it is not timeless.  
  
  Not one character comes alive even though they all talk endlessly. Not one scene is memorable. The true nature of the book -- soap opera-- is cloaked under its many pages.   Messud is a good writer who in this instance could not tell a good story, and she seems to have believed her publicity machine.  I can't believe that her husband, who a great literary critic, would not talk her out of publishing this.  Oh.  I forgot.  Money and fame trumps quality every time.
  